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About AI agents for messaging
If you have an active help center, AI agents for messaging deliver automated, AI-generated answers in response to customer requests, with information from your own trusted help center content, without needing to build custom answers.
Through the use of generative AI, when a relevant help center article is identified, generative replies are displayed as a single message with a link to the source article. These messages are short (generally under 100 words) and reflect the AI agent’s persona.
These replies are always followed by a standard request for end-user feedback (“Was this helpful - yes/no”). You can configure AI agent responses to this feedback.
If you’re using a restricted help center, the AI agent response respects the article view permissions set in Guide, which means:
- If the end user, agent, or admin is authenticated via the messaging authentication protocol and user mapping established with an external ID, the AI agent can suggest relevant restricted articles.
- If the end user is unauthenticated, the AI agent will suggest only public articles.
For more information, see Configuring your account for using restricted content in AI agents.
Creating an AI agent for messaging
Creating an AI agent for messaging means you’re adding the ability to use the AI agent in a channel’s messaging configuration. Until you add an AI agent to a specific messaging channel and publish it, the default messaging response remains active for that channel.
These instructions assume you've already created a web or mobile messaging channel.
To add an AI agent for messaging
- In Admin Center, click Channels in the sidebar, then select AI agents and automation > AI agents.
- Click Manage AI agents for messaging.
- Click Create AI agent at the top of the page.
Alternatively, you can clone an existing AI agent as a starting point.
- In Name, enter a name for the AI agent.
This name is displayed at the top of the widget where the AI agent is deployed. Choose a name that makes it clear customers are not talking to a human.
- Select a Tone of voice:
- Professional: (Default) A polite and direct tone.
- Informal: A casual and friendly tone.
- Enthusiastic: An upbeat and friendly tone.
- Click Next.
- In Brand, use the drop-down to select a brand to apply to the AI
agent.
Appears only if you use multiple brands. If the help center for the brand you selected is not active, you’ll see an error message with a link to the help center that needs to be activated before you can proceed.
- Click Next.
A test version of your AI agent appears.
- Test your AI agent to be sure it performs the way you expect.
For help, see Testing the end user’s messaging experience.
- Choose your next step:
- Click Go to publish to publish the AI agent. The AI agent won’t be available to customers until it’s published. See Publishing an AI agent to add it to a channel.
- Click Advanced settings to configure additional settings that affect the AI agent’s behavior. See Viewing and configuring settings for AI agents for messaging.
Creating an AI agent for messaging (Legacy)
Creating an AI agent for messaging means you’re adding the ability to use the AI agent in a channel’s messaging configuration. Until you add an AI agent to a specific messaging channel and publish it, the default messaging response remains active for that channel.
These instructions assume you have already created a web or mobile messaging channel.
To add an AI agent for messaging
- In Admin Center, click Channels in the sidebar, then select AI agents and automation > AI agents.
- Click Manage AI agents for messaging.
- Click Create AI agent at the top of the page.
Alternatively, you can clone an existing AI agent as a starting point for your new AI agent.
- In The basics, enter the information, then click Next.
- Enter a name for the AI agent. This name is displayed at the top of the widget where the AI agent is deployed.
- Add a custom avatar (optional). The custom avatar replaces the default AI agent avatar. The image can be a JPG, PNG, or GIF file and it must be smaller than 100KB. An image size of 50x50 pixels gives the best results.
- If you’re using multiple brands, use the drop-down to select a brand to apply to the AI agent.
- In Language, select a AI agent language from the drop-down for your AI agent then click Next.
- In Generative AI, select Turn on generative AI features if you want your AI agent to use generative replies and AI agent personas.
- Click Create AI agent at the bottom of the page.
A basic AI agent for messaging with a standard response is created with the Behavior tab open, where you can set the standard AI agent responses. You can begin adding answers to define its behavior in the Answers tab.
Your new AI agent remains in draft mode until it's published and connected to a messaging channel.
Cloning an AI agent for messaging
You can clone an existing AI agent, then use it as the starting point for building a new AI agent.
To clone an existing AI agent
- In Admin Center, click Channels in the sidebar, then select AI agents and automation > AI agents.
- Click Manage AI agents for messaging.
- Click the AI agent's Options icon () and select Clone.
The AI agent is copied and added to the end of your AI agent list. It's given the same name as the original AI agent and appended with (copy).
After you’ve cloned the AI agent, you can build it by adding, editing, or deleting its answers as needed.
63 comments
Shiyu Zhu
Hey @...
Shiyu from the Zendesk product team. When you speak of localisation, are you referring to localizing the entire flow or only certain messages inside a flow. Thanks
0
Shiyu Zhu
Hey @...
Have you tried adding a transfer to agent step after article suggestions as a way to prevent end-users floating in limbo?
Thanks for your feedback around business operating hours, I have captured your use case for us to consider in the future.
0
Ali Demir
@...
Thank you for reaching out. Some default texts are English-Only (also cannot be changed in English) so these should be localized in other languages. The page itself is ok to be in English.
Regards,
0
Han T
Shiyu Zhu
Hi Shiya, Referring to your message here -
I am unable to configure another step after Articles suggestion, in order to transfer to an agent.
The transfer to agent step will be helpful after Articles suggestion, then I can add the form to collect ticket fields information from the end-users.
Instead of relying on the "Talk to Human" end of loop from Answer Bot which doesn't ask with the form.
0
David Rothe
Is there any reporting available around what inquiries didn't resolve the issue for the customer when using AnswerBot? We'd like to be able to capture this information so we can add it to our Help Center articles.
