Using the Proactive Tickets app

<div class="article-banners">
<div id="docs-wmp-link"><a href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5411234991258-plan" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">What's my plan?</a></div>
<div class="article-banner" id="suite_all"><figure class="wysiwyg-table wysiwyg-table-align-left"><table style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr>
<td><strong>All Suites</strong></td>
<td>Team, Growth, Professional, Enterprise, or Enterprise Plus</td>
</tr></tbody></table></figure></div>
<div class="article-banner" id="support_all"><figure class="wysiwyg-table wysiwyg-table-align-left"><table style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr>
<td><strong>Support</strong></td>
<td>Team, Professional, or Enterprise</td>
</tr></tbody></table></figure></div>
</div><div class="p"><div class="note important">
<span class="importanttitle"><strong>Important:</strong></span><strong> </strong>The Proactive Tickets app will be discontinued on October 21, 2026. See the <a href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10479808424986" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">announcement</a> for more information. </div></div><p>Here are some ways you might want to use proactive tickets:</p><ul>
<li data-list-item-id="e3d2f877ac4176ec75b56528ec17236b5">
<strong style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.45em;">Manage business renewals:</strong> Create proactive tickets when your customers are coming up to their subscription renewals. With subscription type or renewal date stored in a custom user field in your account, you can target specific customer types. </li>
<li data-list-item-id="e1d4c6f3fd60fb8ee5286460fe1689837">
<strong class="ph b" style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.45em;">Online retailers:</strong> Proactively reach out to customers based on their service changes, purchase history, or order fulfillment status. Knowing your buyers' history can help you anticipate potential issues with their experience, driving up revenue and reducing abandonment.  </li>
<li data-list-item-id="e2421ab92c79f5259acd1492d1d6d4621">
<strong style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.45em;">Internal help desks: </strong>Notify users within your organization of service disruptions or policy changes. Keeping your employees up and running reduces downtime and maintains their productivity. </li>
</ul><p>To help you get started, this guide will walk through: </p><ul>
<li data-list-item-id="e4d7404c185f27911b8f6dce27c40fa00"><a href="#h_01GQ3MT7V7Z9ZWWXHCMPZZS994" target="_self">Important considerations </a></li>
<li data-list-item-id="ec32fcaebe91e6def3118bc83cb320c2a"><a href="#using_pro_active">Creating proactive tickets campaigns</a></li>
<li data-list-item-id="e8b9f604b291597e5ee0b5f1f47bc69c6"><a href="#bestpractice_proactive">Best practices for your proactive ticket campaigns</a></li>
</ul><div class="body">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="h_01GQ3MT7V7Z9ZWWXHCMPZZS994">Important considerations </h2>
<ul>
<li class="p" data-list-item-id="efe7b8aed72bdb3d2cbf10394b37c7124">You must set a default time zone on your <a href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408835022490" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">user profile</a> to use the Proactive Tickets app. If a default time zone isn't set, you will encounter a blank page when running a search.</li>
<li data-list-item-id="e6c72094df8737c69cf9c747308f6a4f3">The Proactive Tickets app does not work with <a href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4412575861018" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">custom ticket statuses.</a> The app is only compatible with <a href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408832151834-Updating-and-solving-tickets#topic_i3y_np1_vt" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">system ticket status fields</a>. </li>
<li data-list-item-id="ebe55da0bf13dbe29bba0571223bea9ef">When searching for customers, only 20 display in search results at a time. To create more than 20 tickets at once, increase the number of users per page.</li>
<li data-list-item-id="e503c58a08a4ce0ab31217d4f59767f17">When searching for information in custom user fields, use the key that names the custom field. If you are looking for a specific multi-word phrase (such as “renewal date”), enclose it in quotes. This ensures that you receive exact matches.<br>Example: To search for the custom field named "renewal date," you would enter it as follows: custom_field_name: "renewal date".</li>
</ul>
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="h_01HHQ2DWP4STQC4GWGE8R00CFJ"><a id="installation_proactive"></a></h2>
<div class="body"><div class="p">
<h2 id="h_01HHQ2DWP4FFH0TKH2J0KVV8KK">
<a id="using_pro_active"></a>Creating proactive ticket campaigns</h2>
<p>It's best practice to double check your customer list and make sure that you are sending to the correct group of customers.</p>
<p>To create a campaign using the Proactive Tickets app, agents must have permissions to create and edit shared views.</p>
<p><strong>To create a proactive ticket campaign</strong></p>
<ol>
<li data-list-item-id="ede3049e9528dc07ab689d0065e14ae12">Click the Proactive Tickets (<img src="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/article_attachments/7856445814426" alt="" width="23" height="23">) icon in the left navigation bar. </li>
<li data-list-item-id="ebc195e6f664cdec2e44eb9ff8267ab04">Enter search criteria to create a filtered list of customers, then click <strong>Search</strong>.<br>Use the text field at the top to search all user fields. For example, type an organization name, tag, or last name in the text field, and the app will search all user fields to find results.<br>You can also use individual fields to search for customers. For example, to create a list of customers at the Petipet organization with a VIP tag on their profile, type <strong>Petipet</strong> in the <strong>Organization</strong> field and <strong>VIP</strong> in the <strong>Tags</strong> field.</li>
<li data-list-item-id="e6ed1d20c38f5e3c1fe9a7ac59b58eec0">Select the customers in the list, then select <strong>Create ticket</strong>.</li>
<li data-list-item-id="ecbb8ffc2ff0bb06aef6367478a84e430">Enter a unique name in the <strong>Name your campaign </strong>field. The name will be added as a tag to all the tickets for this campaign. You can use this tag to create custom reports.</li>
<li data-list-item-id="e8f925ec0eb4c8712813639cd877d9aa8">
