Enable ticket submission by email

How email forwarding works in your helpdesk

• Only one email address can be associated with each helpdesk.
• You specify the email address for your helpdesk and create a forwarding rule with your mail provider.
• Your users can send messages to the helpdesk email and a new ticket will be created in the helpdesk.
• If your users reply to a message associated with an existing ticket, Kartra will add it to the existing ticket thread.
• Your support team will read and respond to all tickets from the ticket management area inside your account.

How to turn on ticket submission by email in Kartra

1. Go to Helpdesks
2. Open a helpdesk and go to the Communications settings
3. Under Tickets or Emails, select Enable seamless email communication. More configuration fields appear below.
4. Configure the support email address:
   • Desired support email: Email address where people can contact you for support. This must be an existing address with your custom business domain: i.e. [email protected].
   • Send from: Name or business name that appears in the recipient's inbox when you reply to a ticket. This tells them who the message is from.
   • Default department: Ticket department in your helpdesk where all new inquiries are created.
   • Forward email address: Needed to create the forwarding rule in your external email inbox settings. Copy the complete address and save it to a note. You will need this address for the final step of the setup.
5. Save your changes.

Create a forwarding rule

The forwarding rule is configured in the settings for your external mailbox provider. The exact configuration process will vary depending on your provider but should follow the same basic steps.

1. Log in to the mailbox where you manage the email address you entered in the Kartra helpdesk as your ‘Desired support email.’ This may be something like [email protected].
2. Locate a Forwarding option in your account settings (example shown below in the Gmail interface) and add a new address.
   
   
3. Paste the Kartra forwarding address from your Helpdesk configuration into the field where indicated.
   • Forwarding works like this: Someone sends an email to [email protected] (your support address) and the mailbox server automatically forwards it to your Kartra helpdesk forwarding address. This creates a ticket in your helpdesk or updates an existing ticket.
4. Add or save the forwarding address.

1. If verification is needed, go to your Kartra account and access Tickets for the helpdesk where you enabled email forwarding.
2. A ticket will be created in the helpdesk containing the verification code. Depending on your mail service, it may take up to 10 minutes for delivery.
3. Complete the verification process as indicated in your mail account.

Test the email forwarding configuration

Always test a new process before releasing it to your customers and prospects! After setting up the forwarding rule, make sure submission and reply by email are working.

1. Send an email from any other address to the support address for your helpdesk.
2. After a few minutes, go to the Tickets area in your Kartra account. You should see a new ticket with the message you sent.
3. Reply to the message from the ticket area. This is the experience from the "agent" or business side of the conversation.
4. After a few minutes, go back to the inbox where you sent the original message from. You should see a reply in the same thread as the original message (if threads are supported or turned on in your external mailbox).
5. Repeat this as many times as you like to see how the ticket is updated on each side of the conversation.