The job this category serves
Customers have open issues that need to be resolved. A queue needs status, priority, context and an accountable owner. Begin with the unresolved work rather than the appeal of a chatbot interface.
What needs to exist first
- The incoming channels and the kinds of requests customers raise.
- A definition of resolved, an escalation route and coverage responsibility.
- Access to the customer context required to answer accurately.
Where this category stops
A marketing automation can acknowledge a question without resolving it. Account discovery and campaign sending are unrelated to reducing an existing support backlog.
A useful acceptance test
Take five old issues, including a repeated complaint and an exception. Reconstruct the history, assign an owner and demonstrate an escalation. Check that an automated answer cannot silently mark an unresolved issue complete.
Measure unresolved age, first useful response, reopen rate and correct escalation. Separate automated responses from verified resolutions.
Illustrative situation
A store has delivery complaints across chat and email. The task is preserving context and reaching resolution. Sending another promotional message cannot complete that task.
Capabilities to put in the requirements brief
Scroll horizontally to read all columns.
| Capability | Evidence to ask for | Exception to test |
|---|---|---|
| Case intake | Customer context, issue, source and current owner | The issue contains an exception or needs another team |
| Escalation | History, attempted answers and a next responsible person | No receiving operator acknowledges the handoff |
| Resolution | A clear completion definition and reopen path | An acknowledgement is counted as a completed resolution |
A worked planning example
A store sorts a backlog into delivery questions, damaged items and requests that require account review. Each has a different completion condition. A response containing a tracking link may finish one question but cannot automatically close an incorrect-delivery complaint. The pilot keeps those outcomes separate.
Set up a limited pilot
- Define what counts as unresolved, resolved, reopened and escalated.
- Bring five representative issues into one visible queue.
- Check that a human receives the transcript and any attempted automated answer.
- Test an offline request, an unknown answer and a repeated issue before using an automated assistant more widely.
How to approach a product shortlist
Tidio is a researched example combining support-related capabilities. Inspect its actual handoff, channel coverage and knowledge-source behavior for your case. A support record may remain necessary even when a customer initially arrives through social messaging.
Sources and review scope
- Tidio: Product FAQ
Official descriptions of support and handoff capabilities; no resolution-performance claim is adopted. Reviewed .
Official documentation supports the identified capability only. Proposed workflows and templates are editorial planning guidance, not completed product tests.