If you’re drowning in support tickets and Freshworks is your tool of choice, you’re in the right spot. This guide is for anyone who actually has to get through the queue—support reps, team leads, or anyone who wants less chaos and fewer angry customers. Forget the fluff: here’s how to actually use Freshworks to get customers sorted and your sanity back.
1. Set up your Freshworks ticket views the right way
First things first: if your ticket list is a mess, you’ll never get on top of it. Freshworks lets you customize views, and taking a few minutes to set these up properly will save you hours down the line.
What to do:
- Use filters to set up views by priority, status, or agent.
- Create a “Today’s Must-Do” view—tickets that are open, high priority, and unassigned or assigned to you.
- Make separate views for “Waiting on Customer” and “Pending Internal.”
Pro tip: Don’t go overboard with custom views. Too many, and you’ll just hide tickets from yourself. Stick to what you actually use.
2. Understand what “priority” really means (and set it up)
Not every “urgent” ticket is actually urgent. Freshworks lets you set ticket priorities (Low, Medium, High, Urgent), but if your whole queue is set to “Urgent,” you’re back to square one.
How to make it work:
- Define what each priority means for your team. Write it down. Stick to it.
- Use automation to help, but don’t trust it blindly. For example, set up rules: “If subject includes 'outage', mark as high priority.”
- Teach your team (and yourself) to adjust priorities as info changes. The first ticket in might not always be the most critical.
What to ignore: Default priorities set by customers. They’ll almost always mark it as urgent. Set your own standards.
3. Use automations, but don’t let the robot run wild
Automations in Freshworks can route tickets, set priorities, and assign owners. This is great, but if you try to automate every edge case, you’ll just create confusion.
Best uses:
- Auto-assign tickets based on type, channel, or keywords (e.g., billing goes to finance, outages go to tech).
- Send auto-responses to confirm receipt, but keep them short—nobody likes a wall of canned text.
- Escalate tickets that haven’t been touched in X hours or days.
What to watch out for:
- Over-automation. If tickets keep bouncing between queues or agents, you’ve probably gone too far.
- Automation loops (yes, it happens). Test your rules before rolling them out.
4. Triage tickets like a human, not a robot
Even with automations, someone has to look at the queue and make judgment calls. Here’s how to triage without losing your mind:
- Skim first: Look for keywords (down, can’t login, payment failed) that really matter.
- Quick wins: Knock out easy tickets first—password resets, FAQs, etc. This keeps the queue moving and morale up.
- Cluster similar issues: If five people reported the same bug, group them under one parent ticket and communicate the same update.
Honest take: Don’t get bogged down “researching” every ticket before starting. Move fast, and escalate when you hit a wall.
5. Communicate better than the competition
Most customer complaints come from feeling ignored. Even if you don’t have an answer, a quick update goes a long way.
Tips:
- Use Freshworks’ canned responses, but personalize a line or two. “We’re on it” beats “Your ticket is important to us.”
- Set realistic expectations. If you’ll need two days, say so.
- Update tickets as soon as you know something new—even if it’s “still investigating.”
What to avoid: Over-promising. Customers remember what you said, and so does your boss.
6. Make use of Freshworks’ collaboration features (but don’t overcomplicate)
You can add private notes, @mention teammates, and link tickets together. This is helpful—up to a point.
How to use it well:
- Add private notes for context (“Customer called in, very frustrated, promised update by EOD”).
- @Mention teammates only when you actually need their help—not just to pass the buck.
- Link duplicate tickets, but don’t get obsessed with perfect organization. Good enough is fine.
A word of caution: Too many notes and tags can turn every ticket into a novel. Keep it short and relevant.
7. Close the loop (and actually close the tickets)
Finishing a ticket doesn’t mean the customer is happy—but it does mean the problem is (hopefully) solved.
Checklist:
- Confirm with the customer that things are fixed before closing.
- Use Freshworks’ satisfaction surveys if they’re set up—don’t rely on them as your only feedback, but they help spot trends.
- If the issue comes up again, look at past tickets for history before replying. Don’t make people repeat themselves.
Don’t bother: Chasing every “thank you” reply as a new ticket. Set up rules to auto-close those.
8. Reporting and learning: Use data, not just gut feeling
Freshworks pumps out a lot of reports—most are fine, but you only need a few:
Useful reports:
- Average response time
- First contact resolution rate
- Most common issues (by tag or category)
How to use them:
- Look for bottlenecks. Are certain types of tickets always slow? Fix the process or add a FAQ.
- Spot repeat offenders—same customers or same bugs? Dig deeper.
Ignore: Vanity metrics like “tickets touched.” Focus on outcomes, not busywork.
Pro tips for keeping your queue sane
- Batch work: Handle similar tickets together—it saves time.
- Set “focus” hours: Block out time for ticket triage so you’re not always context-switching.
- Don’t let the queue own you: Some days, you won’t get to zero. That’s normal.
Keep it simple, review, and improve
Managing support tickets in Freshworks isn’t rocket science, but it’s easy to overcomplicate. Start simple, review what’s working, and tweak as you go. The best teams keep their process light, their communication clear, and their eyes on the customer—not just the ticket count.
You won’t get it perfect. That’s fine. Just keep it moving, learn from the pain points, and don’t be afraid to scrap what isn’t helping.