Merging Multiple Conversations

Overview

To keep your queue from getting cluttered, you can merge two or more conversations or tickets into one, so your team doesn't miss out on any important context. Currently, Kayako does not support the splitting or unmerging of conversations or tickets into specific topics. If you do need to split a conversation, we suggest creating a new conversation on behalf of the requester and paste in the relevant details as a workaround. 

 

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Diagnosis

Sometimes, you'll have two simultaneous conversations with a customer or organization that shares a lot of overlap. Some companies prefer to address customer issues using the rule, one ticket per issue type. This is to make sure that agents do not miss out on anything discussed with the customer or to avoid providing conflicting responses on two different tickets, and it allows faster resolution time. So if a customer has multiple open tickets or conversations with exactly the same issue, it is more practical to combine the two conversations by merging them into one.

Understanding how merging conversations work

• To merge, you'll first select two or more conversations. The oldest conversation is considered the 'primary' conversation, and Kayako will merge the other conversations into it.
• All of the messages are threaded chronologically into the primary conversation, which will retain the properties – like assignee, priority, etc. – of the oldest conversation, you select. 
• The non-primary conversations will still turn up in search results, but they'll be 'closed' tagged, and greyed-out as having been merged. 

NOTE: You can merge conversations individually or in bulk.

Let's look at an example of how the feature works.

1. Say our fictional coffee equipment company, Brewfictus, has heard through the grapevine that Daniela, one of their customers, has been struggling with the steam wand on her espresso machine.
2. Simon, a Brewfictus support advocate, reaches out to Daniela proactively, to check on the problem. But unbeknownst to him, she's already on their Help Center, starting a new conversation about that very problem. 
3. So, the Brewfictus Kayako ends up with two conversations for the same problem. The request that the Daniela sent: 
   
   
4. And the proactive email that Simon sent off:
   
   
5. With the merge feature, Simon can open up his proactive conversation and merge Daniela's request into it, ensuring that nobody misses out on anything. 
   
   
6. You can use the same process to combine as many conversations as you like into a single conversation.

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Prerequisite

• To merge conversations in Kayako, you will need at least an agent account with the 'Split and merge conversations' permission. Don't be confused with this permission type. It only allows for merging conversation and not splitting conversations. This is an error in the UI which has been reported already.

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Solution 

Merging Two or More Conversations

1. Sign in to the agent area.
2. Find and open one of the conversations you want to merge. 
3. From the drop-down in the upper-right of the conversation, select the Merge conversation option.
   
   
4. In the pop-up, browse the list of recent conversations or search for any other open conversations. 
5. Click on the conversation(s) (+ symbol next to it which turns into a checkmark once clicked) to select them for merging.
   
   
6. Click the Next button.
7. On the next screen, review the conversations you've marked for merging.
   • NOTE: Remember, all conversations will be merged into the primary or first created conversation. Newer conversations will be closed.
     
     
8. Click the Merge button to proceed with the merger.

 

Bulk Merging Conversations From Views

In addition to merging from the conversation screen, you can also merge multiple conversations from any view in the agent area. 

Follow these steps to bulk merge conversations:

1. Sign in to the agent area.
2. Check the small box next to two or more conversations.
3. Click the Merge Conversations button at the top of the screen.
   
   
4. On the next screen, review the conversations you've marked for merge.
   • NOTE: Remember, all conversations will be merged into the primary or first created conversation. Newer conversations will be closed.
5. Click the Merge button to proceed with the merger. 

 

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Confirmation

Merging Two or More Conversations

After you click the merge button, the system will quickly process the merger and goes back to the conversation window. From there, you will see a note that the conversation was merged into it on the timeline. All of the messages from the merged conversations will appear within it in chronological order.

 

When you reopen the merged conversation (newer), you will see that it has been marked as closed, and the tag merged-case is added to it automatically.

 

 

Bulk Merging Conversations From Views

After merging multiple conversations from views, the newer conversations will disappear from the view leaving the primary conversation (older one). Similarly, when you reopen the merged conversation (newer), you will see that it has been marked as closed, and the tag merged-case is added to it automatically.

 

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