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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.
64 comments
Jon Simone
How hard would it be to implement a Shrek avatar?
Just kidding... I think the request (in our case at least) would be to add any sort of custom avatar from a picture. Maybe a company logo or an agent's face. Something like that. Shrek may be applicable to some companies.
3
Miranda Burford
Haha. Love it @...! Thanks for your sharing your use case (Shrek included). 🤣
- Miranda.
0
RelayPay
Same as Jon, a custom avatar will do like the company's logo or the brand being used for the widget. We're also looking at the Shrek avatar lol!
2
Miranda Burford
Thanks @.... That's good to know! 🤣
- Miranda.
0
Anton Verhelst
How do you delete a bot?
0
Jon Simone
Anton Verhelst
If you are talking about the Zendesk Answerbot - it exists in two different forms currently. Legacy and through Messaging / Flow builder.
For the legacy version here are instructions to turn it off: https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408846786714-Disabling-Answer-Bot
For messaging / flow builder: https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408829224858-Disabling-messaging-for-web-and-mobile-channels#topic_wdl_2lp_mrb
and
https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408838909210-Using-Flow-Builder-to-create-bot-flows#topic_vnd_rcy_fnb
For marketplace bots these are disabled in admin > apps > manage
0
Elizabeth C
Hi there, If we have 500 Answer bots/month in our plan, can we add more? Can we get a cost for that?
0
DJ Buenavista Jr.
Thank you for reaching out to Zendesk Support.
In regards to your concern, yes it is possible to add more than 500 Answer Bot resolutions to your plan. Kndly check our article, About Answer Bot resolutions for more information about this.
Thank you and have a wonderful day ahead!
Kind regards,
0
William Grote
Miranda Burford
Plus one on being able to add a custom avatar to the Bot - it was the first thing my team asked when I did the demo - we wanted something like this ;-)
1
Miranda Burford
Thanks William Grote. That's noted!
0
Natalia Maglioni
Buenas tardes, Necesito poder borrar ese mensaje "El conocimiento es poder" desde donde lo modifico?
0
Beto
¡Hola Natalia, muchas gracias por tu pregunta!
Lamento mucho informar que no es posible modificar el mensaje que menciones. Está codificado en el sistema y no se puede editar. Es un mensaje automático que se envía después de preguntar si el Bot ha sido de ayuda, y el cliente responde que sí.
Pero esto es una muy buena sugerencia. Le puedo recomendar crear un Feedback Post en nuestra comunidad. Puede explicar su escenario y mientras más tracción tenga este post, más oportunidades existe de que nuestro equipo de Desarrollo decida implementarlo en el futuro.
¡Espero que esto haya sido de ayuda!
0
Zeke
Hi, Not able to do chatbot on social media correctly. I need a way to capture the same as web chat minimum data, email, and full name, If somebody has experience with using bots on Social media conversational channels please help
1
Abe
Hi there,
We would like to show the user different bots depending on where they are in our app. We're using the Zendesk Messaging SDKs for mobile. Is there any way to do this? It looks like each channel can only have one bot.
Making an API call isn't practical for us, since we don't want to track the user's location in the app on our backend.
Thank you!
0
Ricardo Caballero Albores
Hi @,
Is there a way as an agent to add a bot response whenever a message hits my tray? For example, the welcome intro and take the interaction from that point on.
0
Raphaël Péguet - Officers.fr
Hi Zendesk Community !
Can we (and how? :) ) have an Answer Bot in the messaging system, searching for items in a different help center than the one of the brand it is affiliated with?
This would allow to have different widgets (for different customer plans) but all pointing/searching in the same help center
Also / If not is it possible to have several widgets for 1 brand?
Best regards,
1
Dane
Utilizing different bots depending on the location on your app is not possible not unless you are going to utilize different brands with their corresponding Messaging widgets.
Hi Ricardo,
It's not possible for agents to interfere with customers that is currently on a bot flow.
