This part of the Zendesk Suite trial evaluation guide helps you evaluate messaging features in the Zendesk Suite to see how they'll work for you. Messaging connects you with your customers instantly, via web, mobile, and social channels, and offers a customizable, automated bot to facilitate self-service support. Conversations are persistent for both customers and agents – customers can return to their web or mobile messaging channel and see their previous interactions, and agents can view a history of a customer’s tickets and conversations through the Agent Workspace.
Follow the steps in this guide to try out messaging. Each task typically takes less than 10 minutes to complete. Before you get started, we suggest that you read through and follow the steps in our Zendesk Support evaluation guide.
This article includes the following steps:
- Step 1: Create a messaging channel
- Step 2: Configure the channel appearance and behavior
- Step 3: Route your messaging notifications
- Step 4: Install the messaging channel
- What's next?
Step 1: Create a messaging channel
You can implement messaging in your website or help center, a mobile app, or select social messaging channels, so you can meet your customers wherever they are.
Plan it
Decide which messaging channels you’ll use to connect with your customers:
-
Use the Web Widget to embed messaging in your own website, or in a Zendesk Guide help center.
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Mobile SDKs for Android and iOS let you add messaging to your mobile app.
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Social channels connect your social messaging business pages with Zendesk’s support tools.
Try it out
Enable messaging in the channel (or channels) of your choice.
To enable a messaging channel
- In Admin Center, click the Channels icon (
) in the sidebar, then select Messaging and social > Messaging. - Click Add channel, and select your path from the drop-down.
- Follow the wizard instructions to configure basic settings for the channel.
Step 2: Configure channel appearance and behavior
When you create a messaging channel, you can customize how the widget appears to your customers, and create the initial interactions they’ll have when they launch the widget.
Plan it
- What image do you want to project? Laid back and friendly? Competent and matter-of-fact?
- Are there specific colors your customers associate with your company?
- Is there a small image you want to use as an avatar to represent your company?
- Have you enabled your help center, and will your widget customizations complement it?
Try it out
Open the channel’s edit page to see your options and start to make it your own. The options available differ based on the channel type you’re working with.
Some of these settings were covered in the channel creation wizard. Use the instructions here to refine or update them.
To configure a messaging channel
- In Admin Center, click the Channels icon () in the sidebar, then select Messaging and social > Messaging.
- Click the channel you want to configure.
- Under each tab, configure the settings:
- Basics (all channels): Select a name, brand association, and more.
- Style (web and mobile channels): Choose your colors, logo, launcher, and widget text.
- Responses (web and mobile channels) or Auto-responder (social channels): Give your channel a voice by creating a customer greeting.
- Preferences (web and mobile channels): Enable conversation history, so customers can see past their discussions.
- Installation (web and mobile channels) or Message Us button (social channels): Add the channel to your website, help center, or social messaging site.
Step 3: Route your messaging notifications
Get messaging requests to the right agents by setting up notification routing for incoming requests.
There are two basic methods for routing messaging requests to your agents:
- Broadcast: When a messaging request comes in, all agents (or subsets of agents) are notified.
- Assigned: Each messaging request is assigned to the next available agent.
Plan it
- How many agents do you have? If you're only working with a handful, you probably don't need to get too specific with your notification routing.
- Do you expect your agents to get a lot of requests they'll need help managing?
Try it out
Once you decide on a routing style, you can configure it for your account. Routing is managed through the Chat dashboard.
To configure the routing method for your account
- From the Chat dashboard, select Settings > Routing > Settings tab.
- In the Chat Routing section, select a routing method.
- Configure other settings as needed.
- Click Save Changes.
Step 4: Install the messaging channel
If you haven’t already done so as part of the wizard mentioned in step 2, you can now add messaging to your web, mobile, or social channel.
Plan it
Before you can add a messaging channel, make sure you have somewhere to put it:
- Web Widget needs a website or Guide help center
- Android or Mobile SDK needs a mobile app
- Social messaging needs a social media site
Try it out
To add the messaging channel to your web, mobile, or social media location
- In Admin Center, click the Channels icon () in the sidebar, then select Messaging and social > Messaging.
- Click the channel you want to install.
- Click the Installation tab, and follow the instructions on the page.
What's next?
- Explore more of messaging on your own. See About messaging and Getting started with messaging for web and mobile.
- Set up other channels for your trail account. See Evaluating your Zendesk trial account.