Understanding ticket channels in Explore


In Explore, you can create reports based on the channel by which a ticket was created or updated.Channelsare the means by which your customers create support requests and how you engage with them.


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Summary: ◀▼
You can create reports to track how tickets are created and updated across various channels like email, chat, social media, and API. This helps you understand customer interactions and manage support requests from multiple sources, including messaging apps, phone calls, and web forms. Reporting on ticket and update channels provides insights into the origins and handling of support tickets for better team management.




In Explore, you can create reports based on the channel by which a ticket was
created or updated. Channels are the means by which your customers create support
requests and how you engage with them.
Use this article to learn how to report on channels in Explore. To learn more
about channels in general, see About Zendesk channels.
This article contains the following topics:

Viewing ticket channels in Explore
Ticket channel attribute values
Update channel attribute values



Viewing ticket channels in Explore

You can create a report to see which channels have been used to create or
update tickets and the number of tickets assigned to each channel.
To view your ticket channels

In Explore, create a report in the Support -
Updates history dataset.
In the Metrics panel, add the Tickets updated
metric.
In the Rows panel, add the following attributes:

Ticket channel: The channel by which a ticket was
created.

Update channel: The channel by which a ticket was
updated.



You'll see a table that looks similar to the example below. The specific
channels you see will depend on the channels you have installed. For example, if you
haven't set up Facebook integration with Zendesk Support, you won't see the Facebook
channel.




Ticket channel attribute values

The following values are available with the Ticket channel
attribute.








Channel name
Description


Answer Bot for Web Widget
Tickets created from Answer Bot's Article
Recommendations feature in the Web Widget (Classic) that led to a
ticket being solved.


Any channel
Tickets created from third-party Zendesk
integrations.


Api
Tickets generated or updated from the Zendesk API, for
example:
API phone call inbound
Web service
Ticket sharing
Group change
Linked problem
Rule
User change
Merge

Corresponds to the Web service (API)
channel in About Zendesk
channels.



Chat
Tickets created from a Zendesk Chat session.


Email
Tickets created from an email request.


Facebook
Tickets created from Facebook posts and messages. Corresponds to the Facebook message and Facebook
post channels in About Zendesk
channels.



Forum
Tickets created from a community post. Corresponds to
the Forum topic channel in About Zendesk
channels.



Help Center
Tickets created from a community post in the help center. Corresponds to the Help center post channel in
About Zendesk
channels.



Messaging
Tickets created from a web messaging conversation. For
more information, see About messaging.


Mobile
Tickets created from a Zendesk mobile app.


Mobile SDK
Tickets created from a custom app using the Zendesk
Mobile SDK.


rule
Tickets created, updated, or assigned through a system process
governed by Zendesk’s inborn rules (such as ticket assignments,
status changes, or mandatory fields).


Sample ticket
Typically refers to sample tickets included with new accounts and
some new features.


Side conversation
Tickets or communications within a ticket that originate from, or
is associated with, a side conversation.


SMS
Tickets created from a text message. Corresponds to
the Text channel in About Zendesk
channels.



System
Tickets created by Zendesk Support. Examples include
tickets created by importing from another application.


Twitter
Tickets created from an X Corp (formerly Twitter) mention, DM, or
like. Corresponds to the Twitter, Twitter
DM, and Twitter Like channels in About Zendesk
channels.



Voice
Tickets created from Zendesk Talk calls and voicemails. Corresponds to the Phone call (incoming),
Phone call (outgoing), and Voicemail channels
in About Zendesk
channels.



Web
Tickets created from a Support web form, the Support agent
interface (created by an agent), or the Web Widget. For
the Ticket channel attribute in the Support datasets,
follow-up tickets are also shown in this channel regardless of
how they are created. (The Update channel attribute in
the Updates history
dataset can return a value of Closed
ticket.)
Corresponds to the Web form
and Web Widget channels in About Zendesk
channels.





WhatsApp
LINE
WeChat
Facebook Messenger
Twitter Direct Message


If you're using the Zendesk Agent Workspace and add a social
messaging channel, these appear as ticket channels you can use in
your Explore reports. If you're not using the agent
workspace, you can use tags associated with each channel in your
reports. For help, see Monitoring your social media
channels.
Corresponds to the
Social messaging channel in About Zendesk
channels.








