”Intercom” is a new, highly customizable AI driven support platform which is replacing “Zendesk”. In this article we will overview its basic usage and functionalities. Note: this platform is very customizable, so showed main view can differ from supporter view.
1. Quick “Intercom” menus overview
When logging in user is greeted by few different menus. Shown below is a short introduction to every option these menus provide and a short description:
1.1. Quick main menu overview:
1 - Create a new ticket. Create a ticket by selecting its type, branch and filling the title and its description;
2 - Ticket search module. Tool to find tickets by using any keywords, senders name and etc.;
3 - Overview of all supporter various status tickets that have been assigned since the beginning;
4 – Mentions of supporter. Shows every ticket where supporter have been tagged;
5 - Real time statistics overview. Option to monitor supporter performance;
6 - Customizable views tab, where user can view supporter set views or manage existing ones;
7 - Customizable tickets view, where supporter can create custom ticket statuses for every kind of ticket;
8 - Another custom view tab dedicated to see teammates tickets;
9 - Shortcuts practicing tool;
10 - Sidebar editor tool. Lets to add custom sidebar views by pinning, unpinning them or create a new one:
11 – Supporter name and sidebar hide side menu button;
12 – Ticket list including statuses and other custom info (for extended overview visit 1.3. chapter);
13 – Ticket view options: chat or table layouts;
14 – ”Intercom” help bot.
1.2. Quick side menu overview:
1 – AI supporter editor;
2 – Help desk;
3 – AI agent editor;
4, 5 - Automatic messages modules;
6 - Knowledge articles;
7 – Supporter performance reports;
8 - Contacts list;
9 - Help center for using ”Intercom”;
10 - Extra apps;
11 - Getting started guide;
12 – Settings and customization;
13 - Supporter info and settings.
1.3. Quick ticket list overview:
1 – Status changer. Lets supporter see tickets in other statuses:
2 - Section move/edit tool. By pressing on the side of the text Supporter can move and edit ticket filters and make everything comfortable for a personal view.
3 - Main window bar where supporter can move, sort and add various filters of the tickets and see ticket statuses.
1.4. Ticket view overview:
By pressing anywhere on the ticket in the main window supporters are greeted by extended ticket info view. Here is an overview of its functionalities:
1 – Priority mark. Supporters can mark this ticket to be top priority;
2 – Extra menu button that let supporter to:
Manage participants – add extra message receivers.
New conversion - create a new ticket with same senders and receivers.
Export conversion - can export conversion transcripts.
Show conversion events – reveal ticket history, assignments and other backend info.
3 – Ticket conversion button. By default every ticket and chat first comes in the chat form. If the question requires more attention and Supporter need to transform it to the ticket press this button, then select the branch, edit the title and AI generated description (optional), ant press convert:
4 – Snooze button. Can freeze the ticket for selected amount of time to reopen it later on when it needs to:
The client doesn‘t receive any notifications when ticket goes on snooze.
5 – Ticket status button. Until it is not converted to a ticket, the chat can only be closed.
After the conversion there can be more options to select (they can look different, depending from supporters work branch):
Changing the status of ticket creates an automated message to the client regarding its progress.
Note: if during the status change supporter wants to include text information it‘s better to use 7.5 functionality to reduce the amount of extra automated messages that client might receive by combining status and answer text to one letter (send and update state).
6 – Chat with the client, ticket info (its text, senders/receivers, tags and etc.).
On client chat supporter can see CC letters for more details by clicking on this symbol:
By scrolling on supporter answer supporter can see extra options:
6.1. – Extra options window:
6.2. – Reply to selected message;
6.3. – Tagging tool. Lets supporter to add tag to the ticket which lets ticket to be visible to other created user groups.
7 – Reply inbox:
7.1. Lets supporter to select between email (public answer) and internal note (for private note on the ticket):
By clicking on empty space, user can see and add a contact email:
7.2. A list of shortcuts for a quick access.
7.3. Macros manager (need to to add it to a text box to have it, see 2.3 macros chapter on how to).
7.4. Adds an attachment to the email (need to to add it to a text box to have it, see 2.3 chapter on how to).
7.5. Send button or extended sending options:
8 – Ticket view extension/close the window.
