% of closed conversations reopened (state went closed→open) in the window.
At a glance
Reopen Rate is a Support Performance metric tracked from your Intercom workspace. It is your quality-of-resolution metric: of the conversations you marked closed, how many did the customer (or a teammate) have to reopen? A reopen almost always means the first answer missed the mark — the wrong size was sent again, the refund “processed” never landed, the tracking link was dead. For Blitz, a high reopen rate quietly inflates resolution time, burns agent hours redoing work, and erodes CSAT. This card is the early-warning sibling to satisfaction: reopens spike before bad ratings arrive.
| What it counts | The percentage of conversations closed in the window whose state subsequently moved from closed back to open. Numerator = reopened conversations; denominator = conversations closed in the window. |
| Sample type | API-derived from the Intercom Conversations endpoint, tracking state transitions on conversations closed in the window. |
| Why it matters | Reopens are rework. A high rate means conversations are being closed prematurely — which lengthens true resolution time, raises cost-to-serve, and predicts falling CSAT. |
| Reading the value | Lower is better. A few percent is normal; double digits means closes are not sticking. Watch the trend, not just the level — a rising reopen rate often precedes a CSAT dip. |
| Currency | percent |
| Time window | 30D |
| Alert trigger | >15% |
| Sentiment key | reopen_rate |
| Roles | owner, operations |
Calculation
Calculated automatically from your Intercom data. Vortex IQ takes the set of conversations closed within the trailing 30 days, then checks each one’s state history for aclosed → open transition. The reopen rate is reopened conversations divided by closed conversations, expressed as a percent. A conversation reopened more than once still counts as a single reopen in the numerator. The alert fires when the rate exceeds 15%. Note that each reopen also extends statistics.time_to_last_close, which is why this card and Median Resolution Time tend to move together.
Worked example
A representative reading for Blitz over 30 days. The team closed 1,120 conversations and 198 of them were reopened — a reopen rate of 17.7%, tripping the>15% alert. Pulling the thread in Vortex Mind, you find two-thirds of the reopens carry the “refund” tag: agents close the conversation the moment they initiate a refund, but customers reopen days later when the money has not appeared. The fix is a process change — keep refund conversations snoozed until the payout clears (see Snoozed Conversations) rather than closing optimistically. After the change, watch this card and CSAT Trend together to confirm the rework dropped. Use Ask Viq to answer “what share of refund conversations got reopened last month?”
Sibling cards merchants should reference together
| Card | Why merchants reach for it |
|---|---|
ic_resolution_time_median | Every reopen re-extends the resolution clock — they move together. |
ic_csat_trend | Rising reopens usually lead falling CSAT by a week or two. |
ic_resolution_by_agent | Helps spot whether reopens cluster around one agent’s closing habits. |
ic_negative_rated | Reopened-then-rated conversations are a prime source of bad scores. |
ic_snoozed_count | Snoozing instead of closing prematurely is the usual cure for reopens. |
Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard
Where to look in Intercom’s own dashboard: Open Reports → Conversations and look for a “reopened conversations” metric, or filter the Inbox by conversations that returned to an open state. Intercom does not always surface a single reopen-rate figure, so you may need the reopened count over the closed count. Why the Vortex IQ value may legitimately differ:| Reason | Direction | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Cohort definition. Vortex IQ uses conversations closed in the window as the denominator; a vendor view may count conversations reopened in the window over a different base. | Variable | Confirm both use the same denominator. |
| Multiple reopens. Vortex IQ counts a conversation reopened twice as one reopen; a raw event count would be higher. | Vendor higher | Decide whether you want unique conversations or reopen events. |
| Auto vs manual reopen. A customer reply that auto-reopens a snoozed/closed conversation may or may not be treated the same in both tools. | Variable | Check how snoozed-then-replied conversations are classified. |
Known limitations / merchant FAQs
Q: How often does Reopen Rate update? The card refreshes on the standard data refresh (typically every 30-60 minutes for live integrations). For a real-time read, force a manual refresh from the dashboard. Q: Why does my Intercom report show a different number? The usual causes are cohort definition (closed-in-window vs reopened-in-window), how multiple reopens are counted, and whether auto-reopens from snoozed conversations are included. Match these before assuming a real divergence. Q: Is some reopening normal? Yes. A few percent reflects customers following up legitimately. The concern is a rising or double-digit rate, which signals conversations are being closed before they are truly resolved. Q: Can I customise the alert threshold? Yes. The>15% trigger is configurable per profile in the Sensitivity tab. Lower it if your category (for example, simple order-status queries) should rarely reopen.