WordPress: Setting up and using the Zendesk Support for WordPress plugin

Using the Zendesk Support for WordPress plugin, you can connect your WordPress site and its users. Using the plugin you can do the following in WordPress:

• Enable your registered or unregistered (anonymous) Zendesk Support users to submit support requests from within the WordPress administrator dashboard (see Setting up anonymous ticket submissions with Zendesk Support for WordPress).
• Convert blog comments into tickets and add a public comment that can also be posted as a reply in the blog post.
• View all of the tickets in the tickets widget, which is added to the administrator dashboard.
• View details for each ticket and then open them in Zendesk Support to make updates.
• Add a contact form to the administrator dashboard so that your site users can quickly make support requests.
• Set the visibility permissions for each type of registered WordPress site user (administrators, editors, authors, contributors, subscribers), allowing them to either see the tickets widget or the contact form.
• Add the Web Widget to your WordPress site.
• Enable your users to sign in to Zendesk Support using single sign-on (SSO) (see Setting up single sign-on (SS0) for WordPress).

Installing the Zendesk Support for WordPress plugin

The Zendesk Support for WordPress plugin can be added to your WordPress site just like any other plugin. Plugins are only supported in self-hosted WordPress sites (wordpress.org), not free hosted sites on wordpress.com.

To install the Zendesk Support for WordPress plugin

Note: Enable password authentication to sign into the WordPress plugin in your account Settings > API.

1. Download the plugin at http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/zendesk/.
2. Log in to your WordPress site as an administrator.
   Note: If you installed a beta version of the Zendesk Support for WordPress plugin, delete it in WordPress before installing the new version.
3. In the dashboard, select Plugin > Add New.
4. Select Upload.
5. Click Browse to select the file you downloaded (zendesk.zip).
6. Click Install Now.
7. After the file is uploaded and installed, click Activate.

The next step is to configure the plugin with your account information and then select the features that you want to enable.

Configuring the plugin settings

Activating the plugin adds a new panel to the WordPress administrator dashboard, as shown here:

You need to configure your subdomain to access Zendesk Support in WordPress.

To configure your Zendesk Support instance in WordPress

1. Click the set up link and you'll be prompted to enter your subdomain.

   

2. Enter your subdomain.
   Note: If you use host mapping, this is automatically detected when you save the account settings.
3. Click Save Settings.

You will next be prompted to optionally set the visibility permissions for your registered site users, customize the contact form, allow support requests from unregistered (anonymous) users, and to add the Web Widget to your WordPress site.

For information about allowing anonymous users to submit requests, see Setting up anonymous ticket submissions with Zendesk Support for WordPress.

You can set these options immediately or later by selecting the Zendesk Support settings from the Zendesk Support for WordPress panel, as shown here:

Setting the dashboard widget visibility by user type

You can add either the contact form or the Zendesk Support widget to the dashboards of the registered users (administrators, editors, authors, contributors, subscribers) of your WordPress site. The contact form allows them to submit support requests directly from WordPress and the ticket widget allows users who are also Zendesk Support agents to view tickets and quickly access Zendesk Support to make ticket updates. In other words, the contact form is for users who need to submit support requests and the tickets widget is for agents to manage tickets.

To set the dashboard visibility

1. When you initially set up the plugin, the settings page is displayed after you've configured Zendesk Support. You can otherwise access this page by selecting Settings from the Zendesk panel. Visibility permissions are set in the Dashboard Widget Visibility section.
2. For each type of registered site user you can specify the following:
   • Don't display anything
   • Show a contact form
   • Show the tickets widget
3. Choose a visibility setting for all user types:
   • Administrators
   • Editors
   • Authors
   • Contributors
   • Subscribers
4. Click Save Changes.

Customizing the contact form

Using the contact form, your registered site users can submit support requests.

The contact form is added to the WordPress dashboard when enabled for the types of users described above. You can modify the wording of each element of the form (title, summary, description, and the button label) on the Settings page.

Note: You cannot currently add custom fields or otherwise modify this form.

To customize the contact form

1. Select Settings from the Zendesk Support panel.
2. In the Contact Form Settings section, enter text for the form title, summary label, details label, and submit button label.
3. Click Save Settings.

Adding the Web Widget to your WordPress site

Using the Zendesk Support for WordPress plugin, you can also easily add the Web Widget to your WordPress site. After integrate your WordPress site with Zendesk Support, the Web Widget code is automatically pulled into WordPress.

To add the Web Widget to your WordPress site

1. If you haven't already done so, set up Zendesk Support Web Widget (see Using Web Widget to embed customer service in your website).
2. In WordPress, select Settings from the Zendesk panel.
3. Select one of the following Web Widget display settings:
   • Do not display the Web Widget anywhere (this is the default)
   • Display the Web Widget on all posts and pages
   • I will decide where the Web Widget displays using a template tag
4. If you selected to use a template tag, you can then place the Web Widget where you would like it on your site using the following template tag:

   <?php if ( function_exists( 'the_zendesk_webwidget' ) ) the_zendesk_webwidget(); ?>

5. Click Save Settings.

The Web Widget behaves as it would when added to any other web site. You can, for example, configure it to also allow users to chat with agents and to search your knowledge base.

Submitting a request from the dashboard

Registered site users who have been granted permission to see Zendesk Support contact form (shown above) on their dashboards, may submit support requests. These users can either be registered users in Zendesk Support or you can allow unregistered (anonymous) users to submit requests (see Setting up anonymous ticket submissions with Zendesk Support for WordPress).

Users simply fill out the contact form and click Submit. If you've configured the plugin to allow anonymous submissions, then the requester is not prompted to sign in to Zendesk Support; an agent acts as the delegate for anonymous requests. If not, all your users must sign in before submitting requests. After a request is submitted, the requester receives the usual email notification.

Using the ticket widget

Using the tickets widget, agents can view tickets using all of the shared views in Zendesk Support.

By selecting Change View you see and can switch to any of the shared views in Zendesk Support.

By clicking on a ticket, you see summary information about the ticket and make updates.

Converting a blog post comment into a ticket

You can convert blog comments into tickets in the dashboard. Only comments that have been submitted along with an email address can be converted into a ticket. The commenter's email address is used to add them to your instance of Zendesk Support and enable follow up communication about the ticket.

To convert a comment into a ticket

1. In the WordPress administrator dashboard, select the Comments.
2. Locate the comment you want to convert to a ticket and click Convert to Zendesk Ticket.
3. You'll be prompted to enter a comment, which can be posted as a response in the post. Enter your comment and then optionally select either or both of these two options:
   • Make this a public comment in the ticket
   • Post as a reply on this blog post
4. Click Create Ticket.

All follow up on the ticket occurs within Zendesk Support.