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Automated Ticket Creation from Email

Updated

Overview

This article explains how to sync an email account with Merchant Central Helpdesk (e.g. support@yourdomain.com) to automatically create tickets and attach replies as comments.

With this setup, incoming emails generate new tickets (or get appended to existing ones), and the system links relevant tickets to leads or merchants in your CRM.

Prerequisites

  • You must have permission to edit Groups settings in Merchant Central
  • An email account that supports both IMAP (incoming) and SMTP (outgoing)
  • (Optional) Existing “Ticket Types” and “Email Templates” configured to support your ticketing workflow
  1. Sign in to Merchant Central
  2. Go to Manage → Groups
  3. Click Edit on the Group for which you want to enable email sync 
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How Does Email Sync Work?

  • New ticket creation — whenever an email arrives in the synced account, a new helpdesk ticket is automatically created.
  • Automatic linking — if the sender matches a lead or merchant in the CRM, the ticket is linked to that record.
  • Auto-threading / reply handling — replies from the original email sender (or cc’d parties) are appended as comments to the existing ticket rather than creating a separate one.

Enabling the Email Sync

1. Connect to the Email Account

  1. From Manage → Groups, select the Group and click Edit
  2. Choose Connect Account for Helpdesk Email
  3. Select your email type (Gmail, Outlook, SMTP + IMAP) and follow the prompts to authenticate 
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  4. Optionally enable this account for multiple Groups
  5. If multiple Groups share the account, new tickets default to the oldest Group
  6. Once connected, more settings will appear (see below)

2. Configure Ticket Type for Incoming Emails

After connecting the account, choose a Ticket Type for New Tickets. This determines the default type assigned to tickets created via email.

If a suitable Ticket Type doesn't exist, create one first, then return to update this setting.

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3. Enable Auto‑Reply for New Tickets

Auto-reply is disabled by default. To enable:

  1. Change Auto‑Reply for New Tickets to Yes
  2. Select a template (default is “Helpdesk Ticket Received”)
  3. Once enabled, this template will be sent automatically to the sender when a ticket is created 
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Replies to that email are added to the original ticket as comments.

💡IMAP handles receiving and SMTP handles sending. If you're connecting to your email account via IMAP and SMTP, both must be configured for the connection to work properly. 

4. Save Your Changes

After configuration, scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save Group to apply your changes.

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Email Template for Auto‑Reply

The default “Helpdesk Ticket Received” template includes:

  • The ticket Subject (mirroring the email subject)
  • The Ticket ID 
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This helps the sender track their issue and reference it if contacting support via other channels.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Why won’t my helpdesk account receive emails? Check that IMAP is correctly configured and that your email provider allows third-party connections (e.g., enable “less secure apps” or generate an app password).
  • Can multiple groups share one synced email account? Yes. During setup, you can select multiple groups. The oldest group will receive new tickets by default.
  • What happens if a sender doesn’t match a lead or merchant? A ticket is still created, but it won’t be automatically linked to a CRM record.
  • Can I change the Ticket Type or reply template later? Yes. You can return to the Group settings and update either option at any time.