Tip: How to send first mail to requester when deadline is set

Hi all,

We are currently testing Zendesk to decide whether we should move from ServiceNow into Zendesk.

One of our wishes, that came up during a mini-workshop yesterday, was, that we would like the requester to get the first mail from us regarding their ticket, when we have set a deadline for when we expect the ticket to be solved.

We are also testing the app "Deadline" from Sweethawk, and this trigger utilizes this app and its fields.

First of, I started by deactivating the default trigger "Notify requester and CCs of received request", as we don't have a use for it when the new trigger is up and running.

Then I added the below trigger.

Note: The tag "deadline_pending" is set automatically by the Deadline-app when I submit the ticket after having set the deadline date and deadline time.

Conditions:

Actions:

Translation of the mail:

"Hi <name>,

We have not estimated the scope of the task regarding <title>, and we expect to have it solved no later than <deadline_date> at <deadline_time>.

Should you wish to contribute with further information, please reply to this mail.

Kind Regards

<assigned_name>
KR Helpdesk"

Now, I'm sure there's another way to do it, but this took me 5 mins to compose. 
Currently it sends out whenever the deadline date/time changes. One improvement could be to set a tag first time it sends out this mail and then add a new trigger that - if the tag set  first time exists - changes the mail content to say for example "We've pushed the deadline, sorry".

If anybody has some tips and tricks as to how to make this in another and faster way, or even without using external apps, please feel free to add a comment! :)