The Complete Guide to Automating Freshdesk for Improved Customer Support
As a support ticket software used by over 250,000 companies worldwide, Freshdesk makes it easy for support teams to manage customer queries. But handling support at scale while providing personalized service can be challenging without automation.
In this 2600+ word guide, we’ll explore popular ways to leverage automation to streamline Freshdesk workflows.
What is Freshdesk?
Freshdesk is a cloud-based customer support software with a customizable helpdesk for teams to manage customer tickets. Key capabilities include:
- Multi-channel ticketing (email, social, chat etc.)
- Customer self-service portals and knowledge bases
- Automation for support workflows like routing, escalations, notifications etc.
- Reporting for real-time performance monitoring
- Integrations with marketing, sales and business software
With the ability to handle customer support at any scale—from SMBs to large enterprises—it’s easy to see why Freshdesk is so popular.
But as your team and volumes grow, handling repetitive support tasks manually can get overwhelming. This guide will explore how to leverage automation through Freshdesk itself, as well as external tools like Zapier, to streamline key workflows.
Why Automate Freshdesk?
When researching helpdesk automation, some common use cases I came across from other analysts and experts included:
Reduce manual efforts: Automated ticket creation, classifications, responses and status updates significantly cuts down manual work needed to handle volumes. This results in time savings to focus on complex issues.
Improve response times: With automated notifications and escalations, no customer query should slip through the cracks. This improves average response times.
Standardize workflows: Events like new tickets or status changes can automatically trigger your standard support processes every time. This reduces human error from repetitive tasks.
Get insights from data: Helpdesks generate vast amounts of data with customer interactions and process logs. Automation helps centralize this data for insights.
Enhance IT and DevOps monitoring: Many teams connect Freshdesk to developer tools to auto-generate tickets for system incidents. This speeds up root cause analysis.
Integrate with other software: Helpdesk data like new contacts, support activity etc. can be useful for other teams. Automated data sharing eliminates manual exports or switching contexts across tools.
Deliver personalized service: With a unified customer profile from various apps, automations can help segment users and enable tailored helpdesk experiences.
Clearly there’s no lack of ways to leverage automations for better efficiency, visibility and service levels. Now let’s look at popular automation methods available.
Key Options for Freshdesk Process Automation
While Freshdesk offers several built-in features to automate workflows like ticket assignments, escalations, notifications etc, we’ll focus on some of the more advanced options:
1. Workflows for Multi-step Automations
Released in 2021, Workflows enables creating sequences of support automation tasks with conditional logic—without coding. You can:
- Build rule-based workflows to update status, notify teams, send info to customers etc
- Create sequences spanning hours, days or weeks
- Customize conditions using ticket fields and data variables
For example, high priority tickets can notify managers, then escalate after 4 hours automatically versus a 2 day wait for normal tickets.
2. Freshworks CLI for API-based Automation
Freshworks offers a command line interface tool for developers to access the Freshdesk API. This allows automation scripts to handle things like:
- Bulk ticket management
- Updates across multiple contacts or companies
- App installation and data migrations
- Automated provisioning for new hires
So for tasks that require API access or scripting, the CLI provides a simple way to handle them without coding from scratch.
3. Integrations and Zaps with Zapier
For those looking to move data or connect workflows outside Freshdesk to hundreds of other business apps, Zapier is a popular automation tool. Some examples for automating Freshdesk include:
Send New Ticket Notifications to Slack
This can quickly alert teams of new customer inquiries in channels segmented by product, tier, or region.
Image: Freshdesk-Slack integration in Zapier
Create Gmail Ticket from Freshdesk
If emails require follow up across other teams, a simple automated workflow can create tickets or reminders based on support email replies.
Image: Freshdesk-Gmail integration in Zapier
Append CRM Contacts from Freshdesk Conversations
As support agents interact with new users, leads and customers, their CRM can automatically stay up-to-date with these contacts and activity logs.
Image: Freshdesk-CRM integration in Zapier
We’ll explore more examples of actual Zaps to automate common scenarios later in the guide.
Next, let’s look at some best practices when establishing Freshdesk automations.
Key Tips for Managing Freshdesk Automations
While automations pare down manual efforts, the complexity can sometimes overburden teams instead. Here are some tips:
Start small: When first setting up automations, begin with a minimal use case instead of enterprise-wide workflows. Optimize as you expand.
Involve multiple teams: Collaborate with other departments to understand required automations based on their pain points.
Test extensively: Rigorously test every logic branch of a complex workflow before routing to customers. Fix bugs before wide rollout.
Get employee feedback: Agents interacting with automations daily can surface issues. Solicit their feedback to improve.
Ensure SLA compliance: Review automated workflows to ensure compliance promises like response times are fulfilled, not just average metrics.
Monitor regularly: Actively track the performance of automations to flag bottlenecks or failures needing intervention.
Keep context: If letting machines converse with customers, ensure proper context so confusion is minimized.
Stay up-to-date: Customization can slow upgrades. But staying current lets you take advantage of automation enhancements.
Keeping these best practices in mind while establishing and managing workflows is key to strike the right balance of automation.
Now let’s look at some common examples and sample Zaps for automating repetitive Freshdesk tasks.
5 Quick-Win Freshdesk Automation Ideas
While the possibilities are endless when it comes to helpdesk automation, here are 5 common yet impactful workflows to consider setting up right away:
1. New Ticket Notifications
Aim to reduce resolution times by getting helpdesk tickets in front of the right agents as soon as they come in.
