Zendesk bots are available in a number of Zendesk products and integrations. This article is a guide to all the ways you can use bots, and where to find more information on adding bots to your toolbox.
This article includes the following topics:
- Autoreplies in Support emails
- Autoreplies in web forms
- Conversation bot in the messaging Web Widget (bot builder)
- Conversation bot in the mobile SDKs
- Suggested articles in the Knowledge in the context panel
- Zendesk bots for Slack
- Zendesk bots for Microsoft Teams
- Zendesk bots in Web Widget (Classic)
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Zendesk bot APIs Note: The Zendesk bots for Slack integration only works for Zendesk bot-supported languages. See Languages supported in Zendesk bots for more information.
Autoreplies in Support emails
The most basic bot functionality is the automated email response containing article suggestions. In Zendesk Support, when an end user submits a support request via email, they receive an auto-response that acknowledges their request and includes a list of articles from your help center that can help the requester solve their own issue:
If a suggested article answers their question, the end user can close their support request; if no article addresses the problem, the support request remains in the ticket queue to be answered by an agent.
If you have the Zendesk Advanced AI add-on and have intelligence triage enabled, you can also create advanced email autoreplies. Advanced email autoreplies attempt to directly directly answer the customer’s request. Advanced autoreplies are typically triggered based on AI predictions about intent, language, and sentiment.
More information:
Autoreplies in web forms
You can add autoreplies to your web-based ticket forms as well. When enabled, if an end user submits a support request through your help center’s submission form, a pop-up modal offers them suggestions for articles that they may find useful:
As with the emailed suggestions, if any article in the modal answers the end user’s question, they can close the support request with no input from an agent; if it doesn’t, their request remains in the ticket queue.
When you include autoreply responses on your web forms, users won't receive suggested articles via email.
More information:
Conversation bot in the messaging Web Widget (bot builder)
A conversation bot is a dynamic, customizable bot that helps guide customers to a resolution. You can deploy a conversation bot to the messaging Web Widget, letting your bot offer 24/7 support on a website or help center.
You can create a conversation bot in any style that suits your organization, from a simple greeting to welcome customers to your support center before handing them over to a live agent, to a complex conversation bot that gathers customer data, routes conversations to specific agents, proactively notifies customers of updates or changes, and more.
More information:
Conversation bot in the mobile SDKs
Conversation bots can be a part of your mobile support offering. Our mobile SDKs make it easy to integrate into any mobile app, answering customer questions in-context without them ever having to leave the app or disrupt their experience. Users can mark the articles as "solving" their issues, or indicate they still need help - and escalate their issue to a Support ticket.
If you are using messaging in the mobile SDK, the bot builder is available. Zendesk Support's mobile app uses autoreplies.
More information:
Suggested articles in Knowledge in the context panel
Agents can use the knowledge section of the context panel while working with tickets to conveniently get information and answers relevant to the conversation they're in.
The knowledge section uses Zendesk bots to automatically provide relevant suggestions agents can use to answer questions in your tickets. Agents can use the knowledge section to access your knowledge base and community forums, search for external content, and take actions related to content while working on tickets without leaving the ticket interface.
More information:
Zendesk bots for Slack
When enabled in the Slack for Zendesk Support integration, the bot can "listen in" on questions posed in any Slack channel configured to use the Support integration and offer relevant article suggestions:
Users can indicate whether the offered article is useful to them by clicking the Yes or No buttons. If more than one article is found, they can click the More suggestions button to view additional articles.
If their question is not answered by any of the articles offered, they can submit a Support ticket:
More information:
Zendesk bots for Microsoft Teams
When enabled in the Zendesk integration for Microsoft Teams, the bot can provide article suggestions when a user asks a question as a new conversation:
By default, the bot is turned off in channels. An admin or agent can use the answer bot command in a channel to turn on the bot and manage settings for that channel, such as filter article recommendations by help center, labels, or user segments.
If the bot doesn't have an answer, it will prompt you to create a ticket.
More information:
Zendesk bots in Web Widget (Classic)
If you have the Web Widget (Classic) installed on your help center or website, your customers can receive article suggestions whenever they need help across your site, in a conversational way.
Escalation options to a human agent can always be made available, such as requesting a callback, live chat or leaving a message.
More information:
APIs for bots
The Answer Bot API enables businesses to extend AI-powered self-service help to any channel. Developers can build their own self-service automation experiences wherever they’d like. When implemented correctly, users can quickly and easily mark their questions as resolved / not-resolved, giving you more data for reporting, and improving the bot model over time.
More information:
12 Comments
In this article it mentions that customers can request a callback through answerbot: "Escalation options to a human agent can always be made available, such as requesting a callback, live chat or leaving a message". How does this work? I do not see this option in the flow builder.
Hi @..., it is a bit confusing, I'm sorry. So those options are available if you are using the Web Widget, but they are not available in Flow Builder, which works with messaging and the Web SDK (as opposed to the Web Widget). Hope that helps!
Jennifer Rowe is the plan for Flow Builder to replace Web Widget eventually?
Jon Simone
When I wrote the comment above the new version of the Web Widget (that worked with messaging, including FlowBuilder) was called Web SDK. We have since relabeled the original Web Widget as "Web Widget Classic" and there is an updated version called Web Widget (not Web SDK anymore).
So no, FlowBuilder is not replacing Web Widget. But the new version of Web Widget, if you are using messaging, enables you to use FlowBuilder.
I hope that makes sense! Let me know.
Hello! We have been testing using AB in our Web Form and Email. Are these exclusive, or can they be used in both areas simultaneously?
Thank you!
- Tim
Hello
Is there a way to get the answerbot to send action buttons trough whatsapp?
We currently have Enterprise licence + Sunshine for notifications.
This is the kind of message i get from my app connected to SunCo
But this is what i get from Answerbot
Those yes/no options should be in buttons, not in text
Unfortunately, adding answer bot buttons is not natively supported in WhatsApp.
Thank you
Hi Zendesk,
Can (and how) Answer Bot can crawl between several help center please?
(especially for the messaging experience)
Thank you,
Currently Answer Bot doesn’t work across brands/help centers.
Answer Bot will suggest articles from the brand associated.
If you'd like to explain your use case and give your feedback I can encourage you to post it in our community here.
Hope this answers your question!
Hi Team,
Is it possible to use an Answer Bot if we have multiple Brands via ZD?
Seems as though we can being that there are Channels now added.
Marine thanks ! I succeeded via an API call,
Charlene Javier of course :-)
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