Helpdesk tickets
A chatbot that opens tickets in the helpdesk your team already uses
When your intoCHAT agent hands a conversation off by email, it also opens a ticket in Zendesk, Freshdesk, HubSpot, Gorgias or Help Scout. The visitor is the requester, the ticket carries an AI summary and the transcript, and the fields you map are filled in for you.
Visitor: I was charged twice for order 1042. Can someone look into it?
Agent: I can't check or refund payments myself, but I can pass this conversation to our support team by email. Which email address should they reply to?
Visitor: marco@example.com
Agent: Thank you. I have sent the conversation and your request to the team, and they will reply to marco@example.com by email.
Chat hand-offs that live outside the helpdesk get lost
Your support team works its queue in the helpdesk: views, SLAs, macros, reporting. If chat hand-offs arrive as loose emails, someone has to copy each one into a ticket, guess the priority and paste the conversation. Things slip, and the customer explains their problem a second time. A chatbot that creates the ticket itself, with the requester set, the context written down and your fields filled, puts the chat in the same queue as everything else.
Why open tickets straight from the chat
The hand-off email to your team still goes out. The ticket is extra, so nothing in your current flow breaks.
Five helpdesks, one card
Choose Zendesk, Freshdesk, HubSpot, Gorgias or Help Scout in the Helpdesk tickets card on the Setup tab and connect it with an API token, key or app credentials. Each agent connects one helpdesk.
The visitor is the requester
The email address the visitor gave for the hand-off becomes the requester or customer, with their name when it is known. Replies your team sends from the helpdesk reach the visitor by email.
Context your team can act on
Every ticket carries the agent's hand-off summary, three to five AI-written points, the page and country when known, the last 30 messages and a link back to the conversation in intoCHAT.
Your fields, filled in
Map custom fields, tags, priority, group, type, assignee or HubSpot's pipeline and stage, depending on the helpdesk. Values can be fixed text or variables such as the visitor's email or a contact's plan.
The visitor never waits
The ticket is opened a few seconds after the agent's reply, so a slow helpdesk never holds up the chat. It is created only once the hand-off email to your team has actually gone out.
How a chat becomes a ticket
Turn on hand-off by email
Tickets are opened for hand-offs by email. Switch on Offer hand-off by email on the Setup tab and save; the Helpdesk tickets card sits right below Hand-off to your team.
Connect your helpdesk
Pick the helpdesk, paste its credentials and click Test and connect. intoCHAT checks them with a read that changes nothing in your helpdesk, and saves nothing until the check passes.
Map your ticket fields
Under Ticket fields, click Add ticket fields. intoCHAT reads the field list from your helpdesk, so you pick real fields, then enter a fixed value or use Insert a variable for each one.
The agent hands off, the ticket appears
When a visitor agrees to a hand-off by email, your team gets the email and the ticket opens seconds later. The transcript in Conversations shows the ticket number, linked to the ticket.
What happens in each helpdesk
Zendesk
The content is the ticket's first comment, added as an internal note, and the ticket is tagged intochat. Your own Zendesk triggers still run, for example the email confirming the request was received.
Freshdesk
The content is the ticket description. The ticket is Open, with Low priority unless your ticket fields set another, and tagged intochat. Freshdesk's own notifications to the requester still apply.
HubSpot
Tickets go to your default pipeline's first open stage, or the pipeline and stage you pick. Each is filed under the visitor's contact, which intoCHAT finds by email or creates when the token has the contacts scopes.
Gorgias and Help Scout
In Gorgias the ticket is Open, with the visitor as customer and their message over the API channel, so it isn't emailed back to them. In Help Scout it is an email conversation in the mailbox you chose, without the auto-reply. Both are tagged intochat.
Variables in ticket fields
Use {{visitor.email}}, {{visitor.name}}, {{conversation.page}}, {{conversation.country}}, a contact attribute such as {{contact.plan}} or a lead form field such as {{lead.order_total}}. A field whose variable has no value is left out, never sent empty.
Checked values and a safe retry
Fixed values are checked against the field's type when you save. If the helpdesk still refuses the ticket because of its fields, intoCHAT sends it once more without them, so the hand-off still gets a ticket, and the card shows a warning.
Credentials kept safe
Credentials are stored encrypted and never shown again; the card shows only their last four characters. Only the owner and admins connect or disconnect a helpdesk. Editors switch tickets on or off and change the ticket fields.
Visible everywhere
Handed-off transcripts show Ticket # with a link to the ticket, or Ticket couldn't be created if the helpdesk refused it. The handoff.requested webhook includes the helpdesk, the ticket number and the link.
Frequently asked questions
Which helpdesks can the chatbot create tickets in?
Zendesk, Freshdesk, HubSpot, Gorgias and Help Scout. Zendesk connects with your subdomain, an agent email and an API token; Freshdesk with your .freshdesk.com address and an API key; HubSpot with a private app access token; Gorgias with your subdomain, username and API key; Help Scout with the App ID and App Secret of your own app. Each agent connects one helpdesk.
When is a ticket created?
Only for a hand-off by email, a few seconds after the agent's reply, and only when the hand-off email to your team went out. A hand-off from the Playground opens a real ticket marked [Test] at the start of the subject. Temporary chats can't be handed off, so they never open one. While Open a ticket for each hand-off is off, hand-offs send only the email.
What does the ticket contain?
A subject with the agent's name, Chat hand-off: and the visitor's first message, shortened. Inside: the agent's summary of what the visitor needs, three to five AI-written bullet points, the visitor's email, name, page and country when known, the last 30 messages as plain text (each cut at 1,000 characters) and a link to the conversation. Product cards and buttons are left out. Your mapped fields are added on top.
Can I fill custom fields, tags and priority?
Yes. Zendesk: custom fields, tags, priority, group and assignee. Freshdesk: custom fields, tags, priority, group and type. HubSpot: editable ticket properties and the pipeline and stage. Gorgias and Help Scout: custom fields and tags. Text, number, dropdown, checkbox and date fields are offered; multi-selects aren't. Up to 25 fields per agent, each value up to 500 characters, and up to 10 tags besides intochat.
Can a ticket field use the conversation topic or sentiment?
Yes, with {{conversation.topic}} and {{conversation.sentiment}}, but these are assigned overnight while Topic analysis is on. A ticket opened right at the hand-off usually doesn't have them yet, so fields that use them are left out of that ticket.
Do replies in the helpdesk sync back to intoCHAT?
No. There is no two-way sync: replies, status changes and notes in the helpdesk don't come back. Your team answers the visitor from the helpdesk, by email. One ticket is opened per conversation; a later hand-off in the same conversation sends another email but no second ticket.
What if my helpdesk is down or refuses the ticket?
If the helpdesk doesn't answer within 10 seconds or is limiting requests, that ticket isn't created and isn't retried. The hand-off email still goes out, and the transcript shows Ticket couldn't be created. A ticket refused because of its mapped fields is retried once without them, and the card shows a warning with the time.
Which plan do I need, and what data goes to the helpdesk?
Helpdesk tickets are on every plan, Free included. Each ticket sends the transcript, the AI summary, the visitor's email and name when known, the page, the country and whatever your fields add, such as contact attributes, to the helpdesk you chose, which processes it under its own terms. Name your helpdesk in your privacy policy if it isn't there yet.
Put chat hand-offs in your helpdesk queue
Create your agent free, switch on hand-off by email, connect your helpdesk and hand off a test chat from the Playground to see the ticket arrive.
Create your agent freeFree plan, no credit card needed.