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6 ways to automate your customer support

By Krystina Martinez · February 14, 2024
A hero image of orange headphones with a mic on a light blue background.

Customer support is a tough job. There's a fine line between keeping your customers happy and burning out your customer support team. Whether it's turning forms your customers submit into tickets, to routing tickets to the right platforms, these manual tasks can quickly pile up or slip through the cracks.

The best way to keep your customers (and your support team) happy, is to throw automation into the mix. From using AI tools to provide solutions to notifying your team about new tickets, these Zaps—our term for automated workflows—will streamline your whole customer support operation.

New to Zapier? It's workflow automation software that lets you focus on what matters. Combine user interfaces, data tables, and logic with thousands of apps to build and automate anything you can imagine. Sign up for free to use this app, and thousands more, with Zapier.

Table of contents

  • Create tickets from forms

  • Create tickets from chatbot interactions

  • Enhance your tickets with AI

  • Notify your team about new tickets

  • Maintain ticket hygiene

  • Keep an eye on the numbers

To get started with a Zap template—what we call our pre-made workflows—just click on the button. It only takes a few minutes to set up. You can read more about setting up Zaps here.

Create tickets from forms

Questions can come from anywhere, and—because you're the Steven Tyler of support—you don't want to miss a thing. 

With these Zaps, you can turn new form submissions into tickets so your team can assist customers right away.

To get started with a Zap template—what we call our pre-made workflows—just click on the button. It only takes a few minutes to set up. You can read more about setting up Zaps here.

Create Trello cards from new Typeform responses

Create Trello cards from new Typeform responses
  • Typeform logo
  • Trello logo
Typeform + Trello

Create Trello cards from new Google Forms responses

Create Trello cards from new Google Forms responses
  • Google Forms logo
  • Trello logo
Google Forms + Trello

Create Zendesk tickets from new Typeform entries

Create Zendesk tickets from new Typeform entries
  • Typeform logo
  • Zendesk logo
Typeform + Zendesk

Create Zendesk tickets from new HubSpot form submissions

Create Zendesk tickets from new HubSpot form submissions
  • HubSpot logo
  • Zendesk logo
HubSpot + Zendesk

Create Freshdesk tickets for new Jotform submissions

Create Freshdesk tickets for new Jotform submissions
  • Jotform logo
  • Freshdesk logo
Jotform + Freshdesk

Does your business use a custom website form for customer support? You can connect your ticketing platform to your web form with Webhooks by Zapier. It's a built-in tool, available on paid Zapier plans, that lets you use webhooks within Zaps.  

Get started with these workflows:

Create Freshdesk tickets for new Webhook data

Create Freshdesk tickets for new Webhook data
  • Webhooks by Zapier logo
  • Freshdesk logo
Webhooks by Zapier + Freshdesk

Turn Webhooks into new conversations in Help Scout

Turn Webhooks into new conversations in Help Scout
  • Webhooks by Zapier logo
  • Help Scout logo
Webhooks by Zapier + Help Scout

Create Jira Service Management requests from new Webhook POSTs

Create Jira Service Management requests from new Webhook POSTs
  • Webhooks by Zapier logo
  • Jira Service Management logo
Webhooks by Zapier + Jira Service Management

Need to connect other tools that don't have a Zapier integration? Here's how you can use webhooks to automate anything. 

Create tickets from chatbot interactions

Do you use AI-powered chatbots to handle customer interactions and issues in real time? While chatbots are an effective way to provide quick and accurate answers to common questions (some chatbots can even access your business's resources), sometimes you'll need to pass issues over to your support team. 

With these Zaps, you can automatically route tickets straight to your support platform for human assistance. 

Create Freshdesk tickets from new ChatBot messages

Create Freshdesk tickets from new ChatBot messages
  • ChatBot logo
  • Freshdesk logo
ChatBot + Freshdesk

Automatically create a Zendesk ticket when you get a new ChatBot message

Automatically create a Zendesk ticket when you get a new ChatBot message
  • ChatBot logo
  • Zendesk logo
ChatBot + Zendesk

Create Zendesk tickets when new Zapier Chatbots buttons are clicked

Create Zendesk tickets when new Zapier Chatbots buttons are clicked
  • Zapier Chatbots logo
  • Zendesk logo
Zapier Chatbots + Zendesk

Want to build an end-to-end customer support portal for your customers? Follow our step-by-step guide to design a resource hub with Zapier Interfaces. Alternatively, you can get started right away with our Request Portal Template.

