Enabling messaging for migrating accounts

Note: This article is for customers who are migrating from Web Widget (Classic) to the messaging Web Widget or who created an account before November 2, 2021. If your account was created after that date, messaging is automatically enabled (see About messaging).

In this article, we'll walk you through the steps to enable messaging at the account level. The tasks described in this article must be performed by an account admin.

This article includes the following sections:

• Enabling messaging in your account
• How enabling messaging changes your account
• Updating live chat settings
• Enabling messaging in a new brand

Enabling messaging in your account

After you confirm that you meet the requirements for using messaging, you can enable it in your account. Once enabled at the account level, you can then take steps to activate messaging in the Web Widget. If you have multiple brands, you must activate messaging on a per-brand basis.

Messaging is enabled through the Admin Center.

Note: Enabling messaging at the account level updates your account in a number of significant ways. See How enabling messaging changes your account for more information.

To enable messaging on your account

1. In Admin Center, click the Channels icon () in the sidebar, then select Messaging and social > Messaging.
2. Click the Manage settings button.
3. On the Manage settings page, select the checkbox to Enable messaging for your account.

   

4. Under Turn on messaging for Web Widget (Classic), use the drop-down menu to select the brands on which you want to activate messaging.
5. Click Save.

   Once messaging is enabled at the account level, it appears in your Channels list with Web Widget listed as an active channel.

   

   You can now customize messaging for the Web Widget as needed, and create new Android and iOS SDKs for your account.

   Note: When you create a brand after messaging is enabled, the onboarding experience differs. See Enabling messaging in a new brand.

How enabling messaging changes your account

Messaging is enabled at the account level, as described above. When enabled, a number of changes occur throughout your account that impact related functionality. In this section, we’ll go over the changes to the following account areas:

• Web Widget (Classic)
• Android, iOS, and Unity SDKs
• Answer Bot
• Agent Workspace
• Chat

Web Widget (Classic)

Web Widget (Classic) is the original iteration of the Web Widget, configured through Zendesk Support, that allows you to offer live chat and other Zendesk features to your customers. If you have previously configured Web Widget (Classic) on your account, enabling messaging gives you the option to convert it to the messaging Web Widget on a per-brand basis, or create a messaging Web Widget for a brand that did not previously use one.

Further changes occur when you activate messaging for a Web Widget, which we’ll discuss in Working with messaging in your Web Widget.

Android, iOS, and Unity SDKs

Enabling messaging does not change any previously-configured or deployed SDKs you might be using for Android, iOS, or Unity. After messaging is enabled, you can create new Android and iOS SDKs with messaging. These are separate SDKs from the Classic Zendesk SDKs you've been using so far, and need to be configured and deployed separately.

Answer Bot

Answer Bot gains a lot of new capabilities when messaging is enabled. It activates Flow Builder, a tool that lets you to click-to-configure Answer Bot. With Flow Builder, Answer Bot continues to be the first responder to customers, but gains a lot of new abilities as well.

Importantly, Flow Builder includes a default conversation flow, which is published and visible in the Flow Builder page. The default flow begins functioning immediately through the Web Widget when it’s enabled.

If you have multiple brands in your account, Flow Builder is activated on every one of those brands. Each brand has a separate default flow that can be configured independently.

See Adding a bot to your messaging channels for more information.

Agent Workspace

Agent Workspace gains some additional functionality as well, including enhanced conversation history and responding to messaging conversations at any time. See Receiving and sending messages in the Agent Workspace for more information.

Live chat

When you enable messaging, there are a number live chat-related changes that apply to both agents and administrators.

For more information, see How enabling messaging impacts live chat settings.

Updating live chat settings

A Chat admin needs to perform the following tasks:

1. Organize your agents into groups. For example, you can create a group of agents who handle specific channels, such as messaging, See Adding agents to groups.
2. Set up Support triggers to route messaging conversations to these groups.
3. Configure Chat limits on the Chat dashboard to control how many active messaging conversations your agents receive.
4. Educate agents on the Agent Experience.

Enabling messaging in a new brand

When you create a brand after enabling messaging on your account, you’ll need to add a Web Widget or mobile SDK to use messaging functionality with that brand.

Once messaging is turned on for a brand’s Web Widget, Answer Bot is activated with a basic conversation flow that collects information and initiates an agent transfer, but does not include any self-service functionality by default. The screenshot below shows an example of the basic flow.

You can also activate Flow Builder to create a customized, automated flow for the brand.

If you do not want to use the default conversation flow, then we recommend activating Flow Builder prior to enabling and embedding Web Widget or mobile SDKs for this brand.