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Setting up triggers for side conversations

Amy Malka
  • Edited
Zendesk Documentation Team

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You can use trigger conditions to let assignees know when a side conversation is created, closed, replied to, and reopened. You can also use trigger actions to create email side conversations and child ticket side conversations automatically.

This article includes these sections:

Related articles:

Trigger conditions for side conversations

The default behavior for side conversations is that the assignee on the ticket doesn’t receive emails, but they do see temporary, in-product notifications. If you want the assignee to get emails about side conversations, you need to use triggers.

You can create trigger conditions for side conversations so that assignees know when a side conversation is created, closed, replied to, and reopened. Without them, the agent assigned to the ticket (who, ideally, is also the creator of the side conversation) may have a hard time knowing what’s going on with a particular issue.

This section includes these topics:

About trigger conditions for side conversations

You can use these trigger condition statements with side conversations:
  • Side conversation + Is + Created

    Created is the initial state of a newly created side conversation.

  • Side conversation + Is + Closed

    Closed is the state of a side conversation after the agent clicks the Mark done button to close the side conversation.

  • Side conversation + Is + Replied to

    Replied to is the state of a side conversation after someone adds a reply.

  • Side conversation + Is + Reopened

    Reopened is the state of a side conversation after the agent clicks the Reopen button to reopen a side conversation.

For a complete list of the different conditions and actions that you can use to create triggers, see Trigger conditions and actions reference.

These ticket events are accessible as ticket conditions for triggers, which means you can do things like:
  • Set ticket status to pending or on-hold upon creation of a side conversation
  • Automatically assign the author of a side conversation to the ticket
  • Send an email notification to the ticket assignee when a conversation side conversation is replied to by others
  • Set a ticket’s status to open if a side conversation is replied to by anyone but the assignee

Example 1: When side conversations are created

Here’s an example of a trigger condition about how to handle side conversations when they are created.



Example 2: Updating ticket status when side conversations are replied to

Here’s an example about updating ticket status when side conversation replies are replied to.



Example 3: Notifying ticket assignees when side conversations are replied to

Here’s an example about notifying ticket assignee when side conversations are replied to:

Note: When someone replies to an email notification about side conversation activity, the reply becomes a public reply on the ticket, not a reply to the side conversation. This means that they are replying to everyone on the ticket, including any customers on the ticket, instead of a limited subset of people in a side conversation. For more information, see Viewing and replying to side conversations.




Trigger actions for side conversations

You can save time in certain situations by creating side conversations automatically using triggers. You may want to do this if your company has a process that doesn’t really require manual review.

This section includes these topics:

About trigger actions for side conversations

There are two trigger actions that create side conversations. They are:

When the conditions in the trigger are met, the trigger runs, and the side conversations specified by action statements are created. These actions are similar to ones for side conversation in macros (see Using macros to create side conversations).

It’s also important to note that when a side conversation is created via a trigger, the Side conversation + Is + Created condition is suppressed.

About creating child ticket side conversation via triggers

When creating a child ticket side conversation, it's best to use a ticket that is already assigned to an agent as the parent ticket. This is true regardless of whether the child ticket is created manually from the ticket interface or via a trigger. When a child ticket is created, if the parent ticket has not been assigned to an agent or group, then the resulting child ticket will include the Zendesk System User as the requester of the child ticket.

If an agent with access to the parent ticket is not part of the group the child ticket is assigned to, the agent cannot update the child ticket, unless they are the requester or follower on the child ticket.

On triggers that create side conversation child tickets, you may want to consider adding an action for setting the assignee to an agent or group.

Example: Onboarding clients

Here’s an example of how someone might use triggers to create side conversations.

Situation

Let’s say that you have a business that operates co-working spaces. You want to streamline your process for onboarding new clients. You can use side conversations to make sure that these things happen automatically:

  • Create a child ticket side conversation assigned to the Finance group. Make sure they have the client’s information, know when to start billing, and that they bill the correct amount.
  • Create an email side conversation and send it to the Facilities vendor. Ask them to schedule a deep cleaning of the clients new office before their start date.