Enhance your tickets with AI

The last thing you want when your customers hit a roadblock is to keep them waiting for a solution. When it comes to handling bucket loads of tickets, timing is everything. 

And using AI tools can help lighten the load. With these Zap templates, AI can summarize a ticket, add extra context, and even provide suggested solutions or responses to save technicians time—helping them give customers a speedier and more personalized experience. 

Add acceptance criteria as comments to new issues in Jira using OpenAI

Add acceptance criteria as comments to new issues in Jira using OpenAI
  • Jira Software Cloud logo
  • OpenAI (GPT-4, DALL-E, Whisper) logo
  • Jira Software Cloud logo
Jira Software Cloud + OpenAI (GPT-4, DALL-E, Whisper)

Notify your team about new tickets

Support doesn't always happen in just one app—your team might be putting out fires in multiple places, or building documentation to help answer even more questions in the future. To make sure a ticket never gets lost, use the Zaps below to notify your team about new tickets in your company's team chat app or via email, which they most likely always have open.

Post new Zendesk tickets to Slack messages

Post new Zendesk tickets to Slack messages
  • Zendesk logo
  • Slack logo
Zendesk + Slack

Post new Zendesk tickets to Microsoft Teams

Post new Zendesk tickets to Microsoft Teams
  • Zendesk logo
  • Microsoft Teams logo
Zendesk + Microsoft Teams

Send new Jira Service Management requests to Microsoft Teams

Send new Jira Service Management requests to Microsoft Teams
  • Jira Service Management logo
  • Microsoft Teams logo
Jira Service Management + Microsoft Teams

Send Gmail emails for new Zendesk tickets

Send Gmail emails for new Zendesk tickets
  • Zendesk logo
  • Gmail logo
Zendesk + Gmail

Maintain ticket hygiene

Things can get disorganized fast if you're managing a high volume of support requests. Automating best practices for processes like tagging certain tickets or moving tickets to the right place can relieve the burden for your team—especially if there's a sudden influx of tickets. 

These workflows can create recurring tickets or move requests so you can easily stay on top of everything.

Update Trello cards from other Trello cards

Update Trello cards from other Trello cards
  • Trello logo
  • Trello logo
Trello

Create a new Zendesk ticket automatically every week

Create a new Zendesk ticket automatically every week
  • Schedule by Zapier logo
  • Zendesk logo
Schedule by Zapier + Zendesk

Create weekly requests in Jira Service Management

Create weekly requests in Jira Service Management
  • Schedule by Zapier logo
  • Jira Service Management logo
Schedule by Zapier + Jira Service Management

Keep an eye on the numbers

While putting a number score on how much"help" your team is providing can sound harsh, it can be a tool for transparency, and let each member of the team know how they're doing in a more tangible way than just "good."

Most customer service apps have built-in metric trackers, but sometimes you need more customization for your metric tracking. These Zaps will send tickets to a spreadsheet so you can do your own calculations. 

Create rows in Google Sheets spreadsheets with new Trello cards

Create rows in Google Sheets spreadsheets with new Trello cards
  • Trello logo
  • Google Sheets logo
Trello + Google Sheets

Add new Zendesk tickets to Google Sheets

Add new Zendesk tickets to Google Sheets
  • Zendesk logo
  • Google Sheets logo
Zendesk + Google Sheets

Add rows to Google Sheets for updated Freshdesk tickets

Add rows to Google Sheets for updated Freshdesk tickets
  • Freshdesk logo
  • Google Sheets logo
Freshdesk + Google Sheets

Does your team need more individualized motivation? Here’s how to create a personal best challenge bot to push them forward.

Streamline your customer support with automation

Your customer support team keeps your customers happy, so by introducing automation, it can take care of them too. Automation with Zapier helps ease the demands on your support crew, so they can focus on providing excellent customer service.

Related reading:

  • 5 ways to thrive in your customer support role

  • 5 tips for effective customer support during a crisis

  • AI in customer service: 11 ways to automate support

This article was originally published in January 2021, written by Tyler Robertson, with previous updates by Krystina Martinez. It was most recently updated in February 2024 by Elena Alston.

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A Zap with the trigger 'When I get a new lead from Facebook,' and the action 'Notify my team in Slack'