AI Email Triage
Automatically categorize, prioritize, and route emails with AI-powered triage.
What is AI Email Triage?
AI Email Triage automatically analyzes incoming emails and organizes them for you:
- Auto-Categorization: Classify emails (urgent, inquiry, spam, feedback, etc.)
- Priority Scoring: Rate urgency from 1 (Critical) to 5 (Low)
- Sentiment Analysis: Detect emotional tone (angry, concerned, positive, neutral)
- Action Item Extraction: Identify tasks and deadlines
- Smart Routing: Suggest which team/person should handle
Why Use It?
Respond Faster:
- Critical emails flagged immediately
- Urgent issues bubble to top
- Spam filtered automatically
Better Organization:
- Emails categorized automatically
- Similar emails grouped together
- Easy filtering and searching
Improve Customer Satisfaction:
- Angry customers identified early
- Response time reduced
- No emails fall through cracks
How It Works
Triage Process
1. Email arrives (forwarded to your case email)
↓
2. AI analyzes:
- Subject line
- Email body
- Sender information
- Attachments (metadata)
- Email thread context
↓
3. AI determines:
- Category (urgent, inquiry, spam, etc.)
- Priority (1-5)
- Sentiment (angry, concerned, positive, etc.)
- Action items
- Keywords
↓
4. Email tagged and routed:
- High-priority emails → Notifications sent
- Low-priority emails → Queued for review
- Spam → Filtered to spam folder
What AI Analyzes
Email Content:
- Subject line and body text
- Tone and language (formal, casual, angry)
- Technical terms and jargon
- Urgency indicators ("URGENT", "ASAP", "immediate")
Context:
- Sender history (new vs. repeat customer)
- Email thread (initial inquiry vs. follow-up)
- Attachments (type, size, count)
- Time of day (business hours vs. after hours)
Patterns:
- Similar emails handled in the past
- Common issues and resolutions
- Escalation triggers
Email Categories
Category Types
Urgent (Priority 1-2):
- Critical issues requiring immediate attention
- System outages, security breaches
- Angry customer escalations
- Legal threats, compliance issues
Example:
Subject: URGENT: Cannot access account for 3 hours! Category: urgent Priority: 1 (Critical) Sentiment: angry Action Items: ["Reset account access", "Investigate cause", "Follow up within 1 hour"]
Inquiry (Priority 3):
- Questions about products/services
- How-to requests
- Feature inquiries
- General information requests
Example:
Subject: Question about data export feature Category: inquiry Priority: 3 (Medium) Sentiment: neutral Action Items: ["Provide documentation link", "Offer demo if needed"]
Feedback (Priority 3-4):
- Product feedback (positive or negative)
- Feature requests
- User experience comments
- Testimonials
Example:
Subject: Love the new search feature! Category: feedback Priority: 4 (Low-Medium) Sentiment: positive Action Items: ["Thank customer", "Share with product team"]
Spam (Priority 5):
- Promotional emails
- Unsolicited sales pitches
- Phishing attempts
- Irrelevant messages
Example:
Subject: Buy cheap medications online!!! Category: spam Priority: 5 (Lowest) Sentiment: neutral Action Items: ["Mark as spam", "Block sender"]
Support Request (Priority 2-3):
- Technical support issues
- Bug reports
- Account problems
- Billing inquiries
Example:
Subject: Payment failed but was charged anyway Category: support Priority: 2 (High) Sentiment: concerned Action Items: ["Verify transaction", "Process refund if needed", "Respond within 4 hours"]
Follow-up (Priority 3-4):
- Responses to previous emails
- Status check-ins
- "Just following up..." emails
Example:
Subject: Re: Following up on my question from last week Category: follow-up Priority: 3 (Medium) Sentiment: concerned Action Items: ["Review previous conversation", "Provide update"]
Priority Levels
Priority Scale