Each of these side conversations are repeatable, templated interactions that lend themselves to being automatically created via trigger.

Things you will need

Workflow example
  1. An admin creates a special “New client” ticket form that includes various required fields for new client info, such as “Name,” “Start date,” and “Office number.”
  2. An admin creates or updates triggers to automatically create side conversations about onboarding a new client.
  3. A manager logs a ticket, using the “New client” ticket form.

    When the conditions in the triggers in step 2 are met, the triggers run, and these side conversations are created:

    • A child ticket side conversation is created and assigned to the Finance group. They are asked to set the new client up for billing.
    • An email side conversation is created and sent to the Facilities vendor. They are asked to schedule a deep cleaning of the client’s office before their start date.
    • The manager and the Finance group use the child ticket side conversation to discuss onboarding tasks.
    • The manager and the Facilities vendor use the email side conversation to discuss onboarding tasks.

Creating side conversations using triggers

Before you proceed, make sure that side conversations is enabled. You may also want to enable child ticket side conversations.

To create side conversations using triggers
  1. In Admin Center, click Objects and rules in the sidebar, then select Business rules > Triggers.
  2. Click Add trigger to create a new trigger, or open an existing trigger for editing instead.
  3. (Recommended) In the Conditions section, add strict condition statements, to avoid creating unnecessary side conversations.

    For an example of how to do this, see Creating strict condition statements for side conversation triggers.

  4. In the Actions section, type “side conversation” into the field, and then choose one of the available side conversation actions.
    Note: Email side conversations and child ticket side conversations must be enabled to see these options.

    Repeat this step as many times as needed to add additional side conversation actions to the trigger. For a workflow example, see Example: Onboarding clients.

  5. (Recommended) Add an Assignee action to the trigger.

    When the trigger runs, the author of the side conversation (email or child ticket) matches the assignee in the originating ticket. If the ticket is unassigned when the trigger runs, a generic Zendesk system user is used instead.

  6. Fill in the To, Subject, and Message fields, and then click Add action.

    You can use placeholders in these fields.

    Make sure that you enter a valid recipient in the To field. This is especially important with email trigger actions since they must be typed correctly. If you enter an invalid email address, there will be no warning in the user interface that the email wasn’t sent.

  7. If you are creating a new trigger, click Create. If you are editing an existing trigger, click Save instead.
  8. (Recommended) If you have an existing trigger that includes the Side conversation + Is + Created condition, note which actions are included and then remove them from that trigger. Then, add those actions to the new or updated trigger from the steps above. We recommend doing this because, when a side conversation is created via a trigger, the Side conversation + Is + Created condition is suppressed.

Creating strict condition statements for side conversation triggers

If you have triggers that create side conversations, we recommend that they include strict condition statements to avoid the creation of unnecessary side conversations. One way of doing this is with tags.

To create strict condition statements for side conversation triggers

  1. Create a tag called triggered_sc.
  2. Open a trigger for editing that is used to create side conversations.
  3. Add the following condition statement to the trigger: Tags + Contain none of the following + triggered_sc.

    Doing this means that the trigger doesn't run, if this tag is already on the ticket.

  4. Add the following action statement to the trigger: Add tags + triggered_sc.

    If the trigger runs and a new side conversation is created, this tag is added to the ticket. The tag is what prevents the trigger from running again in the future and creating new, unnecessary side conversations (because of the condition in step 3).

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63 Comments

  • Ferenc Bartha

    Is there a way to detect with which slack channel a side conversation has been initiated in triggers?

    0
  • Joanna Woroniecka

    Hi Zendesk team,

    Any news on separating the type of side conversation between:

    • Email 
    • Slack / other instant messaging apps?

    It was already reported some time ago by Nemo some time ago in this post.

    0
  • Brenda Cardinez
    Hi Ferenc, 

    I'm going to bring this into a ticket so we can look into this further with you. You'll receive an email shortly stating your ticket has been created. 
    0
  • Brenda Cardinez
    Hi Joanna, 

    To know more about your use case,  I'll take our discussion offline for now and convert this into a ticket. Thank you! 
    0
  • Eli Towle

    The third example sends a notification email to the ticket assignee when someone replies to a side conversation. In this situation, it would be useful to have a placeholder for the text of the side conversation reply. Then, the notification email could include the full side conversation reply so the assignee doesn't have to separately dig through Zendesk to view it.

