Request Information from the Customer
Agents often get stuck on a ticket because they need one more detail from the customer: a new date to reschedule a technician visit, a delivery landmark, an alternate phone number. Request from customer hands that chase to the AI. The ticket leaves the queue, the AI asks the customer and collects the answer, and the ticket comes back to the agent with the value filled in.
Example: rescheduling a service job
- A Service job ticket has a child ticket assigned to a technician.
- The customer can't make the visit. The technician clicks Request from customer, picks Reschedule date, and sends.
- The technician's ticket is set to blocked and shows Waiting for customer input. It no longer appears in their queue.
- The customer gets a WhatsApp message: "Hi Asha, we need to reschedule your technician visit for SJ-10. Which date works for you?"
- The customer replies "next Thursday". The AI turns that into a date, checks it is in the future, and confirms it with the customer.
- The date is saved on the ticket under Customer provided. The technician's ticket goes back to the queue, to the same technician when they're available.
Setting it up
1. Make an objective requestable
In the Data Library, open or create an objective and tick Agents can request this from the customer. Then set:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Answer type | Text, number, yes/no, date, or date and time. Dates and date-times must be in the future. |
| Accepted values | Limits the answer to a list of options, such as time slots. |
| How to ask | Optional guidance for wording the question, such as "mention the technician visit". |
| WhatsApp template | An approved template to use when the customer hasn't messaged in the last 24 hours. |
| Template body variables | Values for the template's variables, in order. You can use {{customerName}}, {{ticketName}} and {{question}}. |
| Email subject | Optional; can include {{ticketName}}. |
| Reminders and timeout | How often to remind the customer (default every 24 hours, up to 2 reminders) and when to give up (default 72 hours). |
| Default when the customer doesn't reply | Return the ticket to the queue with a note, or close the ticket. |
The objective also needs a description, which the AI uses to understand the answer.
Without a template, WhatsApp requests only reach customers who wrote in the last 24 hours. Email always works if the customer has an email address.
You can also ask the Copilot to set this up, for example: "Let technicians ask the customer for a new visit date, using the info_request template."
2. Give agents the permission
Agents need Request information from customer in their role. Agent, Senior agent, Backend agent, Senior backend agent and Team lead roles have it by default. Roles that could already create child tickets were given it automatically. For custom roles, an admin enables it under Settings → Teams → Roles.
Sending a request
On a ticket, click Request from customer (below Add child ticket). The button appears when the ticket, or its active child ticket, is queued or assigned and no other request is open.
- What do you need from the customer? Pick the objective.
- Ask on: WhatsApp, email, or both. Channels the customer can't be reached on are disabled.
- WhatsApp template, timeout and what happens if they don't reply start from the objective's settings and can be changed for this request.
- Return to the same agent when possible sends the ticket back to the agent who asked. If they're unavailable, it goes to the team queue.
- Internal note is visible only to agents.
The request pauses the active child ticket if there is one, otherwise the main ticket.
While the request is open
The ticket shows a Waiting for customer card with the request's status, channels, reminders sent and when it times out. From the card you can:
- Conversation: see the messages sent and the customer's replies.
- Enter answer: type the answer yourself, for example when the customer phones in. The ticket returns to the queue straight away.
- Cancel request: stop asking and return the ticket to the queue.
While a request is open you can't add a child ticket, mark the ticket awaiting response, or snooze it. Cancel the request first.
A customer can have only one open request at a time.
How customer replies are handled
| Customer replies on | What happens |
|---|---|
| The reply goes to the request, not the AI conversation. Messages sent close together (for example "Thursday" then "3pm") are read as one answer. | |
| Email, on the request's thread | Always handled by the request. |
| Email, on another thread | Handled by the request only if it answers it. Anything else goes to normal support. |
| Instagram or Live Chat | Not captured yet. The normal AI replies; an agent can use Enter answer. |
| Phone call | An agent uses Enter answer. |
Depending on the reply, the AI:
- Complete and valid answer: saves it, confirms with the customer, and returns the ticket.
- Incomplete or invalid (for example a date in the past): asks a follow-up question, up to 3 times. After that the ticket returns to the agent with a note.
- About something else: acknowledges it, repeats the question, and copies the message to the ticket as an internal note.
- Customer declines or asks for a person: ends the request and returns the ticket to the agent with the customer's words.
When the customer answers
- The value appears under Customer provided on the ticket, with the time and whether the customer or an agent gave it.
- It is also saved to the ticket's data, so the flow can use it when the ticket continues.
- The request is shown as resolved in the ticket family, and the waiting ticket returns to the queue. The AI conversation is not restarted.
If the customer doesn't reply
Reminders go out at the configured interval, using the template when the WhatsApp window has closed. At the timeout, depending on the setting:
- Return to the queue: the ticket goes back with a note saying the customer didn't respond.
- Close the ticket: the whole ticket family is closed. A ticket with an owner is never closed automatically; it goes back to the owner instead.
If the first message can't be sent on any channel, the ticket returns to the agent immediately with the reason.