If you use operating hours in your Zendesk Chat configuration, you’ll likely want to apply a similar schedule to your messaging configuration.

If you use operating hours in your Zendesk Chat configuration, you’ll likely want to apply a similar schedule to your messaging configuration.

This article provides an overview of how business hours work on messaging, how they differ from Chat operating hours, and common workflows you can use to manage conversations outside business hours.

This article includes the following topics:

  • About messaging business hours
  • Managing the end user’s experience and expectations
  • Workflows to handle offline messaging tickets

Related articles:

  • About AI agents
  • Configuring messaging responses and business hours
  • Setting your schedule with business hours and holidays

About messaging business hours

In Zendesk Chat, operating hours mainly control when chat is available. Unlike Chat, messaging can function asynchronously. In messaging, business hours and schedules can control several different behaviors.

For example, in messaging, business hours and schedules can control:

  • Whether customers can start a conversation
  • Whether an AI agent can escalate to a human agent
  • Whether a ticket is created outside business hours
  • What message customers see when agents are unavailable

Because of this, there isn’t a one-to-one replacement for Chat operating hours in messaging. Instead, choose the messaging setup that best matches the experience you want to provide.

Use the following table to map common Chat operating hours use cases to messaging options:

If you used Chat operating hours to… In messaging, use…
Let customers know agents are offline Triggers to deliver automated responses outside of business hours
Offer self-service after hours AI agents with schedules
Let customers leave a request for follow-up AI agent tickets
Route after-hours requests differently Triggers and routing workflows

Managing the end user’s experience and expectations

When migrating from Chat to messaging, decide what you want customers to experience outside business hours. You can configure your messaging channel to do one of the following:

  • Option 1: Offer self-service with an AI agent
  • Option 2: Hide the widget outside business hours
  • Option 3: Prevent escalation to an agent outside business hours
  • Option 4: Let customers create a ticket for follow-up

Option 1: Offer self-service with an AI agent (recommended)

Agentic AI agents are available 24/7 to provide support when your human agents are unavailable. An AI agent can respond to support requests through your messaging channel, perform tasks, and offer assistance that can resolve customer issues without input from a human agent.

If you use schedules, you can create an AI agent that behaves differently based on the day or time of day when your customer submits their support request.

Step 1: Create your schedule in Admin Center

You can create a regular weekly schedule and a holiday schedule in Admin Center as needed.
Note: If you're using the assisted migration experience, your Chat schedules will be automatically migrated to Admin Center.

Step 2: Create and configure an agentic AI agent for your messaging channel

  1. Create your AI agent for messaging, making sure to select the brand with a comprehensive knowledge base.
  2. In the AI agents workspace, select the newly-created AI agent.
  3. If your help center is able to provide the AI agent with a useful response, the conversation can end there; however, if the agent is unable to provide the customer with a resolution, make sure you customize the AI agent's Escalation reply with a message that is sent outside of business hours.

Step 3: Test and publish the AI agent

  1. Test the AI agent to confirm it performs as expected.
  2. Activate the AI agent on your messaging channel.

Option 2: Hide the widget outside business hours

You can choose to hide the Web Widget when agents aren’t available using the Core messaging Javascript API.

This option is best for accounts that:

  • Aren't using AI agents or a messaging configuration for customers to self-solve their issues, so deflection isn’t available.
  • Don't have a help center or other knowledge source from which an automated answer, through an AI agent or messaging response, can be generated.
  • Only have potential resolutions that require input from human agents.

Option 3: Prevent escalation to an agent outside business hours

If you have a robust help center or external knowledge source, you can rely on an AI agent or messaging response to offer customers the opportunity to resolve common issues without input from a human agent, and prevent them from submitting a ticket when human agents aren’t available.

Step 1: Create your schedule in Admin Center

You can create a regular weekly schedule and a holiday schedule in Admin Center as needed.

Step 2: Create your automated responder

You can use an AI agent, or a standard messaging response if you aren’t using AI agents, to communicate with your customers outside of your business hours.

For an AI agent

  1. Create the AI agent for your messaging channel.
  2. Customize the fallback reply by selecting the schedule you created that sets your business hours. For the Outside business hours part of the reply, deselect Add option to talk to a human and escalate. This prevents a ticket from being created when the AI agent escalates the conversation. Fill out the message you want your customers to receive, including any instructions for contacting agents through other channels or ways to self-solve their issue.

For the Web Widget or mobile SDK, without AI agents

  1. Create or edit your Web Widget or mobile SDK messaging channel.
  2. Configure the messaging response.
    • Select the schedule you created that sets your business hours.
    • Click Outside business hours, then fill out the message you want your customers to receive, including any instructions for contacting agents through other channels or ways to self-solve their issue.

Workflows to handle offline messaging tickets

In addition to the options above, you can create triggers to make sure the workflow for support requests submitted outside of business hours are handled correctly.

This section includes the following options:

  • Workflow 1: Route offline conversations to a specific group
  • Workflow 2: Assign offline tickets with lower priority
  • Workflow 3: Re-route offline conversations to follow up over email

Workflow 1: Route offline conversations to a specific group

The following ticket trigger sends new conversations that come in after hours to a specific group, in this case one that manages tickets that come in outside of business hours.

Step 1: Ensure your account has the required elements
  • Create a group in Support for handling these tickets, for example Overnight requests
  • Define business hours for basic messaging users, or create a schedule for AI agent users
Step 2: Create the ticket trigger

Create a ticket trigger using the following conditions and actions:

Meet ALL of the following conditions:

  • Ticket > Status category | Is | New
  • Ticket > Within business hours? | Is | No

Actions:

  • Ticket > Add tags | offline_conversations
  • Ticket > Messaging session | End Session
  • Ticket > Group | Overnight requests group

Workflow 2: Assign offline tickets with lower priority

This option creates offline messaging tickets that are handled by the same team responding to messaging tickets that come in after hours, but with lower priority. This option is only possible with omnichannel routing, which allows the queue to be ordered based on ticket priority.

Step 1: Ensure your account has the required elements
  • Omnichannel routing is turned on
  • Messaging activity routing is turned on. This keeps all tickets, both active and inactive, in the team or agent queue, including offline tickets.
  • Define business hours for basic messaging users, or create a schedule for AI agent users
Step 2: Create the ticket trigger

Create a ticket trigger that assigns a lower priority to tickets created outside of business hours, using the following conditions and actions:

Meet ALL of the following conditions:

  • Ticket > Channel | Is | Messaging
  • Ticket > Within business hours? | Is | No

Actions:

  • Ticket > Priority | Low

Workflow 3: Re-route offline conversations to follow up over email

Create a ticket trigger to re-route offline conversations.

  • Event: When ticket is Created
  • Conditions:
    • Status is New
    • Ticket > Within business hours | No
  • Actions:
    • Ticket tag | offline_conversations
    • Set messaging session state = Ended
    • Group = Email group

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