    2
  • Dave Dyson
    Hi Eli,
     
    Would you mind adding details of your use case and upvoting this product feedback thread? Allow side conversation content to viewed via email notification
    1
  • Eli Towle

    Thanks, Dave! I will add my use case to that product feedback thread.

    0
  • royaleagle

    Matt We are trying to pursue a method like you suggested where we listen to the response on the side conversation for a specific response from our vendor.  We plan on listening for when our vendor sends a customer satisfaction survey. When we receive this survey via the side conversation, it would apply a tag we can use to notify our agents on slack to come to review the ticket and solve it. 
    We are using the following logic, but this trigger won't fire.


    ===
    Here is an example of the response email we receive from the side conversation we are trying to trigger on.

    Do you have any advice on how we can make this function correctly?

    0
  • Maky

    Hi @.....

    there is a way to add in the side conversation by email what was written in the ticket once a public or private answer arrives?

    The problem is that if I add a side conversation, a new side conversation is created, I only need to update the one that I already have open.

    Thanks.

    Maria

    0
  • Toby Sterrett
    Zendesk Product Manager

    Maky Hi Maria, at this time it's only possible to initiate a new side conversation with a trigger action, not reply to an existing one. The primary reason is that trigger actions take place at the ticket level, so there's no easy way to reference a specific side conversation when setting up a trigger. Perhaps there could be some sort of way like "update most recently updated side conversation" or something along those lines, but that's not an entirely reliable method. We're definitely thinking about how it could be done, though.

    royaleagle this isn't currently doable because the ticket events for side conversations don't have the entire side conversation text available to them. This is something we could look into for the future, though.

    1
  • Maky

    Thanks Toby Sterrett!

    That could be a method to update the communication to third parties involved in the ticket issues without doing it manually.

    Thanks again.

    Maky

     

    0
  • Dane
    Zendesk Engineering
    Hi Maria,
     
    I have noticed that you have already submitted a request for this concern. Ticket #10651061. Please continue to work with our Advocate assigned to this ticket.
    0
  • Jimmy Rufo

    Any plans to be able to trigger a side conversation comment being sent to an agent via email?  I get notified via email that a ticket with a side convo has been commented on, but I have to pivot to the ticket, then side convo, to see that update.  I'd rather just see what the update was in my inbox (similar to private note) in my inbox.

    0
  • Dave Dyson
    Hi Jimmy, 
     
    I don't have any updates at this time, but can you go upvote and add your use case to this product feedback thread? Allow side conversation content to viewed via email notification
    0
  • Hiroo Japan
    • Edited

    Hi ZD Team,

    Just wondering why is there no "Is Not" condition available for Side Conversation? Is there any plans to add this option? 




    0
  • Gabriel
    Zendesk Customer Care
    Hello Mathew,

    I hope all is well! The condition "is not" for side conversations is not available in any plans, as this command is not applicable for side conversation conditions. We have taken your feedback into consideration! 

    Thanks for your comprehension! 
    0
  • Hiroo Japan

    Hi ZD Team,

    Able to advised it there any option available so that when a Side Conversation is being Replied to it would also be able to Notify the Follower other than the Assignee?

    Currently, there is no option to notify the Assignee and Followers,

    Pls adv if there any other workaround or alternative to this, TQ

    0
  • Dane
    Zendesk Engineering
    Hi Matthew,
     
    Natively, it's not possible. You will need a comment on the parent ticket for followers to be notified. 

    What I can think of is you'll have to use the ticket update API in a webhook and use it on a trigger so that an update on the side conversation will also add a private comment on the parent ticket. 
     
    First step is to create a webhook using Update Ticket API: 
     
    Endpoint: 
     
    https://subdomain.zendesk.com/api/v2/tickets/{{ticket.id}}.json
     
    Request metod: 
     
    PUT
     
    Request Format:
     
    JSON
     
    Create a trigger that will notify the webhook. The trigger I designed on my end originally will open the parent ticket when a response is received from the side conversation. I'll just have to add the action "Notify Active Webhook" on that trigger. 
     
