Workflow: How to send a text to customers on a ticket that originated in a non-SMS channel

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.

This recipe explains how you can create a workflow with a custom ticket field and a Text trigger to easily automate an SMS reply to your end users instead of sending an email notification.

The workflow includes the steps below.

• Step 1: Create the custom checkbox ticket field
• Step 2: Create the new trigger
• Step 3: Train your agents

Step 1: Create the custom checkbox ticket field

Create a new custom ticket field and place it on your ticket forms to indicate when you’ll send a text message to the requester.

1. Create a checkbox ticket field and name it Send text. Under the Permissions section, select Agents can edit.
   
2. Add the created checkbox to all the ticket forms your agents use to talk to customers.
   

Step 2: Create the new trigger

This trigger will fire when an agent updates the ticket with a public comment and the Send text checkbox in the custom field is selected, sending the text message to the requester.

1. Create a new trigger that sends text messages if the Send text field is checked.
2. Under Meet ALL of the following conditions, add:
   • Ticket details > Current user | Is | (agent)
   • Object > Ticket > Send text | Is | Checked
   • Object > Ticket > Comment | Is | Public
3. Under Meet ANY of the following conditions, add:
   • Object > Ticket > Ticket | Is | Created
   • Object > Ticket > Ticket | Is | Updated
   
   
   Important: If you already have a trigger that allows you to start a conversation with proactive outbound texts, don't use the condition Ticket | Is | Created as this causes a duplicate SMS notification.
4. Under Actions, add:
   • Notify by > User text | Ticket > (requester)
     From | Your phone number
     Body | {{ticket.latest_comment}}
   • Object > Ticket > Send text | Unchecked
5. Click Create trigger

Note: To only send a SMS when the checkbox is selected, you must review all of your triggers that send email, and add this condition: Ticket > Send Text | Is | Unchecked. If the checkbox is ticked, the agent will send the SMS. If the box is unticked, the agent will send an email.

Step 3: Train your agents

Now your agents will be able to send SMS by checking the Send text field in the ticketing interface.

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.

If the recipient replies to the SMS trigger notification, a separate SMS ticket will be created. This is because the ticket creation channel has switched from email to SMS. You can merge the two tickets together.