In the Zendesk Agent Workspace, agents can work across multiple channels all within the same ticket. Because of this flexibility, the ticket composer includes some rules (logic) for channel switching within a ticket. This logic controls which channels are available to you when you send a reply.
Channel switching options in the composer
The following simplified diagram shows which channel switching options are available for agents, based on the ticket type.
Some examples include:
- After you end a chat with a customer, you can switch to the email channel to send a follow-up email.
- After you receive an email ticket from a customer who needs a detailed, personalized reply for an urgent matter, you can switch to the talk channel and call the customer.
- If you have an email ticket paired with private by default settings in Admin Center, internal note automatically shows in the composer when you open the ticket.
You can use the channel menu to switch channels manually in the composer. See Switching channels in the composer. You can also rely on automatic channel switching logic to help out. When you open a ticket, channel switching logic can automatically present the best channel option, reducing the time it takes to reply to customers.
Channel switching logic varies depending on which channels were used to create the ticket. It also depends on which default privacy settings are set in Admin Center. See below for details. The default privacy settings in Admin Center apply to email, talk, and other channels, but not to messaging and chat. See Changing the default privacy of ticket comments.
Channel switching logic for talk tickets
When you open a talk ticket with the call ended, here are the results. The behavior changes depending on which privacy defaults for ticket comments are set in Admin Center.
Situation | Condition 1 | Condition 2 | Result |
---|---|---|---|
Agent opens a talk ticket | The call has ended. | The Set the composer channel to public setting is selected in Admin Center. | Composer shows Public reply. |
The Set the composer channel to public setting is not selected in Admin Center. | Composer shows Internal note. |
There’s one exception to the privacy defaults for ticket comments. Tickets that only have internal notes and no public comments will always default to internal notes, even if the Public by default setting is turned on.
Channel switching logic for chat tickets
When you open a chat ticket, here are the results. Because chat is considered a live channel, the privacy defaults for ticket comments that are set in Admin Center don’t apply.
Situation | Condition 1 | Condition 2 | Result |
---|---|---|---|
Agent opens a chat ticket Note: The default privacy settings in Admin Center don’t apply. |
The chat is active | Composer shows the Chat channel. | |
The chat is inactive | The chat user has a known email address | Composer shows the Email channel. | |
The chat is inactive | The chat user doesn’t have a known email address | Composer shows Internal note. |
Channel switching logic for messaging tickets
When you open a messaging ticket, here are the results. Because messaging is considered a live channel, the privacy defaults for ticket comments that are set in Admin Center don’t apply to active messages.
Situation | Condition | Result |
---|---|---|
Agent opens a messaging ticket Note: For active messages, the default privacy settings in Admin Center don’t apply. |
The messaging channel has not timed out. It is still available. Timeouts vary from 24 hours to 7 days, depending on the type of messaging channel. | Composer shows the applicable messaging channel. For example, WhatsApp, Facebook, WeChat, Messaging, and so on. |
Agent opens a messaging ticket Note: For inactive messages or email replies, the default privacy settings in Admin Center do apply. |
The applicable messaging channel has timed out. | The default privacy settings in Admin Center do apply. The Composer shows Internal note. |
The customer’s last reply was by email, regardless of channel timeout. | The default privacy settings in Admin Center do apply. The Composer shows Internal note. |
Channel switching logic for any ticket, light agents
When a light agent opens any ticket, the composer shows Internal note. Light agents can only add internal notes, not public replies. See Understanding what light agents can do.
Channel switching logic for email and other ticket types
For email and other types of tickets, channel switching logic is applied based on the privacy defaults for ticket comments that are set in Admin Center.
There’s one exception to the privacy defaults for ticket comments. Tickets that only have internal notes and no public comments will always default to internal notes, even if the Public by default setting is turned on.
9 comments
Larry Click
If a ticket comes in via voicemail on Talk, there is no way to switch to Text as there is no selection available for Public Reply.![](/hc/user_images/9jPOfE2-mJlsxu07_row-w.jpeg)
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Lisa Kelly
Hi Larry,
The diagram shows that you can't go from Talk to SMS, only email. In that case, you'll need an email address associated with the caller to send them a Public reply. Or, you can call them back.
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Larry Click
This is broken. When a user calls we don't necessarily have an email. We can answer via text, but it isn't allowed? This means we have to make an unnecessary new ticket just to be allowed to send a text message.
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Lisa Kelly
Larry,
Here's an article that describes how to reply to a voicemail via SMS:
How can I send a text to customers on a ticket that originated in a non-SMS channel?
If you have additional questions, contact Zendesk Customer Support, so they can help you with your issue.
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Larry Click
We have that in place, but with no selection for public reply you cannot type it in
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KROB
We do not like that this update overrides our account settings. We want our default to be internal note. When we have a messaging ticket come in where the customer emails later, it's automatically on email instead of internal note. This can lead to things being sent to the customer inadvertently and can cause a poor customer experience. We also would prefer for all messaging tickets to remain as messaging because of how our performance reporting is based.
If an account is set for the default comment type to be internal note, it should not automatically switch like this.
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Lisa Kelly
Hello KROB,
Thank you for the feedback. For the best visibility to our product team, we recommend that you post your comments on our Community site.
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[VI] Julia Laars
Hello,
about “Channel switching logic for email and other ticket types”:
It is very annoying and time-consuming for us that the default composer is internal if the ticket only has internal notes. Especially for manually created tickets, it is logical that you want to send an answer to the customer at some point.
Why doesn't the default setting that we have set in our admin settings apply here?
Why do you make this exception for internal notes?
Why is there an additional pop-up, even more time-consuming, when we want to send a public reply now?
Can you please add a setting (tickbox) for each instance to decide this setting by themselves instead of having it prescribed?
Thanks, Julia
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Lisa Kelly
Hi Julia,
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback here. I wanted to point you in the direction of our product feedback forum for Support where we collect product feedback and where our PM’s review feedback from our customers. We would greatly appreciate you using this forum to share your feedback with us for better visibility. Here is our product feedback template to get you started or you can copy and paste what you have originally written here.
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