9 – Assignee, team and SLA statuses.
10 – Ticket linking tool.
11 – Ticket creation tool for 2nd line support in cases of a bug, consultation, new feature or other instances.
12 - Side conversion creation tool:
13 – Info about the ticket, sender, the issue and amount of objects affected:
14 – Info about supporter.
15 – Ticket history with current client.
16 – Assigned supporter notes on this ticket.
17 – Tags. Lets user to tag ticket with custom tags.
18 – Lead segments.
19 – Recent ticket views.
20 – Simiar conversions regarding issue/object.
21 – Details about company.
21 – Apps editing. Lets to add extra options about tickets:
2. Getting started
2.1. Workplace setup:
Before starting we recommend to create a personal view list and ticket distribution system because at least for now every new user starts with default system parameter which only includes basic view of other teams.
If user doesn‘t have any views it can be added trough sidebar editing option:
To get started with the set up, press "..." symbol in the quick menu and add a existing view or create a new one:
To create a new one press > button in „Add views“ section and select „Create view“:
After that, the creation window will show up:
User can change icon of the view by clicking on the icon and enter its name.
Using filter, user can create their view logic using is/is not and/or constants regarding the selected filter from their pool:
For example, lets create all separate tickets statuses filter for ourselves by first selecting team assignation and ticket type filter logic in filter selection module:
Or/and logic between filters can be edited by clicking on the selected prefix:
The usage of and/or logic at least for now applies to all filters in the view logic, so keep in mind that while creating custom views:
Every ticket type view logic should be you, as a assigned teammate and every other ticket status excluded the one that user needs plus value logic on solved tickets. For example, this is how full views for every status looks like:
Note: Keep in mind, that every ticket first comes in a form of chat and compared to regular tickets they have different kind of states and SLA‘s. Chat comes without supporter working branch prefix (New, Open etc.) and the regular ticket comes with (New LT, Open LT etc.), so to have every type of tickets into correct categories user needs to make multiple of same ticket states included into filter logic (in this case for example New and NEW LT, Open and Open LT and etc.).
After the views are made they can be moved by by clicking and draging left dotted side of the view:
Unwanted views can be unpinned / edited or deleted by pressing "..." symbol:
All unpinned folders can be found on “Edit sidebar” module to be enabled again:
2.2. Tickets solving workflow:
The workflow in “Intercom” is fairly similar to “Zendesk”, but the main differences are that all the tickets first come in the chat form and the way how supporter can register a ticket to other support teams.
In case of first line tickets workflow if the question from client is easy enough to answer it is not necessary to convert it to the ticket, but if task requires more attention, the first thing to do is to convert chat to the ticket form:
After optional conversion supporter can update the client with ticket solving progress:
And depending of its status, ticket will go to specific category to user created views:
After that supporter can provide answer in the text box with text and pictures, leave notes or send it further to 2nd help line:
2.2.1. Creating tickets for 2nd line:
On ticket details, press “Back-office tickets”:
Select the type of ticket:
In this case, we need to select “Consultation with Global”. After doing so the following windows will appear:
Fill the required information, like title, description, IMEI, object name and add screenshots if it’s needed.
After the creation supporter created ticket will be visible under “Back-office tickets”:
Where by clicking on it users can see ticket, notes and progress of the solution.
2.3. Extra customization:
For easier workflow it is recommended to also customize mail addons, macros and notifications.
1. Mail addons:
To get access to extra addons like the usage of macros (answers templates), file attachments user needs to click inside the text box to reveal … symbol in the lower left corner:
After that a list shows up for a possible features to add by pinning them to the quick menu:
After its pinned, the feature will show up near by the text box, ready to be used:
2. Macros:
Macros or also known as answers templates can be created through macros module in the text box:
Or by pressing “Settings” tab in a quick menu:
To create a new macro, press “New Macro” button:
Edit title, add text and change availability depending from the needs:
And hit Save to add it to the list
3. Notifications:
To change sound notifications regarding incoming tickets press user "Notification" icon under "Settings":
Here user can select best way to receive additional notifications regarding ticket statuses and its updates:
