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Understanding Email Cases and Threads

Every email interaction is associated with a case. A case is an instance of customer service that is created to track all communications related to a specific customer request. It is created when the request arrives, maintained as an active entity while the request is being worked on, and closed when the request is fulfilled. When a new email request arrives, the system creates a case for it automatically and assigns a number to this case that is unique within your contact center (e.g., 14355). This number is typically communicated to the customer and can be used by both the customer and yourself to refer to the given request in all future communications. This number also helps you quickly find all past communications related to the case in the email history.

A case is closed when you assign a final disposition to an email associated with this case. A final disposition is a disposition that indicates that no further follow-up is expected or necessary for the given case (e.g., the customer has confirmed request fulfillment). Dispositions are fully customizable and can often be service-specific. Your system administrator will explain how to use dispositions and point out the ones that can be used to close cases.

A group of emails related to the same case is called an email thread. When you reply to a customer’s request for the first time, the system will generate a unique thread identifier and attach it to the email subject. Unlike the case number, the email thread identifier may contain both numbers and letters (e.g., JXA6PDRNQ2SO) and is intended primarily for automatic processing. For example, when a new email comes in, the system will analyze the subject to see if there is a thread identifier. If an identifier is found and recognized, the system will automatically assign that email to the corresponding case. Depending on your service configuration, the system may also attempt to deliver that email to you if you have previously worked on this case.

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