Using placeholders in business rules

Putting a placeholder into a trigger or automation, and the three checks worth doing before it reaches a customer.

Putting a placeholder into a trigger or automation, and the three checks worth doing before it reaches a customer.

Add one

1. Edit the trigger or automation.
2. In the message body, type the placeholder or choose it from the list Zendesk offers.
3. Save.
4. Send a real ticket through the rule and read what arrived.

The three checks

1. What happens when the value is empty

Test with a sparse ticket: no name, no custom fields filled in. That is the message some of your customers will get, and it is never the one you previewed.

2. Which comment the placeholder means

There are placeholders for the latest comment, the latest public comment, and the full thread. Choosing the wrong one sends internal notes to a customer, which is the worst possible version of this mistake.

3. Whether it is the plain or formatted variant

Several placeholders come in two forms, one carrying formatting and one not. In an HTML email the plain form loses line breaks and your message arrives as one paragraph.

See also

• The full placeholder reference
• Placeholders for custom fields
• Testing a trigger without bothering customers