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What is ticket deflection?
Ticket deflection means resolving a customer's question without a support agent, usually by answering it from the help centre automatically, so the team handles fewer repeat tickets.
Last updated 6 October 2026
Short answer
Ticket deflection means resolving a customer's question without a support agent having to handle it, usually by answering it automatically from the help centre and docs. Good deflection only answers when it's confident and links its source; otherwise it hands the ticket to a person with a summary.What makes deflection work
- Answers grounded in your own articles, with the source linked.
- A confidence threshold: unsure means hand-off, never a guess.
- Testing on past tickets before going live.
- A list of questions it couldn't answer, so the team knows which article to write next.
How to measure it
Count questions resolved without an agent, and subtract those where the customer came back unhappy or asked again. A high deflection rate with angry follow-ups is not a success.
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Is deflection the same as a chatbot?
A chatbot is one way to deflect. Deflection also happens inside the helpdesk, answering tickets and emails before an agent opens them.
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