How do I start using email in Zendesk?

Question

How do I start using email in Zendesk?

Answer

This article will help you get started with email in your Zendesk account. You can follow the in-product tutorial that guides you through how to start using email within your account or you can keep reading the article and choose the setup that best suits your needs.

To learn more about email in Zendesk, see the following articles:

• Understanding the default email setup in Zendesk
• A complete guide to understanding email in Zendesk

1. In-product tutorial

Complete a tutorial in your own account by selecting your subdomain:

Go to my account

.zendesk.com Go to my account

Disclaimer: This button takes you to a page for admins only. This option is limited to accounts where the default language is English. Ad blockers might block this experience.

2. Article guides

Choose from one of the setup experiences below:

• "Quick setup" lets you choose between two options:
  • the default Zendesk email experience,
  • or the use of a Gmail address.
• "Custom setup" walks you through using your company's existing email address with Zendesk.
• After setting up your email, the "Verify setup" section of this article shows you how to ensure that everything works properly.

Quick setup  Custom setup  Verify setup

Email settings

Follow this path: Product tray > Admin Center > Channels > Talk and Email > Email to the email settings.

On the email settings page, continue with one of the quick setup options available:

• The default experience
• The Google connector

The default experience

Are you okay with the email address that customers see on support tickets ending with ".zendesk.com"? Are you okay with customers emailing that address directly?

If the answer is yes to both of these questions, the default address on your settings page is ready to start receiving support requests. This is the default email experience in Zendesk and requires no setup.

For information on adding more default addresses, see this article: Adding a Zendesk support address.

The Google connector

If you're adding a Gmail address and want to avoid extensive setup, select Add address > Connect external address > Sign in with Google. After you sign into your Gmail account, you're giving Zendesk permission to automatically pull emails from that address into your account.

For more information, see this article: Connecting to your Gmail account.

Adding your own email address

Zendesk can display your company's existing email address when a customer receives an update from your account. There's a lot to consider when adding your own email address. Zendesk recommends that you read this article: Forwarding incoming email from your existing email address to Zendesk Support.

For detailed instructions about adding your own email address, see this section: Adding your external support address in Zendesk.

Setting up email forwarding

Note: If you added your address by signing directly into Google, you don't need to set up email forwarding.

To add your company's email address to your account

1. Log into your company's email client.
2. Update the forwarding settings to ensure that any time a customer sends an email to that address it forwards to your default Zendesk email address.
3. After you've set up forwarding, tick the box that reads Yes, I finished setting up forwarding with my email provider.
4. Select Verify.

This will ensure that when a customer emails your company's address it creates a ticket in Zendesk. This part of the process takes place outside of your Zendesk account, so you may need an email administrator to support you.

How do I know my email setup is working?

After adding your company's email address, locate the address on the settings page (Product tray > Admin Center > Channels > Talk and Email > Email). Below the address you should see this confirmation:

• Forwarding verified
• SPF record is valid
• DNS records are set up correctly

If you set your address by signing in to Google, only the forwarding check will be visible.

To set your mind at ease, you can also send in a test ticket to your email address and verify that it creates a ticket in your account.