Prerequisites

Gorgias account on any paid plan (Rules are not available on the free tier)
A defined list of support categories and the keywords that signal each one

Why Gorgias Rules?

Gorgias Rules are the simplest path to auto-triage. Everything runs natively inside Gorgias — no external tools, no API keys, no webhook infrastructure. Rules fire the moment a ticket is created and apply tags instantly. For teams with clear keyword patterns and English-speaking customers, Rules cover 70-80% of tickets accurately. Setup takes under 30 minutes for a 6-category taxonomy.

The trade-off is classification depth. Rules use substring matching, which catches "refund" but also catches "refundable" and misses "I want my money back." You can't handle multilingual tickets, and there's no way to use the full message context for classification. For higher accuracy (90%+), use the Claude Code approach.

How it works

One Rule per category matches keywords in the ticket subject and message body, then applies the corresponding tag (e.g., billing, shipping, returns)
Catch-all Rule (placed last) tags any unmatched ticket as needs-triage and assigns it to your triage team
Views per tag give each sub-team a focused queue filtered to their category
Rule ordering matters — Gorgias executes Rules top-to-bottom, so the catch-all must be last

Overview

Gorgias Rules are event-driven automations that fire when tickets are created, updated, replied to, or assigned. Each Rule has conditions (what to check) and actions (what to do). For triage, you'll create one Rule per tag category — each matching keywords in the ticket subject and message body.

Step 1: Define your tag taxonomy

Before building Rules, list your categories and the keywords that signal each one. A practical starting set for e-commerce:

Tag	Trigger keywords
`billing`	invoice, charge, payment, refund, overcharged, receipt
`shipping`	shipping, tracking, delivery, delayed, package, lost
`returns`	return, exchange, refund, cancel, RMA
`technical`	broken, error, bug, not working, issue, crash
`account`	login, password, access, account, locked, reset
`feedback`	suggestion, feedback, love, hate, would be great

Keep it to 6–8 categories initially. You can always add more once the basics are running.

Step 2: Navigate to Rules

In Gorgias, go to:

Settings → Automation → Rules

Click Add rule in the top right.

Step 3: Create a Rule for each category

Repeat this for each tag category. Here's the full setup for a Billing Rule:

Rule name: Auto-tag: Billing

When: Ticket is created

Conditions (ANY of these match):

Message body contains: invoice
Message body contains: payment
Message body contains: refund
Message body contains: overcharged
Message body contains: receipt
Subject contains: billing

Actions:

Add tag: billing

Use 'ANY' not 'ALL' for conditions

Set the condition logic to ANY (OR), not ALL (AND). A ticket mentioning "invoice" alone should get the billing tag — it doesn't also need to mention "payment."

Repeat for each category in your taxonomy, adjusting the keywords and tag name.

Step 4: Add a catch-all for untagged tickets

Create one final Rule that flags tickets that didn't match any category:

Rule name: Auto-tag: Needs Triage

When: Ticket is created

Conditions (ALL must match):

Ticket does not have tag: billing
Ticket does not have tag: shipping
Ticket does not have tag: returns
Ticket does not have tag: technical
Ticket does not have tag: account
Ticket does not have tag: feedback

Actions:

Add tag: needs-triage
Assign to team: Support (or your triage team)

Rule ordering matters

Gorgias executes Rules in the order they appear in your list. Your catch-all Rule should be the last Rule. Drag it to the bottom of the Rules list after saving.

Step 5: Create Views by tag

Tags are only useful if your team can see them. Create a View per tag so each sub-team has a focused queue.

Go to Views in the left sidebar → Add view:

View name: Billing Tickets
Filters: Tag is billing, Status is open
Assigned to: Billing team or relevant agents

Repeat for each tag category.

Step 6: Test the Rules

Create a test ticket via your support email with body text that matches each category. Verify:

The correct tag appears within a few seconds of ticket creation
The ticket appears in the right View
The catch-all needs-triage tag fires when no keywords match

Keywords in replies don't trigger creation Rules

Rules with "When: Ticket is created" only fire on the first incoming message. If a customer sends a vague first message and clarifies in a follow-up, the triage tag won't update automatically. Add a second Rule with "When: Message is created" if you want to re-evaluate on every reply.

Troubleshooting

Common questions

Can a ticket get multiple category tags?

Yes. Gorgias fires all matching Rules on a ticket. A message about "I want to return my order and get a refund" gets both returns and billing tags. This is usually desirable — it shows the ticket spans two categories. If you want exclusive tagging (one category per ticket), add a condition to each Rule requiring that previous tags are NOT present.

How do I handle follow-up messages that clarify the category?

Rules set to "When: Ticket is created" only evaluate the first message. If a customer sends a vague first message and clarifies in a follow-up, the tag won't update. Create a second set of Rules with "When: Message is created" to re-evaluate on every new customer reply.

How many categories should I start with?

Start with 4-6 categories that match your team structure. Common starting set: billing, shipping, returns, technical, account, feedback. Avoid over-tagging early — you can always split categories later (e.g., splitting "billing" into "billing-charge" and "billing-invoice") once you have data on volume.

Cost

Gorgias Rules are included in all paid plans at no additional cost.

Auto-triage Gorgias tickets using native Rules