Can I have a bot-only widget?

Question

I only want my customers to interact with autoreply. Can I use Zendesk Chat without needing to have my agents respond?

Answer

Yes, you can configure the Web Widget (Classic) to be self-service only. With this configuration, your customers would only interact autoreply and would not be given the option to chat.

Web Widget (Classic)

To configure an autoreply only widget

In Admin Center, click () Channels in the sidebar, then select Classic > Web Widget.
Toggle off Chat and toggle on Autoreply with articles

This configuration removes Chat with an agent as an escalation path in auto-reply. If you still want your customers to be able to submit support requests from the widget toggle on Contact form in your widget settings:

For more information on configuring autoreply in your widget, see the article: Enabling article recommendations in Web Widget (Classic).

Web Widget with AI agents - Essential

To configure an autoreply only widget with an AI agent

If you use AI agents - Essential in the newer Web Widget, you need to configure the escalation response behavior with a custom response that informs a user that they are not escalated to an agent.

In Admin Center, click () AI in the sidebar, then select your AI agent.
Open the Answers tab. Choose the Talk to a human or Build your own answer option in the answer setup. Configure the answer so that it contains a custom response to redirect the end user with your message.
Open the messaging behavior tab, and add your answer to each necessary response option.

This configuration removes the ability for the AI agent to transfer the conversation to a human agent, so ensure that you provide the necessary information in your message to redirect the user as needed.

For more information, see the article: Customizing the standard responses for an AI agent on a messaging channel.