Canned responses, SLAs and automation

Before you start

• You need the Admin or Owner role.
• Open Settings (the gear at the bottom of the left sidebar).

Steps

1. 1

   Step 1: In Settings, open Canned Responses and click Create Response.

   
2. 2

   Step 2: Give the response a Title, write the Body (HTML is supported), and add a Shortcut and Category. Placeholders such as {{contact.name}} are replaced with the customer's details when the response is used — click View available placeholders for the full list. Click Create Response.

   
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   Step 3: The response is saved. Agents insert it in any reply by typing / followed by the shortcut (here /shipping-delay). Next, open Business Hours.

   
4. 4

   Step 4: Business hours tell ZippTicket when your team is working, so SLA timers pause overnight, at weekends and on holidays. Click Add Business Hours.

   
5. 5

   Step 5: Enter a Name, choose your Timezone, and set the opening and closing time for each working day under Weekly Schedule. Use the toggle next to a day to mark it open or closed.

   
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   Step 6: Scroll down. Leave days you are closed switched off, add any Holidays (whole days the team is off), and click Add Business Hours.

   
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   Step 7: The schedule is saved and shows its hours, holidays and whether an SLA policy uses it. Next, open SLA Policies.

   
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   Step 8: An SLA policy sets how quickly tickets of a given priority must get a first response and be resolved. Click Create Policy.

   
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   Step 9: Enter a Name and optional Description, choose the Priority the policy applies to, and set the First Response Time and Resolution Time in minutes or hours. Switch the Resolution Time toggle off if you only want to track first responses. Time a ticket spends pending (waiting on the customer) doesn't count toward resolution.

   
10. 10

    Step 10: Open the Business Hours list and choose the schedule the SLA clock should follow. 24/7 (calendar hours) counts every hour; a named schedule only counts time while you are open. The Manage business hours link takes you back to the Business Hours page.

    
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    Step 11: Leave Active switched on and click Create Policy. Create one policy per priority you want to track.

    
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    Step 12: The policy is listed with its priority, targets and business hours. Use the toggle to pause it or the pencil to edit it. Now open Automation.

    
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    Step 13: Automation rules act on tickets for you when something happens. Click Create Rule.

    
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    Step 14: Enter a Rule Name and choose the Trigger Event: Ticket Created, Ticket Updated, Customer Replied, Agent Replied, Ticket Assigned, Status Changed, Priority Changed, SLA Warning or SLA Breached.

    
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    Step 15: Under Conditions, choose the field to check: Status, Priority, Channel, Subject, Body, Assignee, Team, Tags, Sender Email, Sender Name or Sender Domain. This example uses Subject.

    
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    Step 16: Choose the operator: Equals, Not Equals, Contains, Not Contains, Starts With, Ends With, Is Empty, Is Not Empty or Matches Regex. Contains matches the word anywhere in the subject. Then type the value to look for (here order).

    
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    Step 17: Under Actions, choose what the rule does: Set Status, Set Priority, Assign Agent, Assign Team, Add Tag or Remove Tag. This example uses Add Tag.

    
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    Step 18: Enter the action's value. This rule adds the tag order to new tickets with "order" in the subject. Use Add Condition and Add Action to add more.

    
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    Step 19: Scroll down. Leave Active on, switch on Stop Processing if no later rules should run once this one matches, and click Create Rule.

    
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    Step 20: The rule is live and listed with its trigger. Use the Active toggle to pause it, the pencil to edit it, or the bin to delete it.

    

Related help articles

• Create a canned response
• Set your business hours
• Create an SLA policy
• How SLA timers work
• Create an automation rule
• Why didn't my automation rule run?