How can I send a text to customers on a ticket that originated in a non-SMS channel?

Question

How can I send a text to customers on a ticket from a non-SMS channel?

Answer

On tickets where the origin channel is not a Text message, for example, a voicemail or a phone call, Zendesk defaults to sending out public comments via email instead of a text message.

To change this behavior, you can create a workflow with a custom ticket field and a Text trigger. This way your agents can easily automate an SMS reply to their customers instead of sending an email notification. 

To create this workflow

1. Create a checkbox ticket field and name it Send text and under the Permissions section select Agent Only.
2. Add the created checkbox to all the ticket forms your agents use to talk to customers.
3. Create a new trigger that sends text messages if the Send text field is checked.
   • Under Meet ALL of the following conditions, add:
     • Current user | Is | (agent)
     • Send text | Is | Checked
     • Comment | Is | Public
       
   • Under Meet ANY of the following conditions, add:
     • Ticket | Is | Created
     • Ticket | Is | Updated
       
       
       Important: If you already have a trigger that allows you to start a conversation with proactive outbound texts, do not use the condition Ticket | Is | Created as this causes a duplicate notification.
   • Under Actions, add:
     • Text user | (requester)
       From | Your phone number
       Body

       {{ticket.latest_comment}}

Now your agents will be able to send SMS by checking the Send text field in the ticketing interface.​
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For this workflow to function as expected, the customer's profile has to be set up with a Direct line that is SMS-compatible. For more information, see the article: Understanding how Talk calls become tickets.