Update channel attribute values

The following values are available with the Update channel
attribute.








Channel name
Description


Answer Bot for Web Widget
Tickets updated by Answer Bot's Article Recommendations
feature in the Web Widget (Classic).


Any Channel
Tickets updated by third-party Zendesk
integrations.


API Phone call inbound
Tickets updated by


Batch
Tickets updated by a system automation that auto-closes
tickets.


Chat
Tickets updated by a Zendesk Chat session.


Chat Transcript
Tickets created from a live chat conversation where the
transcript (full record of the chat) is included in the ticket.


Closed Ticket
Tickets updated by replying to closed tickets, also known as
follow-up tickets. This channel value can be returned in
Explore only for the Update channel attribute in the
Updates history
dataset. (The Ticket channel attribute in the
Support datasets
returns a value of Web for all follow-up
tickets.)



Facebook Message
Tickets updated by Facebook messages. Corresponds to
the Facebook message channels in About Zendesk
channels.



Facebook Post
Tickets updated by Facebook posts. Corresponds to the
Facebook post channels in About Zendesk
channels.



Group change
Tickets that were reassigned from one group to
another.


Group deletion
Tickets updated as a result of their group being
deleted from your Zendesk account.


HelpCenter
Tickets updated by a community post in the help center. Corresponds to the Help center post channel in
About Zendesk
channels.



Linked problem
Tickets (typically of Type “Incident”) that are
associated or linked to a “Problem” ticket.


Mail
Tickets updated by an email request.


Merge
Tickets that have been closed and combined into another
ticket through the merge process.


Mobile
Tickets updated by a Zendesk mobile app.


Mobile SDK
Tickets updated by a custom app using the Zendesk
Mobile SDK.


Native Messaging
Tickets created through Zendesk messaging including the
messaging Web Widget, mobile SDKs, AI agents, and bot or API
integrations.


Phone call inbound
Tickets updated by incoming phone calls using Zendesk
Voice.


Phone call outbound
Tickets updated by outgoing phone calls using Zendesk
Voice.


Rule
Tickets updated by a system process governed by inborn
rules (such as ticket assignments, status changes, or mandatory
fields).


Sample Interactive Ticket
Typically refers to sample tickets included with new
accounts to showcase AI features.


Sample Ticket
Typically refers to sample tickets included with new
accounts and some new features.


Satisfaction prediction
Tickets that have been evaluated by Zendesk’s machine
learning model to predict the likelihood of receiving a good or bad
customer satisfaction (CSAT) rating.


Side Conversation
Tickets or communications within a ticket that
originate from, or is associated with, a side conversation.


SLA
Tickets matched by an active SLA policy. Only tickets
that meet the conditions you set within your SLA rules will have an
active SLA and be tracked accordingly.


Sms
Tickets updated by a text message. Corresponds to the
Text channel in About Zendesk
channels.



Sunshine Conversations Facebook Messenger
Tickets created from a conversation that originated on
Facebook Messenger, integrated into Zendesk via the Sunshine
Conversations (SunCo) platform.


Ticket Sharing
Tickets created or updated through the ticket sharing
feature, which allows tickets to be shared and synchronized between
different Zendesk Support accounts


Twitter
Tickets updated by a Twitter mention or like. Corresponds to the Twitter and Twitter Like
channels in About Zendesk
channels.



Twitter DM
Tickets updated by an X Corp (formerly Twitter) DM. Corresponds to the Twitter DM channels in About Zendesk
channels.



User change
Tickets with a significant change related to the user
associated with the ticket; most commonly, a change in the ticket’s
requester (the person who submitted the ticket) or another update to
the user profile linked to the ticket.


Voicemail
Tickets created when a Talk voicemail is left.


Web form
Tickets updated by a Support web form or the Support agent
interface (created by an agent). Corresponds to the
Web form channel in About Zendesk
channels.



Web service
Tickets created or updated through the Zendesk API. This includes
tickets generated by any integration, app, or external system that
connects to Zendesk using the API, such as custom automations,
webhooks, or third-party tools.


Web Widget
Tickets updated by the Web Widget. Corresponds to the
Web Widget channel in About Zendesk
channels.







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