Lifecycle of a Ticket: Statuses & Transitions
Every ticket in your Support Inbox moves through a clearly defined lifecycle, marked by status transitions that reflect where the conversation stands — both from a customer support and operational workflow perspective. Understanding these statuses helps agents, admins, and automation systems coordinate responsibilities, prioritize conversations, and accurately measure performance (like response & resolution times, etc.).
Ticket Statuses Explained
Tickets can be in one of the following states:
Status | Description |
New | A ticket is created and neither a Bot or an Agent is assigned to the ticket. |
Open | The ticket is actively being worked on. This is the default status for agent-created tickets or when a ticket is assigned to an agent (from bot or manually). |
Pending | Used when the agent is waiting for a response from the customer or for an action from another team (e.g., warehouse, logistics). Keeps the ticket active but indicates it's temporarily paused. |
Resolved | The agent has provided a solution and believes the issue is resolved, but the ticket is kept open for a final customer response or confirmation. |
Closed | The ticket is fully completed and archived. No further messages can be sent. Customers and Agents will need to initiate a new conversation to re-engage. |
Status Transitions: How Tickets Move Through the Lifecycle
Default Transitions:
Trigger | From | To |
Ticket is created | N/A | New |
Agent or Bot Assigned | New | Open |
Agent is waiting on the customer | Open | Pending |
Agent sends final resolution message | Open / Pending | Resolved |
Admin/Agent confirms issue is fully closed | Resolved | Closed |
Customer sends a reply after resolution | Resolved | Open |
Additional Notes:
- A Resolved ticket can be reopened automatically if the customer replies again.
- A Closed ticket cannot be reopened
Bot vs. Agent Ticket Transitions
The ticket lifecycle slightly differs depending on whether the ticket is being handled by a Bot or an Agent.
Bot Ticket Lifecycle:
Stage | Status |
User starts conversation via bot | Open (Bot) |
Bot handles queries successfully | Remains in Open (Bot) |
Customer says "Talk to agent" OR bot hits fallback | Reassigned → Open (Agent Ticket) |
- The ticket type changes when it moves from bot to agent.
- The status remains "Open", but responsibility and workflow change.
Agent Ticket Lifecycle:
Stage | Status |
Created manually by agent | Open |
Agent waiting on customer input | Pending |
Agent resolves issue | Resolved |
Final closure (admin or agent) | Closed |
Best Practices
- Use
Pendingstrategically to pause tickets when awaiting external actions — this keeps open tickets focused on active work. - Move tickets to
Resolvedwhen the agent believes the issue is solved but the customer hasn’t confirmed yet. - Close tickets only when the issue is fully resolved and verified, or if the customer becomes unresponsive for a defined period.
Why Status Tracking Matters
- Helps agents focus on the right tickets at the right time
- Enables accurate tracking of SLAs, resolution rates, and backlog
- Allows automation and analytics to function correctly (e.g., triage, follow-ups, reassignments)