Support ticket categorization prompt: free ChatGPT template
Updated · By Robert Breen
Use this when the support inbox has piled up and you need to know what it is mostly about before you decide who handles what. You paste the tickets and your own list of categories. The AI puts each ticket in exactly one category, gives a short reason, and marks the ones that don't fit or that mention money, security or a cancellation so a person reads them first. At the end you get counts per category, which is often the first time anyone sees that half the tickets are the same question.
Strip names, emails and account numbers from the tickets before pasting them into a chat tool, unless your company has approved that tool for customer data.
The prompt
Copy it into ChatGPT (or Claude, Gemini or Copilot) and replace every [BLANK] with your own details. It uses the four parts from Prompt Writing 101: Role, Context, Task and Format.
Role: You are a support operations assistant who sorts tickets consistently and never guesses when a ticket is unclear. Context: We are [COMPANY]. Our ticket categories, with what belongs in each: [CATEGORIES]. Tickets that must go to a person first: [ESCALATE IF]. Here are this week's tickets, one per line, with a ticket number: [TICKETS]. Task: Put each ticket in exactly one listed category and never invent one. If it fits none or two equally, use "Needs review" and say why. Give a reason of 12 words or fewer, from the ticket's own words. Mark "Escalate" on any ticket that meets the escalation rules. Don't write replies. Format: A table with the columns: ticket number, category, reason, escalate (yes or blank). Below it, a count per category, largest first, and one sentence on the biggest pattern you see.
Fill in the blanks
[COMPANY]- Your company and what you sell, in a few words.
[CATEGORIES]- Five to eight categories, each with a one-line definition. Clear definitions matter more than the names.
[ESCALATE IF]- What a person must see first, such as refunds, cancellations, possible security problems or an angry customer.
[TICKETS]- The tickets with personal details removed, each starting with its ticket number.
Example, filled in
A made-up example from the free lesson Build an n8n AI Agent That Writes Deal Follow-Ups. Northwind Scheduling Software is the made-up company from the sales agent lesson, selling scheduling software to small service businesses. Its support inbox has grown, and the tickets below are made up.
Role: You are a support operations assistant who sorts tickets consistently and never guesses when a ticket is unclear. Context: We are Northwind Scheduling Software, online scheduling with booking and reminders for small service businesses. Our ticket categories, with what belongs in each: Login and access (can't sign in, adding staff accounts), Reminders (texts or emails not sending or wrong), Booking page (customer-facing page problems), Billing (charges, invoices, plan changes), How-to (customer wants to know how to do something that already works), Feature request (asks for something we don't have). Tickets that must go to a person first: any refund or cancellation, any mention of a charge they don't recognize, any message saying customer data looks wrong. Here are this week's tickets, one per line, with a ticket number: 2041 reminders went out with tomorrow's date instead of Friday. 2042 how do I add a second cleaner to the calendar. 2043 charged twice this month?? 2044 can the booking page show prices. 2045 my new office manager can't log in, says invite expired. 2046 we want to cancel at the end of the trial. 2047 clients say the booking link shows a blank page on phones. Task: Put each ticket in exactly one listed category and never invent one. If it fits none or two equally, use "Needs review" and say why. Give a reason of 12 words or fewer, from the ticket's own words. Mark "Escalate" on any ticket that meets the escalation rules. Don't write replies. Format: A table with the columns: ticket number, category, reason, escalate (yes or blank). Below it, a count per category, largest first, and one sentence on the biggest pattern you see.
What a good answer looks like
- Ticket 2043 is Billing with Escalate marked, because of the double charge.
- Ticket 2046 is escalated for the cancellation, whatever category it lands in.
- Ticket 2044 goes to Feature request or Needs review with a reason, not a made-up "Pricing display" category.
- Counts that add up to seven, the number of tickets you pasted.
How to check it before you use it
An AI draft can sound right and still say something you never told it. Use the habit from the Reply Faster lesson: check every promise, name, date and number against what you gave it before anything goes out.
- Read every escalated ticket yourself and look for any the AI missed. Escalation misses are the costly ones.
- Spot-check a few category choices. If you disagree often, sharpen the category definitions, not the tickets.
- Make sure no personal or account details went into the chat. Remove them before the next batch.
- Run the same batch twice. If the categories change a lot between runs, your definitions overlap.
Practice it in the free lesson
AI Email Responder: Draft Gmail Replies Automatically with n8n: Build an n8n agent that watches your Gmail, reads each new customer email, and writes a reply as a draft in the same thread, ready for you to check and send. You do every step yourself in a practice copy of n8n, and nothing touches your real accounts.
Also useful: Build an AI Maintenance and IT Request Form · Build an n8n AI Agent That Writes Deal Follow-Ups
Terms used here
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