From chatbots to AI-powered support tickets, automation transforms conversational customer service. But do these tools improve the customer experience? Consider Freshdesk's Auto Triage, which uses machine learning to categorize and prioritize support tickets automatically. On the surface, it seems like a game-changer - but the key question is, how much does it move the needle for your business? Let’s find the good, the bad, and the impact of Auto Triage on your bottom line.

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What Is Auto Triage in Freshdesk?

Auto Triage is an automated ticket classification feature within the Freshdesk customer support software. It uses machine learning algorithms to assign support tickets to the appropriate agents or departments based on ticket content.

Auto Triage immediately scans the content and subject line when a new support ticket arrives. It looks for keywords, phrases, and expressions to determine the issue category, such as billing, technical issues, cancellations, etc. Based on the predicted category, Auto Triage intelligently assigns the ticket to an agent or team with the appropriate skills to resolve that specific issue quickly. Some of its key capabilities include

1. Automated ticket categorization and routing based on machine learning.
2. Self-learning algorithms that improve over time with more data.
3. Customizable machine learning model based on unique support channels, language, and ticket topics. 
4. Integration of Auto Triage predictions into support agent workflows.
5. Reporting on Auto Triage effectiveness over periods.

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Benefits of Auto Triage

Auto Triage provides numerous benefits for support teams looking to improve efficiency and customer satisfaction. Automatically routing and prioritizing tickets enables faster customer response times. Rather than having all tickets sit in a general queue, Auto Triage uses rules and AI to categorize issues and assign them to the right agents instantly. This has several advantages:

1. Faster Response Times: Auto Triage streamlines the ticketing process, quickly sorting and assigning issues to bypass manual delays. This results in rapid responses, especially for simpler queries, enhancing customer satisfaction and providing immediate acknowledgment through automated replies.
2. More Time for Complex Issues: It filters out routine issues, freeing agents to tackle complex problems that demand critical thinking and personalized attention, improving support quality and strengthening customer trust and loyalty.
3. Increased CSAT: With Auto Triage ensuring swift and accurate problem-solving, customers enjoy efficient service, leading to improved perceptions of speed and competence, which raise customer satisfaction scores.
4. Improved Efficiency: It automates ticket handling, reducing agent processing time and increasing capacity to address more queries. This automation of simple inquiries boosts productivity and streamlines operations within the support team.

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Cost of Auto Triage

The Auto Triage feature in Freshdesk is priced based on a monthly subscription model and the cost of the Freddy Copilot add-on. Pricing starts at $49 per agent per month for the Pro tier and up to $79 per agent per month for the largest Enterprise tier.

Freddy Copilot's add-on costs $29 per agent per month (billed annually).

If a 10-person customer support team wishes to access the feature in Freshdesk, the costs would look like the following (based on the provided monthly costs):

For the Freddy Copilot addon:

1. $29/agent/month * 10 agents = $290/month (This would be $3,480 annually since it's billed annually)

For the service tiers:

1. Pro Tier: $49/agent/month * 10 agents = $490/month
2. Enterprise Tier: $79/agent/month * 10 agents = $790/month

So, your overall monthly costs for each tier, including the addon, would be:

1. Pro Tier+ addon = $780/month
2. Enterprise Tier+ addon = $1,080/month

Annually, this translates to:

1. Pro Tier+ addon = $9,360/year
2. Enterprise Tier+ addon = $12,960/year

The return on investment from Auto Triage depends on the volume of inquiries the organization receives and the types of routine issues Auto Triage can handle automatically.

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Limitations of Auto Triage

While Freshdesk's Auto Triage provides an efficient solution for automating ticket classification, prioritization, and assignment, it has limitations. Here are a few to consider:

1. Dependence on Historical Data: Auto Triage relies on learning from past tickets to categorize and prioritize new ones. If the system hasn't been exposed to many diverse tickets, it may not efficiently sort new, unique queries. This means its efficacy somewhat depends on the quality and quantity of historical data.
2. Training and Setup Time: Training the Auto Triage system to perform optimally according to a specific business's data and needs can take time in the initial phase. Also, the system will need a significant amount of data to learn from, which might not be available for all companies, especially new ones.
3. Exclusion from Free and Growth Plans: Auto Triage is not included in Freshdesk's Free and Growth plans. Due to budget constraints, this makes it inaccessible to smaller businesses or startups likely to opt for these plans. As a result, businesses that could effectively utilize and benefit from the Auto Triage feature to streamline their customer support operations might not have access to it.