| Priority | Urgency | Response Time | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 - Critical | Immediate | 1 hour | System down, security breach, legal threat |
| 2 - High | Urgent | 4 hours | Angry customer, payment issue, account locked |
| 3 - Medium | Normal | 24 hours | General inquiry, feature request, feedback |
| 4 - Low | Not urgent | 2-3 days | Suggestions, non-critical feedback |
| 5 - Lowest | No action | N/A | Spam, irrelevant messages |
Auto-Prioritization
AI considers multiple factors:
Urgency Indicators:
- Subject line keywords: "URGENT", "CRITICAL", "IMMEDIATE"
- Time-sensitive language: "deadline", "expiring", "ASAP"
- Emotional language: "frustrated", "angry", "disappointed"
Customer History:
- First-time customer → Higher priority
- Repeat issue → Higher priority
- Long-time customer → Higher priority
- Previous escalations → Higher priority
Issue Severity:
- Account access issues → Priority 1-2
- Billing problems → Priority 2
- General questions → Priority 3
- Feature requests → Priority 3-4
- Feedback → Priority 4
Sentiment Analysis
Sentiment Types
Angry 😠:
- Frustrated, hostile, threatening tone
- Excessive punctuation ("!!!", "???")
- All caps, profanity
- Escalation language
Concerned 😟:
- Worried, anxious tone
- Multiple follow-ups
- Uncertainty expressions
- Requesting reassurance
Positive 😊:
- Happy, satisfied tone
- Thank you messages
- Compliments
- Testimonials
Neutral 😐:
- Professional, matter-of-fact tone
- Straightforward requests
- No emotional indicators
Using Sentiment
Angry Customers:
- Auto-escalate to senior support
- Flag for manager review
- Prioritize for quick response
- Offer compensation/apology
Positive Feedback:
- Route to marketing/testimonials
- Thank customer personally
- Request public review
- Identify brand advocates
Action Items Extraction
What AI Extracts
Tasks:
- "Please reset my password"
- "I need a refund for invoice #12345"
- "Can you schedule a demo?"
Deadlines:
- "Need response by Friday"
- "Contract expires in 3 days"
- "Please call me before 5pm"
Requests:
- "Send me documentation"
- "Upgrade my plan"
- "Cancel my subscription"
Using Action Items
Task Management:
- Auto-create tasks from action items
- Set due dates based on deadlines
- Assign to appropriate team member
- Track completion
Example:
Email: "Can you please reset my password and send me the billing history for last quarter? I need it by Friday for my audit."
Extracted Action Items:
1. Reset password [Priority: High]
2. Send billing history (Q3 2024) [Deadline: Friday]
3. Assign to: Billing team
Smart Routing
Routing Rules
AI suggests which team/person should handle email:
Technical Support:
- Bug reports, technical errors
- Feature questions
- Integration issues
- API problems
Billing:
- Payment issues
- Invoice questions
- Refund requests
- Subscription changes
Sales:
- Product inquiries (prospects)
- Upgrade requests
- Demo requests
- Pricing questions
Customer Success:
- Onboarding help
- Usage questions
- Best practices
- Feature adoption
Management/Escalation:
- Angry customers
- Legal threats
- Compliance issues
- Executive requests
Practical Examples
Example 1: Critical Account Issue
Email:
Subject: URGENT: Locked out of account, losing thousands! Body: I've been locked out of my account for 3 hours and my business is losing money every minute. This is unacceptable! I need immediate help or I'm canceling and demanding a refund.
AI Triage:
Category: urgent
Priority: 1 (Critical)
Sentiment: angry
Keywords: ["locked out", "urgent", "losing money", "business impact", "threatening cancellation"]
Action Items:
1. Unlock account immediately
2. Investigate cause of lockout
3. Escalate to manager
4. Call customer directly
5. Offer service credit
Suggested Routing: Senior Support + Manager notification
Response Deadline: 1 hour
Confidence: 0.95
Outcome: Account unlocked in 15 minutes, manager called customer, service credit applied, customer retained.
