Two lines on one chart: conversations opened versus conversations closed each day. When closed falls behind new, your backlog is growing.
At a glance
New vs Closed is a Conversation Intelligence metric tracked from Intercom data. It overlays daily created volume and daily closed volume on a dual-axis chart so the support lead at Blitz can see, at a glance, whether the team is clearing work as fast as it arrives. When the closed line sits at or above the new line, you are holding steady or catching up; when closed runs below new for several days, backlog is quietly accumulating. This is the single best early-warning read for a support queue that is starting to drown.
| What it counts | Two daily series over the trailing 30 days: New = conversations with created_at on that day; Closed = conversations whose state moved to closed (statistics.last_close_at) on that day. The same conversation can appear in New on one day and Closed on another. |
| Sample type | Backend API data from Intercom (conversations search by created_at and by close time), refreshed on the standard data refresh. |
| Why it matters | This is the flow balance of your support operation. Sustained “new > closed” guarantees a rising backlog, longer waits, and eventually worse CSAT — well before those lagging metrics move. Catching it here gives the founder time to add capacity or deflect demand. |
| Reading the value | Compare the two lines, not absolute heights. Closed tracking just under new is normal (today’s work closes tomorrow). The warning sign is a persistent gap with closed below new — that gap is your backlog growth rate. A closed line spiking far above new signals a queue clean-up or a batch auto-close. |
| Currency | number |
| Time window | 30D |
| Alert trigger | closed < new for 7d (backlog growing) |
| Sentiment key | null |
| Roles | owner, operations |
Calculation
Calculated automatically from your Intercom data. Vortex IQ builds two daily series over the trailing 30 days. The New series counts conversations bycreated_at. The Closed series counts conversations by the day their state last transitioned to closed, derived from conversation.statistics.last_close_at. Because a conversation can be created one day and closed another, the two series are independent — the card does not net them per conversation. The threshold logic compares the rolling daily sums: if total closed stays below total new across a 7-day stretch, the backlog-growing alert fires. See the worked example below for a typical reading.
Worked example
A representative reading of New vs Closed for Blitz on Intercom. For most of the month the two lines move together — around 45 new and 44 closed on a typical weekday — so backlog holds flat. After a big product drop, new climbs to ~70/day while the two-agent team can only close ~50/day. The lines separate and stay apart. The alert fires after seven days of closed trailing new, and the support lead reads off the gap: roughly 20 conversations a day are piling up, which Open Backlog Trend confirms is climbing. The founder approves a temporary third agent. Over the next week the closed line lifts above new as the team works down the queue, the lines re-converge, and backlog flattens. For deeper investigation, use Vortex Mind to attribute the gap to a channel or topic; for natural-language exploration, ask Ask Viq “how many days has closed trailed new this month?”.Sibling cards merchants should reference together
| Card | Why merchants reach for it |
|---|---|
ic_volume_trend | The “new” line in isolation, with full daily shape and spike detail. |
ic_backlog_trend | The cumulative consequence: where the new-minus-closed gap actually lands. |
ic_open_conversations | The real-time count of what is still unworked right now. |
ic_median_resolution | Explains a sagging closed line — slower resolutions mean fewer closes per day. |
ic_workload_by_team | Shows whether you have the capacity to lift the closed line back up. |
Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard
Where to look in Intercom’s own dashboard: In Reports → Conversations, Intercom exposes “New conversations” and “Closed conversations” as separate metrics that you can chart over the same 30-day range. Plot both to reproduce this card. Note that Intercom’s “Closed” counts close events on the day they happen, which matches the Vortex IQ Closed series; the Inbox “Closed” view shows lifetime closed and will not match a daily series. Why the Vortex IQ value may legitimately differ:| Reason | Direction | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Reopen handling. A conversation closed, reopened, and closed again can register two close events. Vortex IQ counts each close on its day, as does Intercom Reports. | Neutral | Cross-check with Reopen Rate if closed looks inflated. |
| Time zone. Close and create timestamps are bucketed in your reporting time zone, not necessarily the workspace zone. | Marginal | Align the two time zones, or compare weekly sums. |
| Auto-close rules. Workflows that auto-close idle conversations create batch closes that lift the closed line without agent effort. | Closed higher | Confirm your auto-close workflow settings before reading a healthy gap. |