5
Brett Bowser
Hey Dave,
We released Improved reporting for answer-bot in Explore which you can find out more in the link I attached. It looks like we include a rejection rate for articles that did not resolve the issue for the user.
Let me know if that's not what you're looking for!
1
David Rothe
Thanks Brett, although clicking on your link takes me here. I tried searching as well but came up empty.
0
Brett Bowser
Hey Dave,
Looks like the announcement has since been archived. You can find out more about answer bot reporting here: Explore recipe: Analyzing Answer Bot activity
You can also find out more about our answer bot metrics and attributes here: Metrics and attributes for Zendesk Guide
I hope this helps!
1
Jordan Brown
Is there a way to change the name of the answerbot to something else?
1
Brett Bowser
Hey Jordan,
It doesn't look like this is possible at this time, however, our Product Managers are looking to have this functionality available in the future.
Let us know if you have any other questions!
0
Trey J.
Just to clarify, if we want to enable messaging so we can use Flow Builder capabilities with Answer Bot, do we have to use the messaging feature or can we just use Flow Builder?
We already use Answer Bot and would just like the enhanced functionality; we're not ready to use messaging with agents at this time. Thanks!
0
Shiyu Zhu
Hi Trey,
Flow Builder only works on the new Web SDK today and it does require you to enable messaging and making the upgrade to agent workspace.
0
Trey J.
Thanks for clarifying @...!
0
HelloMyBot
Is there a possibility to avoid answerbot to plug an external bot ? Have you some links to share about that ?
0
Juraj Jarmek
Hello @...,
In this scenario, with Flow Builder, we cannot use external bots.
You would need to use Answer Bot because the integration is built around it.
0
Jeremy Batty
Is it possible for Answer Bot to transfer the conversation to a specific agent?
0
Juraj Jarmek
Hello, @...,
Please note that this is not possible since we do not have a mechanism on how to manage this.
0
Jon Simone
We would like to provide an option to request a call back and then gather information using ticket fields. Is there a way to do this?
The flow would be Talk to a human > Request a callback > Please provide the following information: "Issue, Phone #, etc" (using fields) > Create ticket and then we could tag the ticket and create a callback view.
1
conjbpruebQ lozada
Mis siguientes preguntas son estas ..
quedo atenta a una pronta respuesta :
flow builder
1.-Se pueden cambiar las frases parametizadas ( Un ejemplo en ves de decir -- hablar con un humano yo quisiera poner-- hablar con un especialista)
2.- Existe manera que al cerrar el bot no quede como tikcet
3.- calificación disponible todo el tiempo en ves de al ultimo
4.- enviar encuesta de satisfacción y cerrar chat después de inactividad.
0
Cheeny Aban
Hi Jon,
As of the moment, there is no native way to add the step "request a callback" in flow builder, but we understand your need for this functionality so I will be marking your comment as Product Feedback.
We truly value customer feedback and your voice and votes in the product feedback topics in the community help influence future Zendesk functionality.
2
Marcel White
The team and I are attempting to configure this now. The main issue we see is that where we have departments handling different business components (sales, support, billing) there's not a way to hand off to a particular department.
I may want to have a certain widget location be handled by a different agent as well (on a sales page/form for instance) .
Are there any immediate plans to allow the flow builder to send chats to particular departments, or is that handled via a different piece of functionality? Thanks!
2
Ingrid van Veen - Schokkenbroek
@... When will it be possible to customize the feedbackflow? The automatic translation does not match our communication style (eg. the knowlegde is power?? line). By the way the option to transfer to an agent is missing in that automatic feedback. The only choice is to start over or rephrase the question...
2
Tiffany Boyer
Hi, Team!
Working on creating flows now and I'm a little stuck.
I only have two options for the form:
When I type in "Order ID", nothing populates to choose from. Any ideas?
1
Daniel Aron
Hi Ingrid,
Customizing the feedback flow with Flow Builder is on the 9 month roadmap.
0
Daniel Aron
Hi Tiffany,
Check to see what field type it is in your Support ticket field configuration. There is only a limited set of ticket field types supported in Flow Builder agent transfer configuration currently - text or drop-down. So if your Order ID is a numeric field type for example that would explain why it isn't appearing. Are there particular field types that you'd like to see supported with Flow Builder when capturing data as part of the agent transfer step?
0
Daniel Aron
Hi Marcel,
We are looking into ways to improve agent routing with Flow Builder on the 9 month roadmap. In the meantime, you may be able to achieve what you need by configuring data capture as part of the agent transfer step. For example, you could create a drop-down ticket field that has the values of your example, "sales", "support" and "billing" and then you can set up routing rules so that messaging conversations with those ticket field values go to the appropriate agent group.
I hope that helps!
0
Ingrid van Veen - Schokkenbroek
@... Hi Daniel, thanks for the update. Is it possible that the 9 month roadmap for Flow Bilder is shared. So it's clear to us what's coming?
1
Edwin Schukking
@... - Chiming in on the comment from @..., for the same reason we would be interested in using placeholders to provide the language translation in the register we are using with our end users. And so, we would be interested as well in what the 9-month roadmap will have in store for us.
0
RelayPay
Hi,
Is there a way to change the avatar for the Answer Bot?
0
Miranda Burford
Hi @...,
Not currently, but this is something that is in consideration for the future. Out of interest, what avatar would you like to use instead?
Thanks,
- Miranda.
0