In This Article
Introduction
Customer support teams handle high volumes of similar inquiries. Reps spend time on triage, looking up answers, and drafting responses — often for issues they've seen dozens of times. OpenClaw helps triage tickets, draft responses from your knowledge base, and escalate complex cases — all from Slack or Telegram. Your agents review before sending; the AI accelerates throughput without replacing judgment.
Here's what we're covering: workflows for support teams using Zendesk, Freshdesk, HubSpot, or Salesforce. Critical rule: humans approve and send. Start with draft-only; enable autonomous send only for validated templates after thorough testing. See email automation for related workflows. One team cut average handle time by 30% — we'll show you the setup.
Ticket Triage & Routing
Connect OpenClaw to your support system (Zendesk, Freshdesk, HubSpot) via API or webhook. The agent reads incoming tickets, extracts intent and urgency, and routes to the right queue. "Billing question, low urgency → Billing team. Bug report, high urgency → Engineering." You define the rules in memory.
Intent extraction. The agent analyzes each ticket: "What is the customer asking? Billing, technical, product question, complaint?" It categorizes and tags. You define the categories; the agent applies them. Reduces manual triage time.
Urgency scoring. "How urgent? Downtime = critical. Billing dispute = high. General question = normal." The agent scores based on keywords and context. You can override. Helps prioritize the queue.
Routing. "Billing → Billing team. Technical → Tier 2. VIP customer → Senior rep." The agent suggests routing; you can auto-route for clear cases or queue for review. Start with suggestions; add auto-route after validation.
Duplicate detection. "Is this related to an existing ticket?" The agent can match similar tickets and suggest merging. Reduces duplicate work.
Response Drafting
Store your best responses in memory. For common questions, the agent drafts a personalized reply. You approve and send. Start with draft-only mode; enable autonomous send for the lowest-risk, highest-volume templates only after validation. Never let the agent send without human review for sensitive or disputed cases.
Knowledge base integration. Connect to your KB or store top articles in memory. "Customer asks: How do I reset my password? Draft response from KB article #12." The agent personalizes (greeting, name); you verify and send. Covers 40-60% of tickets for many teams.
Template personalization. "Thank you for your order. Your shipment is delayed due to [reason]. New ETA: [date]." The agent fills in the blanks from ticket context. You approve. Reduces repetitive typing.
Multi-turn conversations. For follow-up messages, the agent has context from the thread. "Customer replied: That didn't work. Draft response suggesting [next step]." You verify and send. Maintains conversation quality.
Autonomous send. Only for validated templates after 2+ weeks of draft-only. Start with: order status, password reset, basic FAQ. Never for: refunds, disputes, escalations, emotional customers. One bad autonomous response can damage the relationship.
Escalation Rules
Configure escalation: VIP customers, legal threats, refund requests → immediate human alert. The agent recognizes these patterns and routes accordingly. Train it on your escalation criteria.
VIP detection. "Customer is Enterprise plan / has [VIP tag] / mentioned in ticket." The agent flags for immediate routing. You define VIP criteria.
Legal and threat. "Mentions lawyer, lawsuit, legal action, regulatory complaint." The agent escalates immediately. Don't let the agent respond to these.
Refund and dispute. "Requests refund, chargeback, dispute." Route to specialized team. The agent drafts nothing for these — human handling only.
Sentiment. "Customer expresses strong frustration, anger." The agent can flag for senior rep. Emotional cases need human touch.
Training. Store escalation examples in memory. "When ticket contains [X], escalate to [Y]." The agent learns your patterns. Review and refine.
Integration with Support Tools
OpenClaw integrates with HubSpot, Salesforce, Zendesk, and others via API. Many tools expose webhooks for new tickets. The agent processes; you stay in your support workflow.
Webhook setup. Configure your support tool to send new ticket webhooks to OpenClaw. The agent receives immediately; can triage and draft in real time. Reduces time-to-first-response.
API actions. OpenClaw can update ticket status, add tags, assign to queue — with your approval. Or: you approve the draft, and the agent pushes the reply via API. Keeps everything in one system.
KB sync. If your KB has an API, OpenClaw can pull articles for drafting. Or: manually export top 50 articles to memory. The agent references them when drafting.
Implementation Checklist
- □ Connect OpenClaw to support system (Zendesk, Freshdesk, HubSpot) via API or webhook
- □ Create triage and routing rules; store in memory
- □ Export top articles and templates; store in memory
- □ Define escalation rules (VIP, legal, refund, sentiment)
- □ Run in draft-only for 2 weeks; agents review every output
- □ Measure: handle time, accuracy, customer satisfaction
- □ Enable autonomous send only for validated, lowest-risk templates
- □ Monitor and refine; add new templates as needed
FAQ
Can OpenClaw replace human support? No. Use it for triage and drafting. Humans approve and send. Complex, emotional, or high-stakes cases need human handling. The agent makes reps faster; it doesn't replace them.
What about support quality? Start with draft-only. Review every output for 2 weeks. Enable autonomous send only for validated templates. Monitor CSAT and adjust. Quality over speed.
Can it handle multiple languages? Yes, if your LLM supports the language. The agent can draft in the customer's language. Verify accuracy — mistranslation can escalate issues.
What about chatbots? OpenClaw is different from a customer-facing chatbot. It works behind the scenes — agents use it to draft responses. The customer interacts with a human (or your existing chatbot). OpenClaw augments the agent, not the customer.
Wrapping Up
OpenClaw accelerates support without replacing judgment. Triage, drafting, and escalation — all with human approval. Start with draft-only; expand carefully. OpenClaw Consult helps support teams deploy with appropriate guardrails.