How to triage 1,000+ customer emails a day

Triaging 1,000+ customer emails a day without adding headcount requires a repeatable workflow: centralise, classify, prioritise, route, and track every message. Here’s the playbook to keep SLAs green and teams calm.

Why inboxes break at 1,000+/day

Shared mailboxes hide ownership.
Manual sorting can’t keep up with spikes.
Urgent cases get buried under routine questions.
No SLA clock or audit trail on “read” emails.

The playbook (step-by-step)

Centralise: route all support mailboxes (Gmail/Outlook/shared) into one triage lane.
Define intents and SLAs: 8–12 categories; P1/P2/P3 rules using sentiment, VIP domains, outage keywords.
Automate classification: AI tags intent, priority, sentiment; run in observe mode for 1–2 days.
Auto-create tickets: every email becomes a ticket with owner, status, and due time—no unassigned items.
Routing rules: send P1 to humans immediately; route by category/priority/SLA to the right queue.
Alerts: P1 unassigned >15m; P2 no reply >4h; daily digest for stuck tickets.
QA loop: spot-check 30 tickets daily; correct misroutes; tighten rules weekly.

What to automate vs keep human

Automate: categorisation, priority tags, ticket creation, routing, SLA flags, first acknowledgements.
Human: empathy, billing exceptions, complex troubleshooting, high-stakes refunds.

Operational guardrails

Ownership within minutes for every ticket.
Clear states: new, in progress, waiting on customer, resolved.
Escalation: negative sentiment + VIP auto-promotes to P1; payment disputes require human review.
Audit trail: log every classification/routing action.

Capacity tips

Use macros/templates for common replies; personalise the first lines.
Batch lower-priority queues; keep P1/P2 real-time.
Track span of control: how many tickets each agent handles comfortably with automation.

Metrics to track

% auto-routed and auto-prioritised.
Median first-response time by priority.
SLA attainment for P1/P2.
Backlog older than SLA.
Internal clicks to demos/BOFU comparisons from this playbook.

Expected outcomes

100% of emails captured as tickets.
Manual sorting reduced by 60–80%.
Stable SLAs during volume spikes.

Final thoughts

When every email is a ticket with an owner, a clock, and clear routing, teams can comfortably triage 1,000+ messages a day without adding headcount.

Next step: See AI triage in action and compare AI support agents for your team.