<p>Enter remaining details, like the subject, description, ticket status, and assignee, in the <strong>Create your proactive ticket </strong>section. </p>
<div class="note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> If you're creating proactive tickets with a Solved status, make sure to fill out any required fields on the ticket form before proceeding.</div>
</li>
<li data-list-item-id="eb50d23acbb8fc5aaaf03cca719f0154e">Select a macro to run on the proactive tickets as they are created</li>
<li data-list-item-id="efe9cba69de98f7c0c9ef298e4193f1b4">Click <strong>Next</strong> to preview your proactive ticket.</li>
<li data-list-item-id="e5187fe4bfd61a28e2adf6b2c84022562">Review your proactive ticket details and click <strong>Send</strong> to send your campaign.</li>
<li data-list-item-id="ed171356379a35a8d88f9cc3038bfffb8">Once your tickets are all created, a confirmation page appears. Additionally, Zendesk will automatically create a ticket view for your campaign. Click <strong>G</strong><strong style="background-color: initial; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.45em;">o to ticket view</strong> and use that dedicated view to manage your proactive tickets. </li>
</ol>
<p>Zendesk creates proactive tickets at a rate limit of 200 tickets per minute. Depending on how many proactive tickets you're creating, it might take a few minutes for your entire campaign to run. Please do not leave the screen during this time.</p>
<h2 id="h_01HHQ2DWP4D450KETFGJB65P0X">
<a id="bestpractice_proactive"></a>Best practices for your proactive ticket campaigns</h2>
<p>In addition to setting up the Proactive Tickets app, you can set up other aspects of your Zendesk to support your proactive ticket campaigns. </p>
<p><strong style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.45em;">Before you create proactive tickets:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li data-list-item-id="ea1adae0c40db5c06238a01970b316ee2">Your proactive tickets will follow the existing workflows you have set up in your Zendesk. Review your triggers setup to make sure you want your proactive tickets to follow the same workflow. To create a dedicated workflow for your proactive tickets, you'll need to set up a trigger based on the unique tag for your proactive ticket campaign. See <a style="background-color: initial; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.45em;" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408886797466">Streamlining workflows with triggers</a> for setup help. </li>
<li data-list-item-id="e64647a975259fd0aca9d0cb0641ab0d3">Meet with your team to communicate the objectives and create an action plan for your proactive tickets campaign. Identify queue management, triage, and escalation strategies. With a prepared plan of attack, your team will be more efficient and productive in managing your proactive communication.</li>
<li data-list-item-id="ed7d891db696463254022b7a8526a9a7c">Create other relevant tools, like macros to speed up repetitive responses, to support your proactive ticket campaign. See <a style="background-color: initial; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.45em;" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408887656602">Using macros to update tickets</a> for setup help. </li>
</ul>
<p><strong>As you create your proactive tickets:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li data-list-item-id="ec7059d2c05d19dcf3c80e42a0a0c6f89">Make sure that you do not create more proactive tickets than your team can reasonably support. If you're planning on proactively communicating with your customers, you'll want to be prepared to be able to respond back quickly and efficiently. A great way to gauge how many tickets your agents can support is by simply looking at your agents' ticket resolution power, as measured by tickets solved per day.</li>
<li data-list-item-id="e35245c493142035eefd28c28242e5763">Be mindful of your customers when creating proactive tickets on their behalf. Just like any other outbound customer communication, you want to be careful on how often you "reach out" or "spam" them. </li>
<li data-list-item-id="e96cab356da1846c326c6b1cc365cf8fb">Double-check your customer lists before sending out your proactive ticket campaign. We recommend that you create no more than 1,000 proactive tickets per campaign, so make sure your customer list has fewer than 1,000 customers. If you need to send to more customers, you'll need multiple campaigns. </li>
</ul>
<p><strong>After you create your proactive tickets:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li data-list-item-id="e9d218ac159f4811668a267baee71ddda">Check out the ticket view Zendesk automatically creates for you. You can use this view to organize and manage your proactive tickets. You can customize this ticket view to fit your needs. See <a style="background-color: initial; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.45em;" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408888828570">Using views to manage workflows</a> for setup help. </li>
<li data-list-item-id="e00a482a38799cda605034dd2ee4d2448">To report on your proactive ticket campaign, you can use the unique tag that was created for your proactive ticket campaign. </li>
</ul>
<h2 id="h_8cbb633c-99ec-48c7-9af1-e6214d00dded"><a id="bestpractice_proactive"></a></h2>
</div></div>
</div><script id="docs-schema-markup" type="application/ld+json">{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "TechArticle",
"@id": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408828120218",
"url": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408828120218-Using-the-Proactive-Tickets-app",
"headline": "Using the Proactive Tickets app",
"description": "You can create and manage proactive ticket campaigns to reach out to specific customer groups based on custom user fields and predefined criteria, while following best practices and workflow considerations.",
"articleSection": "Using Built by Zendesk apps",
"datePublished": "2021-10-16T03:32:01+00:00",
"dateModified": "2026-04-07T17:27:14+00:00",
"inLanguage": "en-US",
"mainEntityOfPage": {
"@type": "WebPage",
"@id": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408828120218"
},
"author": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Zendesk",
"@id": "https://www.zendesk.com"
},
"publisher": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Zendesk",
"@id": "https://www.zendesk.com"
},
"isPartOf": {
"@type": "WebSite",
"name": "Zendesk Help",
"@id": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/"
},
"about": {
"@type": "SoftwareApplication",
"name": "Zendesk",
"@id": "https://www.zendesk.com"
}
}</script>