📩 How to Set Up Email-to-Ticket Automation in Supportbench (Step-by-Step Guide)

by Marcel Gravelle

Last updated: 27-Aug-2025

Mastering Email-to-Ticket Automation in Supportbench: A Comprehensive Guide

Overview

In a fast-paced support environment, manual ticket creation is a significant bottleneck. It introduces delays, risks human error, and creates inconsistent service experiences. Supportbench's workflow automation transforms this process by converting every inbound support email into a perfectly structured, categorized, and assigned ticket—instantly and without manual intervention.

This guide provides a step-by-step walkthrough for building robust email-to-ticket workflows. You will learn how to intelligently route inquiries based on sender domain, subject keywords, and other advanced conditions, turning your email channel into a highly efficient, automated ticketing engine.

The Power of Automated Email-to-Ticket Conversion

Email-to-ticket automation is a core function that allows your Supportbench instance to intelligently process inbound emails and convert them into actionable support tickets. This system ensures that every customer request is:

• Instantly Captured: Emails are automatically converted into tickets, eliminating the risk of missed requests and creating an immediate record in your system.

• Intelligently Triaged: Tickets are automatically prioritized, categorized with the correct issue type, and tagged for granular reporting.

• Correctly Assigned: Based on predefined rules, tickets are routed to the appropriate agent, team, or support tier, ensuring the request is handled by the right expert from the start.

This level of automation streamlines your operational workflow, dramatically reduces first response times, and establishes a foundation for a scalable support model.

Building Your Automation Workflow: A Step-by-Step Guide

Prerequisite: Connect Your Support Email Channel

Before you can automate ticketing, Supportbench must be configured to receive emails. This involves routing emails from your support address (e.g., support@yourcompany.com) to your unique Supportbench ingestion address.

1. Navigate to Configuration > Email Configuration > Routes.

2. If you have not done so already, add your public-facing support email address.

3. Follow the instructions to set up email forwarding from your email provider (e.g., Google Workspace, Microsoft 365) to the address provided by Supportbench.

4. Send a test email to your support address to confirm it appears as a new ticket in Supportbench.

Once email ingestion is active, you are ready to build automation.

Step 1: Initiate Your Workflow

1. From your Supportbench dashboard, navigate to Configuration > Workflows.

2. Click “Create New Workflow”.

3. Provide a clear and descriptive name for your workflow. A good naming convention helps with future management. For example: Email | High-Priority | Enterprise Client Routing.

Step 2: Define Trigger Conditions (The "When")

This is the most critical step, where you define the specific criteria an incoming email must meet to trigger this workflow. The conditions act as a filter, ensuring your actions are only applied to the correct tickets.

You can build simple or complex logic using a variety of attributes:

• Email Domain: Filter by the sender's domain (e.g., is from @vipclient.com).

• Keywords: Scan the subject or body for specific terms (e.g., contains "urgent", "escalation", "system down").

• Attachments: Trigger based on the presence or absence of attachments.

• Custom Fields: Utilize data from custom fields populated through other processes.

Example of a Multi-Condition Trigger: This workflow will trigger if an incoming email meets any of the following high-priority criteria:

• Sender's email domain is enterpriseclient.com

• OR Subject contains the words down, emergency, urgent

This ensures that any critical issue or communication from a key client immediately initiates the automated process.

Step 3: Configure Automated Actions (The "What")

Once an email meets your trigger conditions, you define the series of actions Supportbench should perform. These actions structure the ticket and place it in your operational queue.

Essential Actions for Email-to-Ticket Workflows:

• Set Priority: Automatically assign a priority level, such as High, Urgent, or a custom value.

• Set Issue Type: Categorize the ticket with a predefined type like Billing Inquiry, Technical Outage, or Login Issue for accurate reporting and routing.

• Assign Ownership: Route the ticket directly to a specific User, a Team (e.g., Tier 2 Support), or a support queue.

• Add Tags: Apply relevant tags like SLA_4_Hour or Product_Module_A for filtering and analytics.

• Send Auto-Reply: Inform the customer that their ticket has been received and provide an estimated response time by applying a specific email template.

Step 4: Test and Validate Your Workflow

Before activating the workflow, rigorous testing is essential to prevent misrouting.

1. Test the Match Condition: Send a test email from a personal account that precisely matches the criteria you defined in Step 2.

2. Confirm the Outcome: Verify that the email is converted into a ticket and that all configured actions were applied correctly (e.g., correct priority, issue type, and owner).

3. Test the Non-Match Condition: Send another email that does not meet the criteria to ensure the workflow is not triggered incorrectly.

4. Review Logs: For troubleshooting, you can review automation history in the Audit Logs or by inspecting the ticket's metadata to see which workflows have been applied.

Step 5: Deploy, Monitor, and Optimize

After successful testing, activate your workflow. However, the process doesn't end there. Regularly review workflow performance to ensure it remains effective as your business evolves.

• Add New Keywords: Update your keyword list to capture new issue types or terminology.

• Refine Routing Logic: As your team structure changes, adjust assignments to new teams or agents.

• Handle New Clients: Onboard new high-value clients by adding their domains to priority workflows.

• Review Performance: Periodically check for miscategorized tickets to identify opportunities for improvement. Consider pairing workflows with AI sentiment detection or customer-tier data for even more intelligent routing decisions.

Strategic Use Cases for Advanced Automation

Here are real-world examples to inspire your workflow creation:

Conclusion

By investing a small amount of time in setting up email-to-ticket automation, you can transform Supportbench into an intelligent, self-sufficient ticketing system. These workflows eliminate repetitive administrative tasks, enforce service consistency, and ensure that every customer issue is categorized and routed for the fastest possible resolution. Start with a few core workflows and expand over time—your agents will be more effective, and your customers will benefit from a more responsive support experience.