Use Case: Send email or app notifications to agents or teams when a new ticket is logged based on type, priority, product etc.
Benefits: Improve response rate SLA by ensuring tickets aren’t left unattended for long. Also reduces urgent email or calls from customers checking on status.
Sample Zap:
- Trigger: New support ticket created [in Freshdesk]
- Action: Send Slack message to #support channel
A sample Zap for automated Freshdesk ticket notification
2. Positive Survey Responses
Delighted customers can be further engaged by automating follow-ups to positive survey responses.
Use Case: Send thank you email and satisfaction survey to customers after ticket resolution. If they respond positively, trigger actions like:
- Log satisfaction rating against agent
- Add to promo or loyalty mailing lists
- Send gift voucher or special offer
- Escalate feedback to agent and managers
Benefits: Increased customer retention and tapping promoters to drive growth. Also improves agent motivation with feedback.
Sample Zap:
- Trigger: New positive customer satisfaction response [in Freshdesk surveys]
- Action 1: Add contact to Mailchimp promo subscriber list
- Action 2: Email voucher code to customer from agent
A sample automation for positive Freshdesk survey responses
3. Negative Survey Follow-Ups
Just as much as positive feedback, having a workflow to act on negative responses is key to improving customer retention and service levels.
Use Case: If a customer rates experience poorly on post-resolution surveys, actions could include:
- Alert customer success/account managers
- Create follow-up ticket for agent team lead
- Send apology email with steps for corrective actions
- Offer escalation to managers if needed
- Log for root cause analysis reporting
Benefits: Saves at-risk accounts through quick issue resolution. Also reduces customer effort to get corrections.
Sample Zap:
- Trigger: New negative rating on resolved ticket [in Freshdesk surveys]
- Action 1: Email region account manager
- Action 2: Create ticket in Freshdesk for agent manager
- Action 3: Send apology letter from generic CS email
A sample automation workflow for negative Freshdesk survey responses
4. High Priority Ticket Escalations
VIP customers or system failures requiring immediate attention can’t be left waiting in queues. Automatically escalate urgent tickets to minimize delays.
Use Case: If a high priority ticket isn’t assigned in 30 minutes or resolved within the SLA threshold, automatically escalate by:
- Reassigning ticket to senior agents
- Notifying managers via email/teams
- Ping ticket with periodic reminders until resolution
- Flag for reporting on SLA breaches
Benefits: Ensures urgent issues don’t slip through cracks and meet response time promises. Also improves management visibility for additional support if needed.
Sample Zap:
- Trigger: High priority Freshdesk ticket still unresolved after 2 hours
- Action 1: Reassign ticket to Level 2 support agent
- Action 2: Email ticket details to regional support manager
- Action 3: Set recurring 2 hour pings for update until resolved
A sample automation for escalating delayed priority Freshdesk tickets
5. Agent Performance Reporting
It’s crucial for managers to keep tabs on the performance of individual agents. Dashboards reporting SLA breaches, first contact resolution rates, survey results and more can provide data-backed coaching opportunities.
Use Case: Log all new tickets and survey responses against assigned agents. Run weekly reports calculating:
- Average first response times
- Percentage of SLA breached tickets
- Survey satisfaction ratings per agent
- Weekly/monthly ticket volumes
- Accuracy metrics based on tickets reopens
Benefits: Data-driven agent coaching, performance reviews, rewards as well as helping managers redistribute assignments.
Sample Zap for logging Freshdesk ticket data on Google Sheets for agent reporting
These are just a handful of impactful automations to help streamline workflows. But the possibilities are endless, so brainstorm more that map to your team’s unique needs.
Now let’s go over some best practices when establishing these automations.
Key Considerations When Automating Freshdesk
While the benefits of helpdesk automation are clear, here are areas teams should think through before wide rollout:
Will it save time? The goal should be reducing repetitive manual efforts significantly, not simply adding more workflow complexity. Estimate potential time savings before automating.
Can we track impact? Ensure you’re logging the right metrics pre and post-automation to quantify gains like time, accuracy, customer satisfaction etc.
Are staff skillsets aligned? Automations often eliminateTier 1 tasks leaving agents to handle complex issues needing more skills. Account for training.
What exceptions need overrides? Build levers for staff to pause or override automations if bad data or edge cases cause negative experiences, like endless email loops.
Is it compliant? Especially when sending external communications, ensure automated messages meet regional regulations for disclosures, unsubscribes etc.
Do customers understand? Machine-driven conversations can confuse users unless context is established. Make it clear automations are handling repetitive tasks.
Thinking through these areas will prevent hiccups down the line once workflows are live.
As a final set of helpful resources when exploring your automation journey…
Additional Freshdesk Automation Resources
Here are a few tips, guides and ideas I’ve curated that can spark further automation inspiration tailored to your unique workflows:
- 40+ Freshdesk Workflows – Process Bliss
- Freshdesk + Zapier App – Zapier
- Freshdesk Slack Integration – Freshworks
- Sample Freshdesk Reports – Smartsheet
- IT Alert Automations – nTaskManager
Hopefully this gives you a well-rounded guide to get started on automating key helpdesk workflows within Freshdesk itself or across your stack using tools like Zapier.
As volumes and complexities grow, having the right automations to offload repetitive tasks will be key to providing excellent yet scalable support. Use the templates and examples provided as a blueprint, but customize the combinations best suited for your team’s needs.
What other helpdesk automations have you found impactful? What scenarios are still manual that we can brainstorm further process improvements for? Share your ideas or questions below!