In addition, the pricing of the Freddy Copilot addon, which includes the Auto Triage feature, is based on a per-agent basis. This means that the larger the customer support team, the higher the cost will be for the add-on. While this does scale with the size of the business, it also means that expanding the team can exponentially increase costs.

To summarize, despite the advantages of Freshdesk's Auto Triage, its reliance on historical data, potential setup time, and inaccessibility to smaller businesses due to pricing, raises some limitations. In light of these, businesses seeking an alternative might find ClearFeed’s Triage Channel compelling. Let's quickly run down the distinct advantages it brings to your customer support team.

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Explore the Benefits of ClearFeed's Advanced Triage Channel

ClearFeed is an AI-driven solution that enhances and streamlines customer support operations within Slack and MS Teams. It acts as an internal and external ticketing system, making it an all-encompassing solution for businesses dealing with high customer inquiries or internal communication needs.

As an internal ticketing system, ClearFeed allows teams to manage and track their internal tasks and communications efficiently in one place. You can transform Slack threads into trackable tickets for projects, tasks, or internal issues, ensuring nothing slips through the cracks and team collaboration is enhanced.

As an external ticketing system, ClearFeed provides a platform for tracking all customer interactions and requests. It enables businesses to automatically turn customer conversations in Slack into support tickets, which can be addressed and managed through the Triage Channel. Here are some features and benefits that make it uniquely appealing:

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Features of ClearFeed Triage Channel:

1. Shared Queue Management in Slack: Imagine a single dashboard in Slack where you can see customer requests from different channels or platforms. The Triage Channel compiles everything into one stream, so your team doesn't have to juggle between multiple channels. It simplifies tracking and managing everything that's coming in without leaving Slack.

2. Collaborate Privately: It allows team members to chat about customer requests behind the scenes by using a 🔒emoji. Customer Service agents, Managers, and even the Engineering or Product team can chime in with insights or solutions without customers seeing their discussion.

3. Convert Threads to Tickets: Teams can turn any Slack conversation into an official support ticket in other systems like Zendesk or Intercom with just one 🎫 emoji. This means there’s no need to copy-paste or retype information from Slack to other CRM tools.

4. Thread Updates Subscription: Just as you might follow a conversation thread to get updates, this feature lets teams subscribe to updates on a ticket right in the original Slack thread. Everyone involved can see the progress without going outside Slack, ensuring that customer dialogue continues smoothly.

5. Efficient Search: Team members can rapidly search for past customer requests using special Slack commands (known as Slash commands). It's like having a powerful search tool that can quickly sort through old conversations by filters such as who's handling the issue, which customer it's about, or when it happened.
6. SLA Alerts: Service Level Agreements are promised to respond to or resolve customer issues within a certain time. This feature lets you set timers that alert you in Slack when a deadline is approaching, helping you avoid breaching those commitments and maintaining high service standards.

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Benefits of ClearFeed Triage Channel:

1. Streamlined Communication: By bringing all requests into one central channel, ClearFeed enables teams to save time and stay organized without the risk of missing or overlooking customer messages.
2. Improved Efficiency: Triage Channels allow support teams to manage high volumes of customer interactions with a smaller team, leveraging Slack for organized and scalable support.
3. Enhanced Teamwork: Facilitates internal communication without leaving the Slack environment, fostering more efficient and focused collaboration among team members.
4. Customizability: Integrating with many popular CRMs such as Hubspot and Salesforce Service Cloud and productivity tools like Jira and GitHub means businesses can tailor the triage process to their specific workflows.

Moreover, access to the foundational Triage Channel functionality starts at the free tier, allowing businesses to upgrade to premium plans as their operational scale and customer support demands grow. This inclusive approach ensures your company only pays for what it needs, optimizing your investment in the customer support infrastructure. This plan (for external helpdesk use case) comes with the following additional features:

1. Triage Channel
2. AI-based SLA alerts
3. Announcements (Scheduled bulk messages)
4. Private comments
5. Auto responses based on business hours
6. Integrations with different ticketing (e.g., Freshdesk, Zendesk, Intercom, etc.) and engineering platforms (e.g., Jira, Github, etc.)

The triaging solution by ClearFeed offers intuitive pricing based on the specific usage: it charges according to the number of customer support tickets used as an internal helpdesk, and the fee aligns with the number of active Slack channels used as an external support channel. Want to see our Triage Channel in action? Get started here or book a demo to talk to our team.