While your mobile app or website might be full of useful information to help customers, sometimes they just want to talk to a real human being. Embedded voice enables you to add a digital line, then embed a call button in your mobile app or Web Widget (Classic) so your customers can call you seamlessly and immediately, without leaving the app or widget. With a call button, customers don’t need to know your phone number but can still get access to your contact center.
Embedded voice gives you these benefits:
- You don’t need to publish a phone number for your customers to call.
- You can expand your voice support footprint across countries without the need for phone numbers there.
- There is no monthly charge for a digital line. You are only charged when you use it. To find out more about the cost of Talk lines, see Zendesk Talk number availability and pricing.
- You control the integration and get to control who can call you. For example, you might choose to only add a call button for signed in customers, or your VIP customers.
This article contains the following sections:
Requirements for adding a call button
You’ll need the following to add a call button to your app or Web Widget (Classic):
- Zendesk Talk Team, Professional, or Enterprise
- A Talk digital line.
- A Talk phone number that’s enabled for outbound calling must be chosen to complete the setup of a digital line. You’ll need this for any Talk features that involve making an outbound call to a PSTN like forwarding a call to an external number. This number is not published or used by your callers.
- If you're adding a call button to an app, the app must be enabled with a call button and associated with a digital line using the Talk SDK. The device on which the app is installed must support the WebRTC communication protocol.
- If you want customers to be able to call from Web Widget (Classic), you'll need an active Web Widget (Classic) in your account. For help, see Web Widget (Classic) resources.
Setting up Embedded voice
The high-level flow for setting up digital calling looks like this:
![]() |
|
![]() |
|
![]() |
Step
1: Configure a Talk digital line |
Step
2: Configure one of the following to connect your customers to a digital line:
|
Step
3: Customers can now call you direct from your app or Web Widget (Classic) |
Step 1: Adding and configuring a Talk digital line
You add a digital line in much the same way as you’d add a Talk phone line though some of the settings might differ slightly from the phone number settings.
You’ll find all you need to get started in Adding a Talk digital line.
Step 2: Configuring your app or Web Widget (Classic)
Once you've added a digital line, you can go ahead and configure your app or Web Widget (Classic). Use the information in the following two sections to get started.
Configuring your app with a call button
The Zendesk Talk SDK gives you all the tools you need to integrate a call button into your app and link it to one of your digital lines. To get started, see Adding a call button to your mobile app.
Configuring the Web Widget (Classic) with a call button
In Zendesk Support, you can configure a Web Widget (Classic) configuration that adds a call button to your widget. To get started, see Configuring Zendesk Talk settings for Web Widget (Classic).
Step 3: Understanding the customer and agent calling experience
From the caller point of view, a call from an app or through Web Widget (Classic) works like any other type of call except the caller does not need to dial or know your number. After the caller clicks the “Call” button, they are connected to Zendesk Talk, hear any greetings you have configured, and then are placed in the queue along with calls from all of your other numbers.
From the agent point of view, in-app calls are also similar to other calls. The caller number will be shown in the console as "Caller unknown" but the line will appear with a unique nickname you gave to the digital line.
Understanding Talk digital line limitations
The following features are not currently available on a digital line:
- Interactive voice response (IVR)
- Caller Recording consent (opt-in/opt-out)
- Priority lines
- Callback
To use these calling features, you’ll need to use a Talk phone number.
14 Comments
I don't want "Caller unknown", how to fix it. @Jenny Gillett
Hi Kobe,
There is no way of fixing the "Caller Unknown" behaviour right now, unfortunately. Having said that we are working on the next iteration of this behaviour where we will be allowing the integrator to pass in the user identity of the caller if they have it available to them. I don't have a date for the launch of this new behaviour yet but wanted to share with you we are working on it. Keep an eye on our "What new" forums for announcements and more details in this space.
Thanks
Jenny
Thanks. @...
We use a new Messaging widget and I believe the Embedded Voice is not supported there.
Am I right?
Hello,
Talk embedded voice is not yet available in the new messaging widget but this is still being planned. Updates will be posted should this feature be available to the messaging widget soon.
Regards,
Dion
Hi!
Regarding this: The caller number will be shown in the console as "Caller unknown"
If the customer is required to sign in, why would they be showing as unknown?
Hi Heather!
The option to allow a customer to sign-in is to provide more control on who has access to the call button. The functionality of the call button does not associate the call with their end-user profile. If a customer signs-in and makes a call via the call button, they will appear as "Caller unknown" because they are not using their phone number to make the call.
I hope this helps!
Malinda - Customer Advocate
Zendesk offers free, on-demand training for all of our products. Set up your account and start learning today at training.zendesk.com
Hi,
Do you have any update on when we will be able to know who is the caller through the digital line (we only use the inapp SDK) ?
Thanks.
Hi,
Is it possible to add to the Call us option an email or other information to ask to the customer before calling?
Currently, there's no way to ask the callers their email or other details before initiating a call.
We encourage you to create a new post in the Talk 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.
Hello,
Any timeline for embedding calls in messaging widget?
Hi ZD,
It appears the link here (Talk Mobile SDK) is broken
Hello,
Are there any timelines on embedding talk options to new messaging widget, or maybe a custom button we can implement to our website?
Please sign in to leave a comment.