Hi Raphael,
Natively, it will not be possible for answer bot to extract articles from another brand. However, you can utilize the Make an API call steps to extract those needed articles. But it won't be automatically extracted depending on the key words your customer have provided. It will just be contained on that particular step.
1
Daniel V
Could you make the bot start before an audio or an image sent? Unfortunately, currently, if customers send an audio or an image via WhatsApp, the flow does not start. Could you include an improvement like this?
0
Dane
Would you mind posting your use case to our Feedback on Messaging topic? We have a template you can copy and use in your post. This is to help get more visibility and votes on the idea. Then, others can share their use cases to further drive demand for that feature. Thanks!
0
Max
Hey there,
Having an "issue" with our Messaging Bot..
We created with flowbuilder nice path and articles for what we needed. However, we still allow the bot to recommend articles (as a fallback option). The problem is, as opposite to recommended articles in classic web widget, when the bot pushes article in Messaging, he doesn't send the was this article helpful yes/no question, which means the conversation stands there and never get solved or continues..
Any feedback on that ?
Thanks
0
Justin Yan
Hi! How feasible is it for me to be able to create a chat bot that functions much like Zendesk's own internal one (the one I would use to connect with their support)? Can it be configured using with the options available in the Professional plan. Please advise, thank you!
0
Julio H
Thanks for your feedback.
I will recommend adding intents to restart the conversation from an end point.
For example, in each answer within the BOT you can add an intention phrase (start over) or anything you think the customer could type at that moment.
If the customer types an intent, the bot will bring the customer to the top of the answer linked to that intent in the flow builder.
More info: Creating an answer for a bot
Greetings.
0
Max
Hi Julio, thank you for your answer,
However I don't think it's really instinctive to continue speaking for a client after an article suggestion.. would be ideal to have a "is it helpful" button :)
1
Julio H
I understand the scenario, that would be perfect for the end user to know what path to follow.
I've marked this conversation as product feedback for review, which means that your input will be aggregated as a part of our Voice of the Customer program that provides customer feedback to our product development teams.
In addition, I encourage you to create a new post in the General Product Feedback topic in our community to engage with other users who have similar needs and discuss possible workarounds. Conversations with a high level of engagement ultimately get flagged for product managers to review when they go through roadmap planning.
Specific examples, details about impact, and how you currently handle things are helpful for our product teams to understand the full scope of the need when working on solutions. You may also want to review the Product feedback guidelines and how to write an effective feedback post [Giving Feedback at Zendesk].
We truly value customer feedback and your voice and votes in the forums help influence future Zendesk functionality.
Greetings.
0
Acacia Voynar
How can I enable articles from our help center to be answer bot responses in our web widget chat feature (not classic web widget)?
1
Joshua Casey
Custom avatar or at the very least a color change to match the users brand colors. (Custom HEX Color Code)
0
Sabra
Hey Acacia Voynar! You can find the configuration requirements for adding help center articles to your bot here: Show help center articles.
For any product feedback, Joshua Casey, we encourage you to post in the General Product Feedback topic!
0
Frank Lora
Hola,
Tengo varios problemas:
1- Quiero ver los chats que el Bot atiende de manera directa, mas no asigna ningún agente, o sea quiero ver esos chats que el mismo resolvió para no perder parte importante de lo que ha interactuado con mi cliente.
2- Como configuro que el Bot espere una respuesta antes de pasar a otro paso, por ejemplo si pido imágenes esperar a que en el chat se manden imágenes antes de pasar a los pasos siguientes.
0
Farid
Hello, i need to understand regarding integrating the Zendesk bot to Social media chats, such as Telegram, Wechat and Whatsapp.
Would you be able to point me out some documentations regarding it or steps to consider for it as well too? Thank you
0
Tony
there are some articles around, but for some other socials you will need to check our marketplace to see if it is possible to integrate them. In this example, Telegram.
In the meantime, check this article about wechat:
https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408820034970-Adding-WeChat-social-messaging-channels
And also this one for whatsapp:
https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408842821786-Adding-WhatsApp-channels-to-the-Agent-Workspace
Best,
1