Follow-up automation for pending customer responses

Purpose

1.1. Automatically remind customers about their pending responses on appliance support tickets to accelerate ticket closure, improve customer satisfaction, and reduce manual intervention.
1.2. Ensure no unresolved issues remain due to customer inactivity across channels (email, SMS, chat, voice, helpdesk, social).
1.3. Maintain consistent post-contact engagement by tracking wait times and initiating multi-stage follow-ups as configured per SLA.

Trigger Conditions

2.1. Support ticket status remains “Awaiting Customer Response” for a predefined interval (e.g., 24, 48, or 72 hours).
2.2. No incoming reply from the customer on existing ticket thread via any channel.
2.3. Escalation or auto-closing pending tickets after a set count of reminders is reached.

Platform Variants

3.1. Zendesk
• Feature/Setting: Triggers & Automations — set condition for ticket status and auto-send reminder email via “Notify requester of comment update.”
3.2. Freshdesk
• Feature/Setting: Workflow Automator — configure “Pending Advisor” wait time event; auto-email/SMS reminder after 24h inactivity.
3.3. Salesforce Service Cloud
• Feature/Setting: Process Builder — define criteria as “Case: Waiting for Customer;” action as outbound email/reminder.
3.4. ServiceNow
• Feature/Setting: Flow Designer — auto-check tasks for pending status, send notification on inactivity threshold.
3.5. HubSpot Service Hub
• Feature/Setting: Ticket Automation — automate “Awaiting Customer Reply” triggers, send follow-up via configured workflow.
3.6. Zoho Desk
• Feature/Setting: Time-based Rules — set rule for tickets idle in “Pending” and trigger multi-channel notification.
3.7. Intercom
• Feature/Setting: Custom Bots or Operator Rules — detect unresolved conversation, send automated outreach.
3.8. Jira Service Management
• Feature/Setting: SLA Automation — create rule for overdue ‘Waiting for Customer’ status, send reminder comment or email.
3.9. Help Scout
• Feature/Setting: Workflow — set “Waiting on Customer” status, auto-send follow-ups via email template.
3.10. Kayako
• Feature/Setting: Automations (Triggers) — target “Customer Pending” tickets, auto-dispatch reminders.
3.11. Twilio
• Feature/Setting: Programmable SMS/Voice APIs — send text/call reminders detected by CRM webhook on pending status.
3.12. SendGrid
• Feature/Setting: Transactional Mail API — auto-generate follow-up emails queued by helpdesk trigger.
3.13. Microsoft Teams
• Feature/Setting: Power Automate Connector — detect pending tickets, send Teams message or adaptive card to assigned agent.
3.14. Slack
• Feature/Setting: Workflow Builder/API — issue reminders to agents or channels when customer reply is overdue.
3.15. Gmail (Google Workspace)
• Feature/Setting: Gmail API with Apps Script — monitor conversation threads, auto-send follow-up templates.
3.16. Outlook (Microsoft 365)
• Feature/Setting: Outlook REST API — auto-draft/send follow-up from shared mailbox based on ticket metadata.
3.17. WhatsApp Business API
• Feature/Setting: Template Messages — auto-push follow-up via approved WhatsApp template on missing reply.
3.18. Facebook Messenger
• Feature/Setting: Messenger Send API — trigger personalized follow-up when customer pauses conversation.
3.19. Amazon Connect
• Feature/Setting: Contact Flows — schedule queue-based follow-up calls for unresponsive tickets.
3.20. Elastic Email
• Feature/Setting: Transactional Email API — send customized reminders using event-triggered template.

Benefits

4.1. Accelerates ticket resolution and reduces overdue cases.
4.2. Increases customer satisfaction by delivering prompt reminders.
4.3. Reduces manual monitoring, freeing up agent time for complex cases.
4.4. Ensures compliance with internal response SLAs and audit trails.
4.5. Enables multichannel engagement to cover all customer communication preferences.