Example 2: Feature Request
Email:
Subject: Suggestion: bulk document upload Body: Hi, love your product! One feature that would be super helpful is the ability to upload multiple documents at once. Currently have to upload one at a time which is tedious. Thanks for considering!
AI Triage:
Category: feedback
Priority: 4 (Low-Medium)
Sentiment: positive
Keywords: ["feature request", "bulk upload", "suggestion", "love product"]
Action Items:
1. Thank customer for feedback
2. Add to feature request backlog
3. Notify when implemented
Suggested Routing: Product team
Response Deadline: 2-3 days
Confidence: 0.91
Outcome: Thanked customer, added to roadmap, customer notified when feature shipped 2 months later.
Example 3: Spam Detection
Email:
Subject: Congratulations! You've won $1,000,000!!! Body: Click here to claim your prize! Limited time offer! Act now!
AI Triage:
Category: spam
Priority: 5 (Lowest)
Sentiment: neutral
Keywords: ["spam", "prize", "click here", "limited time", "act now"]
Action Items:
1. Mark as spam
2. Block sender
Suggested Routing: Spam folder
Confidence: 0.99
Outcome: Auto-filtered to spam, sender blocked.
Using AI Email Triage
Setup
Enable Email Triage:
- Go to Settings → AI Preferences
- Enable Email Triage
- Configure triage rules (optional)
- Set up routing rules
- Configure notifications
Forward Emails:
- Forward case-related emails to:
case-{caseId}@torvussecurity.com - AI automatically triages all incoming emails
- View triaged emails in case inbox
Configure Rules
Custom Rules (Enterprise):
# Example: Auto-escalate billing issues over $10,000
- if: category = "billing" AND amount > $10,000
then:
priority: 1
route: billing-manager@company.com
notify: cfo@company.com
# Example: Auto-assign tech support to specific team
- if: category = "support" AND keywords contains "API"
then:
route: api-support-team@company.com
Best Practices
When to Use Email Triage
✅ Good Use Cases:
- High email volume (100+ emails/day)
- Multiple team members handling emails
- Need to prioritize urgent issues
- Want to improve response times
- Track customer sentiment
❌ Not Recommended:
- Very low email volume (<10 emails/day)
- All emails go to one person
- No prioritization needed
- Highly personal communication
Improving Triage Accuracy
Provide Feedback:
- Mark triage as correct/incorrect
- AI learns from your feedback
- Accuracy improves over time
Review Regularly:
- Check spam folder for false positives
- Monitor priority assignments
- Adjust rules as needed
API Access
Triage Email via API
curl -X POST https://api.torvussecurity.com/v1/ai/triage-email \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"subject": "URGENT: Cannot access account",
"body": "Locked out for 3 hours...",
"from": "customer@example.com",
"date": "2025-10-15T19:45:00Z"
}'
Response:
{
"category": "urgent",
"priority": 1,
"sentiment": "angry",
"actionItems": [
"Reset account access immediately",
"Investigate lockout cause",
"Follow up within 1 hour"
],
"keywords": ["locked out", "urgent", "cannot access"],
"suggestedRoute": "senior-support",
"confidence": 0.95
}
FAQ
Can I customize email categories?
Not yet. AI uses predefined categories. Coming Soon: Custom categories for Enterprise customers.
How accurate is sentiment analysis?
75-85% accuracy. Works best with clear emotional language. Sarcasm and cultural nuances may be misinterpreted.
Does AI read my emails?
Yes, AI must read email content to triage it. All processing is encrypted and no data is retained by AI provider.
Can I disable triage for certain emails?
Yes. Settings → AI Preferences → Email Triage → Exclusions Add email addresses or domains to exclude from AI triage.
Getting Help
Support: ai-support@torvussecurity.com
Resources:
Last Updated: October 15, 2025