    Here are the conditions on my trigger:
     

    And here's the old and newly added action. 
     

     
    This is the JSON body that I have added on the trigger. 
     
    {
    "ticket": {
    "comment": {
    "body": "Side Conversation has been updated!",
    "public": false
    }
    }
    }
    0
  • Riah Lao

    How do you add the Side Conversation Ticket # into the Subject when applying a macro as ticket.id placeholder is for the main ticket?

    1
  • Dane
    Zendesk Engineering
    Hi Riah,
     
    As it turns out, there's no placeholder for the side conversation ticket ID.
    0
  • Alex Hughes
    • Edited

    Is there any way from the Zendesk API to get the parent ticket information from the side conversation ticket view? We have been using a custom field on the requester to populate a custom app with data from one of our company APIs. From the side conversation, the requester becomes an agent so we can’t use the same approach there. 

    I’ve noted that the external_id in a side conversation includes the parent ticketId at the end, so we could use that the fetch the parent ticket information that way. I’m curious if there isn’t a better approach to get the parent requester information from within the side conversation itself. 

    We’re using the zafClient to make requests. 

    1
  • Greg Katechis
    Zendesk Developer Advocacy

    Hi Alexander! I can't think of a better way to approach that, so I'd run with that. Maybe someone else will chime in with a fun idea!

    0
  • Alex Hughes

    I think what I've landed on is creating a Side Conversation is Created trigger that calls a webhook. And then we're going to take the ticket ID from that, use that ID to fetch all of the side conversations associated with that parent ticket ID, and then add the necessary data we need to the individual side conversation tickets.

    In the future it would be really cool if there were an easy way from zafClient to fetch parent ticket information when you are currently in the ticket sidebar of a side conversation. Right now the side conversation APIs seem focused on going from parent to child but not from child to parent.

     

    1
  • Jason Wong

    In the trigger actions I do not see a Side Conversation with Slack, is that planned or will it be available anytime in the future. I only see Email and Ticket options which you can take action on.  We are looking to create a slack convo based off of certain ticket criterias.

     

    0
  • mfg

    Currently, with the default notify-assignee trigger, our agents receive a notification that a side conversation email was replied to, but they don't get a notification with the text of that reply - they need to follow a link to the parent ticket and open the side conversation to see the reply.

    I'd like to include placeholders to help the assignee know where comments on the side conversation when they get the default notify-assignee email. Currently the side conversation template includes information about the ticket itself, but I'm thinking of something like {{ticket.comments}} or {{ticket.latest_public_comment}} where the placeholders provide comments from the side conversation - not the ticket.

    Do these placeholders work this way, or is there a way to accomplish this?

    0
  • Max

    Hello Toby Sterrett

    1. I am interested in using automations to send a reply to an individual side conversation.. I need to send an alert if the receiver of a side conversation doesnt reply in 24h. HYou said you've been trying things, how would you manage that ?

    2. As well, agents are opening loads of side conversation and they are complaining that the notification system is not efficient enough on Zendesk because notifications disappear after a while. Maybe it would be better to do this with a special view of "answered side conversations", what do you think ?

     

    Thank you

    0
  • mfg

    Max - rather than email, you can execute standard automations if you create it as a side conversation ticket.

    1
  • Max

    mfg you're right, but a side conversation ticket is only available to send requests to agents or groups. In my case I need to reach out to people outside our organization so my only solution is email

    0
  • Geoffrey Wang

    I would like to have a trigger that notifies the assignee as well as all followers when a side conversation is updated but under the Email User option, all I see is the following (and the individual agents):

    How can I go about this to include the followers?  Do I have to use Email group > assigned group?

    I could use Email user > all non-restricted agents but it seems that it would cause a lot of spam.

    0
  • mfg

    Geoffrey Wang

    Someone else can confirm, but I think this is an example of nomenclature being inconsistent. IIRC, followers and CC's on this drop down are the same thing. Is the issue that you can't email just the followers/CCs?

    0

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