How to Freshdesk automate CSAT surveys when tickets close: A step-by-step guide

Collecting customer satisfaction (CSAT) feedback isn't just about chasing a high score. It's about understanding how your customers actually feel about your support, seeing how your team is doing, and finding specific ways to get better. But timing is everything. Ask for feedback too late, and the memory of the interaction is already fading.

That's why the perfect time to ask is right after the conversation is over. Setting up automated CSAT surveys to go out the moment a ticket is closed in Freshdesk is a straightforward way to get honest, in-the-moment feedback.

In this guide, we'll walk through two ways to do this. First, we'll cover the standard, built-in method to Freshdesk automate CSAT surveys when tickets close. Then, we'll look at a more advanced, AI-powered approach that helps you build a smarter, more proactive feedback loop.

What you'll need

• An active Freshdesk account. (Just a heads-up: advanced survey customization is available on the Pro and Enterprise plans).

• Admin access to set up automation rules and surveys.

The standard way: Using built-in automation rules

Freshdesk comes with its own tools to set up and automate CSAT surveys, and they're pretty easy to get going. It’s a solid starting point. Here’s how you can get it up and running.

Step 1: Set up your CSAT survey in Freshdesk

First, you need to actually create the survey you want to send. Freshdesk gives you a decent amount of control over how it looks and what it asks.

You can find the survey editor by going to Admin > Workflows > Customer Satisfaction. From there, you can either tweak the default survey or build a new one. The process is pretty simple:

• Choose a template: Freshdesk has a few pre-built templates, like a basic support survey, to help you get started fast.

• Customize the content: You can change the welcome text, the questions, and the final thank-you message. The CSAT module supports different question types, like rating scales, text boxes for short or long answers, and multiple-choice options.

• Brand your survey: You can switch up the rating visuals (smileys, stars, or numbers), pop in your company logo, and adjust the colors to match your brand.

Step 2: Create an automation rule

Once your survey is ready, you need to tell Freshdesk when to send it. You’ll do this with an automation rule for ticket updates.

Here's how to set it up:

1. Head over to Admin > Workflows > Automation Rules and click on the Ticket Updates tab.

2. Click the "New rule" button.

3. Give your rule a clear name, something like "Send CSAT on Ticket Closure."

4. Under the "When an action performed by" section, select Agent.

5. Under "Involves any of these events," you’ll set up your condition. Choose Status is changed, then set it from Any status to Closed.

6. Finally, under "Perform these actions," pick the Send survey to requester action and choose the survey you just configured.

7. Click "Save and enable," and that’s it.

Now, every time an agent closes a ticket, Freshdesk will automatically email your CSAT survey to the customer.

Step 3: Analyze responses

Once the feedback starts coming in, you can keep track of it in Freshdesk's analytics. You'll find what you need under Analytics > CSAT Results Report.

This dashboard gives you a good snapshot of your customer satisfaction. You can see a percentage breakdown of positive, neutral, and negative responses, track trends over time to compare surveys sent versus responses received, and filter all the results by agent, group, or a specific date range.

A look at the Freshdesk Analytics dashboard where CSAT results can be tracked and analyzed after you Freshdesk automate CSAT surveys when tickets close.

It’s a great way to get a pulse on your support quality. The only catch is that acting on this feedback is still a pretty manual job. Someone on your team has to regularly check these reports, read all the comments, and then figure out what to do next.

Where the standard method falls short

The built-in Freshdesk method works, but it’s not perfect. It’s a bit of a blunt instrument, treating every single customer interaction the same, which can cause a few headaches.

For one, it sends a survey for every closed ticket. A simple password reset gets the same survey as a complex bug fix that took three days to figure out. This can lead to survey fatigue for your customers and a pile of low-value feedback for your team to sift through.

It’s also reactive. You usually only find out about a bad experience after a customer leaves a one-star rating. By then, the damage is done, and you're in damage control mode trying to save the relationship.

And while your CSAT score tells you what happened, the really useful stuff is in the comments that explain why. Manually reading, tagging, and routing all that feedback is time-consuming, and let’s be honest, it’s often the first thing that gets pushed aside when the ticket queue gets busy. The feedback lives in a separate report, so if you find a good insight, you have to manually switch tools and copy-paste info to create a task for another team.

A smarter approach: Getting more with AI

Instead of relying on a rigid, one-size-is-not-for-all rule, what if you could use an intelligent AI agent inside Freshdesk to manage the whole feedback process with more context and nuance?

That's the idea behind a platform like eesel AI. It plugs right into your helpdesk, so you don't have to move anything over, and you can get it up and running in minutes, not months. It lets you build workflows that are much more thoughtful than standard automation.

Step 1: Create an intelligent workflow

With an AI agent, you can go beyond simple "if this, then that" logic. The AI can look at the entire ticket conversation, including the customer's sentiment, the ticket's complexity, and how long it took to solve, before deciding what to do next.

This gives you total control to build workflows based on much smarter conditions:

• Was it a great experience? If the conversation was positive and the ticket was resolved quickly, you can send the CSAT survey and maybe even ask for a 5-star review on a public site.

• Was it a rough one? If the customer seemed frustrated or the ticket bounced between agents, maybe you don't send a survey right away. Instead, the AI could automatically flag the ticket for a manager to review personally.

• Did they offer product feedback? If the customer mentions a feature request or an idea for improvement, the AI can automatically tag the ticket as "Product Feedback" and add a note for the product team.

This approach lets you tailor your follow-up to what actually happened in each conversation, which leads to better feedback and a better customer experience.

Step 2: Automate analysis and follow-up

This is where an AI-powered approach really makes a difference. The AI doesn't just send the survey; it can also understand and act on the responses you get back.

Using eesel AI's ability to connect to your knowledge sources and perform custom actions, you can automate the entire feedback loop:

• Analyze open-text feedback: The AI can read a customer's comment, understand what they mean, and automatically categorize it. It can tell the difference between a bug report, an issue with your documentation, or praise for a specific agent.

• Trigger cross-functional actions: Based on its analysis, the AI can kick off actions in your other tools. For example, if a negative CSAT response mentions a "bug," the AI could automatically create a detailed ticket in Jira for your development team to look into.

• Close the loop instantly: The AI can even send a personalized reply based on the feedback. For a negative review, it might say, "I'm sorry to hear you had a poor experience. I've flagged this for my manager, who will be in touch shortly." For a positive one, it could respond with, "We're so glad we could help! Would you mind taking a moment to share your experience on G2?"

eesel AI can trigger custom actions in other tools, like creating a Jira ticket, based on its analysis of CSAT feedback after you Freshdesk automate CSAT surveys when tickets close.

This turns feedback from a passive number on a dashboard into an active, automated way to improve your business. It connects your support team directly to your product, marketing, and success teams, making sure those valuable insights never slip through the cracks.

From automated surveys to intelligent conversations

So, you have two solid options. The built-in Freshdesk automation is a great way to get started and Freshdesk automate CSAT surveys when tickets close. It’s functional, it works, and it’s way better than sending surveys by hand.

But for a modern support team, feedback is more than just a report card. It should be a real-time signal that helps you take action. An AI-powered approach lets you move from basic triggers to intelligent, context-aware conversations that improve both your customer experience and how your team operates.

Ready to build smarter feedback loops?

Stop treating all your customer interactions the same. With AI, you can understand the context of every conversation, automate personalized follow-ups, and turn feedback into immediate action.

See how eesel AI for Freshdesk can completely transform your workflows. You can go live in minutes and even simulate how the AI would have handled your past tickets, completely risk-free.

Start a free trial or book a demo to see it in action.