When should I use the bot builder and Support triggers in messaging?

Question

How do the bot builder and Support triggers work together? When should I use the bot builder in messaging? When should I use Support triggers in messaging?

This article covers the following sections:

• Prerequisites
• Answer
• Video guide

Prerequisites

• You have recently migrated from live chat to messaging.
• Agent Workspace and messaging are enabled for the account. 

Answer

Select an option below to learn more about when to utilize the bot builder and Support triggers in messaging through your conversations.

• Before live messaging: Bot interactions
• After live messaging begins: Messaging between staff members and end users

Video guide

See the video for a guided walkthrough of creating Support triggers for messaging:

Before live messaging: Bot interactions

When customers interact with the bot in the Web Widget, those answers and conversation bots are designed in the bot builder. Use the bot builder to build intents if you want an event to happen before the customer actively messages a team member. 

For example, use answers to create an intent to ask for important information prior to actively messaging with a team member.

After live messaging begins: Messaging between staff members and end users

Support triggers don't run when you are actively messaging with an end user. However, Support triggers can run once a messaging ticket is created, the ticket is updated, or the end user is inactive for ten minutes, and the transcript is sent.

Note: If you have omnichannel routing enabled with messaging, you can also use messaging triggers to take actions on messaging tickets. Messaging trigger access for Zendesk accounts is being moved from the Chat Dashboard to Admin Center in phases. If your messaging triggers do not appear in Admin Center, see Chat triggers in Zendesk messaging. For more information on the move, see this announcement.

As a first example, if an end user interacts with a bot and chooses to live message a team member, the ticket system will create a ticket. At the time of ticket creation from messaging, use a Support trigger. In the image below, a trigger adds a tag to the ticket upon its creation from messaging:

1. Create a new trigger
2. Under Meet ALL of the following conditions, add:
   • Object > Ticket > Ticket | Is | Created
   • Object > Ticket > Channel | Is | Messaging
3. Under Actions, add:
   • Object > Ticket > Add Tags | messaging_tag
4. Click Create trigger

A second example workflow includes both utilizing the bot builder and Support triggers to route tickets from messaging to a group:

1. Create a new trigger
2. Under Meet ALL of the following conditions, add:
   • Object > Ticket > Ticket | Is | Created
   • Object > Ticket > Channel | Is | Messaging
   • Object > Ticket > Nature of Issue | Is | Billing Issue
3. Under Actions, add:
   • Ticket > Group | Billing
4. Click Create trigger

For more information on how to create this workflow, see the article: Routing messaging tickets using Support triggers.

This article describes functionality available only to customers who had a drafted or published AI agent as of February 2, 2025. For information about equivalent functionality in the AI agents - Advanced add-on, see Building dialogues for AI agents - Advanced.