Customer record
Issues and threading
How every message, call and email about the same thing is kept together as one issue, from first contact to resolution, and what each issue records.
On this page
Customers rarely get something sorted in a single message. A leak reported on WhatsApp on Sunday is followed by a photograph on Monday, a call on Tuesday and an email confirming the repair on Thursday. Telonic keeps all of that together as one issue: it opens when the customer first gets in touch about it and closes when it is resolved. Your team sees each thing a customer needed, where it stands, and everything it took, rather than a pile of separate messages.
What an issue is
An issue is one thing a customer got in touch about. It sits between a single conversation and the customer's whole history.
| Term | What it covers | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Conversation | One call, one email thread, or one continuous exchange of messages on a channel | A WhatsApp exchange on Sunday evening |
| Issue | One thing the customer needs, from first contact to resolution, however many conversations and channels it takes | "Water leak under kitchen sink, unit C-0412" |
| Customer record | Every conversation and every issue for that customer, on every channel | Everything Sahel Crest Properties has discussed with one buyer |
Because the record is organised by issue, your team can answer the questions that matter: what is still open for this customer, what did it take to resolve, and did they have to come back.
How messages are grouped into an issue
On WhatsApp and SMS, an exchange of messages is treated as one issue, not many. A customer who sends five messages over two days about the same leak has one issue on their record, not five.
When a new message arrives, the agent works out whether it continues an open issue or starts a new one. It uses what the customer says, any reference they give, and what is already open on their record. When it is not clear, it asks: "Is this about the leak in your kitchen, or something new?"
Email threads stay together
An email thread is kept as one issue across every reply. A customer who replies to a confirmation email a week later continues the same issue, so nothing is answered twice or lost in a chain of forwards. See Email: mailbox connection, threading and attachments.
One issue across several channels
A customer who starts on one channel and continues on another stays on the same issue. The photograph sent on WhatsApp and the follow-up call about the same leak both attach to it. The agent that answers the call already knows about the leak, has seen the photograph, and knows what was said.
This works because every channel writes to, and reads from, the same record of each customer. See The customer record: overview.
Several issues at once
A customer can have several issues open at the same time, such as a handover date question and a service charge query. Each is tracked separately, with its own conversations, status and outcome.
One conversation can also raise more than one issue. When a buyer calls about the leak and then asks about their service charge, the call is linked to both issues. The agent may resolve one and hand the other to your team, and the record shows each correctly.
How an issue closes, and the outcome it records
Every issue records an outcome, so your organisation can see what is actually getting solved.
| Outcome | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Resolved | The customer's need was met | Booking changed and confirmation sent |
| Still open | Work is under way or waiting on something | Waiting for a garage report on a motor claim |
| Handed to your team | The issue went to a person, with the full history and a brief | Refund request passed to the finance team |
Outcomes feed the measures in the console (the Telonic web application your team uses), such as resolution rate and first contact resolution (how often an issue is solved without the customer needing to come back). See Outcomes and reasons for contact.
Why the customer got in touch
Each conversation is tagged with a reason for contact, from a set of categories you agree with Telonic. A travel company might use "booking change", "baggage", "refund status" and "special assistance". An insurer might use "claim status", "new claim", "coverage question" and "renewal".
Across thousands of issues, reasons for contact show what is driving your volume. If hundreds of buyers in one tower ask the same question about service charges, that is something to fix at the source rather than answer one at a time.
When an issue comes back
When a customer returns about something already resolved, the agent reopens the original issue rather than starting a new one. A guest who writes to say the refund promised last week has not arrived continues the same issue, with every earlier conversation attached.
This keeps the full history in one place for whoever picks it up. It also means repeat contact is counted honestly: an issue that comes back was not resolved the first time, and your first contact resolution figures reflect that.
The technical detail
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| How is a new message linked to an open issue? | From its content, any reference the customer gives, and the open issues on the customer's record. When it is ambiguous, the agent asks the customer |
| How are email threads kept together? | The agent tracks each thread as a single conversation, so every reply continues the same issue |
| Does an issue have a reference? | Yes. Where an issue needs work in another of your systems, such as a ticket in your service desk (the system your teams use to log and track requests), the issue holds that system's reference too |
| What outcomes are recorded? | Resolved, still open, or handed to your team, for every issue |
| Who sets the reason for contact categories? | Your team, with Telonic, during implementation. They can be changed afterwards |
In practice
Salma booked a four-night stay with Qamar Stays, a hotel group, through its website.
- On Monday, she emails to say she was charged twice for her deposit. The agent links the email to her booking, checks the payment record, and confirms the duplicate charge. Refunds need the finance team's approval, so it hands the issue to them with a brief and tells Salma what happens next.
- On Tuesday, she messages on WhatsApp to ask whether she can add airport transfer. The agent recognises this as a new issue, arranges the transfer within the hotel's rules, and closes it as resolved.
- On Wednesday, she replies to Monday's email thread to ask whether the refund has been approved. The reply continues the first issue. The agent checks the refund in the hotel's payment system and tells her it was approved that morning.
- The following Monday, Salma writes again: the refund has not reached her card. The agent reopens the original issue and passes it back to the finance team with the full history.
- Her record shows two issues: one resolved in a single conversation, and one that took four conversations across two channels and came back once.
What your team controls
- The reason for contact categories, and changes to them.
- What counts as resolved for each type of issue, agreed during implementation.
- Which issues create tickets or tasks in your own systems.
Related
- The customer record: overviewCustomer record
- Matching contacts to customersCustomer record
- Commitments and promise trackingCustomer record
- Outcomes and reasons for contactQuality and analytics
- Email: mailbox connection, threading and attachmentsChannels
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