Ticket statuses explained — the "tennis game" – Gravity CX

Ref: A09 · Track: Agent Essentials · Time to complete: ~10 min

Why this matters

Every ticket you touch has a status. Status is how Zendesk knows whose move it is, which SLA clock is running, and whether the ticket should appear in your view right now or drop off your plate.

The easiest way to think about it: a ticket is a tennis match between you and the customer. Status tells you where the ball is.

"Think of it like a tennis game. When the ball is in your court, the ticket is Open. You hit it back — now it's the customer's turn — the ticket is Pending. You're only on the hook when the ball is on your side." — from the Law Society training session

The statuses

There are six statuses. You'll use four of them every day.

New

The ticket just landed. Nobody has picked it up yet. - Ball is in nobody's court — it's on the table. - As soon as an agent is assigned (by you taking it, by a trigger, or by omnichannel routing), status moves to Open. - If you see a New ticket sitting in a view for more than a few minutes, grab it.

Open

The ticket is assigned to an agent and waiting for them to act. - Ball is in your court. - First reply SLA clock is running. - This is the default status for anything on your plate.

Pending

You've replied and you're waiting on the customer to come back with something. - Ball is in the customer's court. - The SLA clock pauses. - The ticket drops out of your "open tickets" view until the customer replies. - The moment the customer replies, the ticket auto-reopens and status flips back to Open.

This is the single most underused status. If you're waiting on the customer for anything — a screenshot, a confirmation, a number — set it to Pending. Don't leave it Open; you'll look behind on your KPIs and the view gets cluttered.

On hold

You're blocked by someone who is not the customer. - Ball is in a third party's court — a supplier, a regulator, engineering, a vendor. - The customer doesn't know or care. You can keep them informed via public replies, but the reason the ticket isn't moving is not them. - Use this when the difference between Pending and On hold actually matters for your reporting. If your team doesn't care, it's fine to just use Pending.

Solved

You believe the issue is resolved. - Ball is back on the table. - The customer can still reply. If they do within the next four days, the ticket reopens (back to Open, with you still assigned). - After four days with no reply, the ticket automatically moves to Closed.

Closed

The match is over. This is a one-way door. - The ticket is archived. Nobody can edit it. - If the customer replies after Closed, Zendesk creates a brand-new ticket called a follow-up ticket. It's linked to the original so you can see the history, but it's a fresh ticket with a fresh ID.

The flow at a glance

New  ──►  Open  ──►  Pending  ──►  Open  ──►  Solved  ──►  Closed
                 │            ▲            │
                 ▼            │            └─ customer reply
              On hold ────────┘              within 4 days
                                             reopens to Open

How to change the status

Open the ticket.
In the bottom-right submit bar, click the status next to the Submit button.
Pick the new status from the dropdown.
Click Submit as [status].

Tip: You can't skip statuses. Zendesk won't let you go straight from New to Solved without passing through Open — you need to actually reply (or at least assign it to yourself and add a macro) first.

The four rules that cover 95% of situations

You're the bottleneck → Open. Ball in your court. Get to it.
Customer is the bottleneck → Pending. Ball in their court. SLA pauses, ticket drops off your view.
Someone else is the bottleneck → On hold. Only if your team actually distinguishes this from Pending. Otherwise just use Pending.
Problem fixed → Solved. Don't wait for the customer to confirm unless your team's playbook says to. Most teams solve as soon as they've given the answer.

Common mistakes

Leaving tickets Open while waiting on the customer. Your SLA will breach and you'll look slower than you are. Set it to Pending the moment you click Reply.
Re-solving a reopened ticket without reading the new reply. When a customer replies to a Solved ticket, it comes back to you as Open and you need to actually respond — don't just hit Solve again without reading.
Trying to edit a Closed ticket. You can't. If the customer is genuinely writing about the same issue, handle it on the follow-up ticket Zendesk just created, and reference the original.
Confusing New and Open. New = nobody has it yet. Open = someone has it. If you're on a ticket, it should never still be New.

Quick check — have you got this?

A customer emails at 9am. At 9:02am it shows in your view as New. You take it. What is its status now?
You reply at 9:10am asking for a screenshot. What should the status be after you click Submit?
The customer sends the screenshot at 11am. What is the status now?
You fix it and reply at 11:15am. What do you set it to?
The customer says "thanks!" two hours later. What is it now?
Six days go by with no further reply. What is it now, and can you edit it?

Answers

Open → Pending → Open (auto) → Solved → Open (auto, reopened) → Closed (auto after 4 days, read-only).

A10 — SLAs: first reply, next reply, solve
A12 — Follow-up tickets vs reopens
A13 — Bump-bump-solve: chasing quiet customers