Topics and keyword triage

Triage sorts a conversation as soon as it arrives. In Cliedesk Free, triage uses keyword lists and rules. AI triage is available with Cliedesk Pro.

Triage fields

Cliedesk has a few system conversation fields for triage:

• Topic: up to 3 topics. The first one is the primary topic.
• Sentiment: 5 levels, from very negative to very positive.
• Urgency: low to critical.
• Intent: one or more intents. See Triage signals.

They are ordinary fields. You can use them in search (for example topic:returns), in views, in rule conditions and in reports. Agents change them in the fields panel of a conversation. Each value remembers who set it (a person, a rule, the API) and when.

Triage runs before rules

Triage runs when a conversation is created and each time the customer writes, before any rule. So a rule with the trigger A conversation is created already sees the topic. For example, a rule “Topic is Billing → Move to a queue Billing” routes the conversation at once. The move shows in the timeline with the rule as the actor. With Cliedesk Pro, Why didn’t it run?… also lists the topic condition the rule matched.

Topics and presets

Topics have two levels: a group and its topics (for example Order → Where is my order). A new site gets a preset that fits its plugins once: a WooCommerce store gets all 9 groups; other presets cover digital downloads, memberships and courses, and services. A conversation where no topic matches gets Uncategorized.

To add another preset: open Settings → Custom fields → Topics, choose a Preset and select Add these topics. Your own topics stay. Owners and Cliedesk Admins (Manage settings) can do this.

Keyword lists

Keyword lists on the same card set field values from words in the subject and messages. Write one line per value: field.option = words. Example: topic.invoice = invoice, receipt. Keyword lists work for topic, intent and urgency. They match whole words. Up to 3 topics are set, in the order the words appear. A value that a person set is never overwritten. Keyword lists never call an AI service.

Rules set fields too

A rule can Set fields and add tags. The fields panel then shows Set by rule “…” with Undo. Undo puts back the value the rule replaced, or clears the value it added.

Curate topics

Under Curate topics you can Rename a topic, move it (Move under), Merge into another topic, split it (Split into), Archive it and restore it. When you merge A into B, every conversation with A gets B, so report totals stay correct. Each change is kept as a version. Select Roll back to undo a change.

Export and import topics

Export topics downloads one JSON file with the triage fields, their options and the keyword lists. Import topics (JSON) reads such a file on another site. It matches fields and options by key, creates missing fields, adds or renames options, and never removes anything. On the command line: wp cliedesk triage export --file=topics.json and wp cliedesk triage import topics.json.

Topics report

The topics report (Reports → Topics, a tree map and a table with the change against the period before) and the split by topic or intent are available with Cliedesk Pro.