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Avoid Duplicate Tickets Across Channels

Customers often switch channels when they need an update. They may email first, then send a WhatsApp message, or start on live chat and later reply on Instagram. Without deduplication, each message can create a separate agent ticket for the same customer and the same issue.

Flowcall's cross-channel ticket handling keeps one active customer issue attached to one ticket. When the same customer reaches out on another supported channel while an active ticket already exists, Flowcall updates or routes the existing ticket instead of creating another ticket for agents to handle.

When to Use This Recipe​

Use this setup if your team supports the same customers across multiple channels, especially when agent capacity differs by channel.

For example:

  1. A customer emails about an order issue.
  2. The email ticket is still open.
  3. The same customer sends a WhatsApp message asking for an update.
  4. Flowcall finds the existing ticket and decides whether to move it to WhatsApp or keep it on email.

The goal is to avoid duplicate queue work. Agents should not see separate active tickets for the same customer just because the customer tried a second channel.

What Flowcall Deduplicates​

Flowcall checks for an existing active ticket for the customer before creating a new one. If an active ticket is found on another channel, the incoming message is handled as part of that ticket's routing flow.

This prevents:

  • Two agents picking up the same customer issue on different channels.
  • The AI continuing a conversation while a human ticket is already open elsewhere.
  • Customers receiving conflicting answers from different queues.
  • Queue volume being inflated by repeated messages from the same customer.

Resolved tickets are not treated as active for this deduplication flow. If the earlier ticket is already resolved, the customer's new conversation can create a new ticket.

Agent Ticket Behavior​

For tickets that are already with the support team, Flowcall uses channel priority.

This applies when the existing ticket is:

  • Queued
  • Assigned
  • Blocked

Channel priority decides where the active ticket should live. The default order is WhatsApp → Instagram → Live Chat → Voice Call → Email, but admins can change it under Settings → Ticket Behavior.

If the incoming channel has higher priority than the current ticket channel, Flowcall moves the ticket to the incoming channel. For example, if the customer has an open email ticket and then messages on WhatsApp, the ticket can move to WhatsApp.

If the existing ticket channel has higher priority, Flowcall keeps the ticket there. For example, if a ticket is already active on WhatsApp and the customer sends an email, the ticket stays on WhatsApp. The customer is told that support will continue on the active channel instead of creating a second email ticket.

This is useful when priority reflects agent staffing. If WhatsApp has more available agents than email, keeping or moving work to WhatsApp can help the team respond faster without splitting the same issue into multiple tickets.

Awaiting Response Ticket Behavior​

Awaiting-response tickets work differently from agent tickets.

This applies when the existing ticket is:

  • Awaiting response (by agent)
  • Awaiting response (by system)

These tickets are waiting because Flowcall expects the customer to reply. When the customer replies on a different supported channel, Flowcall treats that channel as the active customer channel.

In this case, channel priority is not used. The ticket moves to the channel where the customer replied, reopens into the queue, and Flowcall sends a short acknowledgement on that channel. The customer should not be forced back to the older channel when they have already restarted the conversation somewhere else.

For example:

  1. An agent marks a WhatsApp ticket as awaiting response.
  2. The customer later replies by email.
  3. Flowcall reopens the same ticket on email instead of creating a new email ticket.
  4. Agents continue from the same ticket context.

This keeps the queue accurate while preserving the customer's latest active channel.

Customer Notifications​

Flowcall sends operational routing messages so the customer knows where support will continue.

Common cases:

  • If an email ticket moves to WhatsApp, Instagram, or live chat, the email thread receives a notice that the ticket moved.
  • If a customer emails while the existing ticket should stay on a higher-priority channel, Flowcall replies by email and tells them support will continue on that channel.
  • If an awaiting-response ticket reopens on the channel where the customer replied, Flowcall acknowledges that the conversation will continue there.

These notices are not normal AI answers. For email, routing notices are sent even if automatic email replies are off or the thread has reached the Max AI email replies limit.

Set the priority order based on where your team can respond fastest.

For example:

  • Put WhatsApp above Email when WhatsApp has more agents or faster expected response times.
  • Put Live Chat higher when website visitors need immediate help and your team monitors chat closely.
  • Keep Email lower when email is handled in slower batches.

Review the order whenever staffing changes. The priority list should reflect operational capacity, not just customer preference.

Configure this behavior under Settings → Ticket Behavior.

For the reference lifecycle details, see Ticket Lifecycle → Cross-channel Ticket Handling.