Messaging triggers conditions and actions reference

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Zendesk messaging triggers allow you to send messages to customers and optimize your workflows.

Note: Some of the elements described in this article are only available on accounts using the improved messaging backend.

This article contains the following tables:

• Trigger firing events
• Trigger operators
• Trigger conditions
• Trigger actions
• Trigger placeholders

Related articles:

• About messaging triggers in Admin Center
• Working with messaging triggers in Admin Center

Trigger firing events

Every trigger starts with a firing event. These events dictate whether the trigger will run, then evaluate its conditions and fire its specified actions. Use the Run trigger dropdown to choose a trigger’s firing events.

Note: Messaging tickets are created when a conversation bot hands over control of a messaging conversation.

• When a customer requests a conversation: The trigger runs when a conversation started event occurs. For example, the initial request and conversation is handed over from the bot and a ticket is created. Multiple start events can occur over the lifecycle of a messaging ticket.
• When a message is sent: The trigger runs when a customer enters the conversation and sends a message in the messaging Web Widget.
• When conversation is added to the queue: The trigger runs when a messaging conversation is placed in the queue. Requires the improved messaging backend.
• When conversation is assigned from a queue: The trigger runs when a messaging ticket is assigned to an agent from the queue, via the Accept button or auto-accept. It doesn't run when an agent reassigns the ticket to another agent, or when the agent claims the ticket from a group view. Requires the improved messaging backend.

Trigger operators

Use the following operators to build trigger condition statements.

Table 1. Trigger operators

Operator	Description
is	Exact match. = 5 returns true only when 5
Less than	Less than the number entered, but not including. < 10 returns true from 0-9
Greater than	More than the number entered but not including. > 120 returns true from 121 to 1,000,000,000,000,000,000
Less than or equal to	An exact match or less than the number entered. <= 3 returns true on a 3, 2, 1, or 0
Greater than or equal to	An exact match or more than the number entered. >= 600 returns true from 600 to 1,000,000,000,000,000
Is not	Anything but the value entered. != 0 returns true for any number but 0
Contains	String includes the following text. "help" matches true with "help, i need somebody"
Contains (case sensitive)	String includes the following text. "Hello" matches with "Hello, it's me"
Does not contain	String does not include the following text. "help" matches true with "not just anybody"
Reg Ex	Matches for regular expression values using the Python RegEx framework. This field looks for a full match, not a partial. For assistance, you can use Pythex as a quick reference and validation tool. (?P<year>(?:19|20)\d\d)(?P<delimiter>[- /.])(?P<month>0[1-9]|1[012])\2(?P<day>0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01]) Test String: 2014-07-28 String match: 2014-07-28
Reg Ex	Field looks for a full case-sensitive match, not a partial match.

Trigger conditions

Condition statements are collections of conditions, field operators, and condition values. Available values can vary based on the condition selected. Condition statements are essentially ‘if’ statements that return all tickets that meet the specified criteria.

You must select one – and only one – of the condition statements to save and use a trigger in both the Visual and Developer views:

• Check All of the Following Conditions requires all conditions to be met to execute a trigger’s actions.

• Check Any of the Following Conditions requires only one condition to be met to execute a trigger’s actions.

Note: Zendesk has implemented limits on certain trigger conditions. Any existing triggers that exceed these limits will be disabled. If you attempt to re-enable them, an error message will appear. The table below includes these condition limits.

Table 2. Trigger conditions

Condition	Description
Date and time
Hour of day	Hour of the day (Universal Time Clock): 0 = midnight 23 = 11 p.m. Note that the Hour of day condition uses the hour only, and does not include minutes.
Day of week	Day of the week: 0 = Monday 6 = Sunday
Previous conversation
Customer previous conversations	Number of times the customer has previously had a conversation with an agent. (New conversation = 0)
Customer Information
Customer name	Name of customer.
Customer triggered	Triggered customer (activated by Set triggered action). Values are True or False
Online Status
Account Status	Status of your Zendesk account. Values are: Online: If at least one agent is online and the rest are away or invisible, then the account status is Online and the trigger fires. Away: If at least one agent is away and the rest are invisible, the account status is Away and the trigger fires. Invisible: If all agents are invisible, the account status is Invisible and the trigger fires.
Group Status	Status of the selected Zendesk group. Values are: Online: If at least one agent in the group is online, and the rest are away or invisible, then the group status is Online, and the trigger fires. Away: If at least one agents in a group is away, and the rest are invisible, the group status is Away and the trigger fires. Invisible: If all agents in a group are invisible, the group status is Invisible, and the trigger fires.
Conversation-related information
Customer is active in the conversation	Values are: True if the customer is currently engaged in a conversation. False if the customer is not currently engaged in a conversation.
Customer is requesting conversation	Values are: True if the customer is requesting to start a conversation. False if is not requesting to start a conversation.
Customer is served	Values are: True if the customer is actively being assisted by an agent (for example, the agent has accepted the conversation and sent an initial message). False if no agent has responded to the customer.
Group	Name of the group assigned to the conversation.
Sender	Name of the message sender.
Sender Type	Values are Agent or Customer.
Message	The message being sent.
Initial routing	The conversation is added to a queue for the first time, and applies only to tickets with the New ticket status. Does not apply to tickets that are transferred from one group or agent queue to another. This condition can be used to differentiate between the messaging tickets added to the queue for the first time and tickets transferred to the queue. Values are: True if the messaging ticket is added to the queue for the first time. False if the ticket is transferred from another queue, or if the ticket is sent to an overflow queue. Requires the improved messaging backend.
Customer queue
Queue Size	The total number of incoming conversation requests for the account. Note: This condition targets the overall account queue, not the department-specific queue.

Trigger actions

Action statements define what occurs if all the condition statements are true and the trigger fires. You can think of action statements as ‘then’ statements: if all of your conditions are true, then perform these actions to execute these actions to update the conversation.

Table 3. Trigger actions

Action	Description
Send message to customer	Sends a predefined message to the user.
Wait	Introduces a delay before the next action is fired. Note: Triggers run simultaneously. If multiple triggers need to be fired in a specific sequence, add at least a one-second delay to each subsequent trigger.
Request email	Sends an automated message to the customer requesting their email to facilitate continuous conversation re-engagement.
Set triggered	Applies a flag that can be used with the Customer triggered condition. Values are: True or False Note: If the account is Invisible, this action will not work.
Add tag	Adds a tag to the ticket.

Trigger placeholders

Placeholders are references to visitor details you can use in trigger action statements. When the trigger is fired, the placeholder pulls in the current visitor and session information.

Table 4. Trigger placeholders

Placeholder	Type	Description
@hour_of_day	Integer	Current hour of the day (UTC timezone). 0 - 23
@day_of_week	Integer	Current day of the week (0 = Monday, 6 = Sunday)
@customer_prev_conversations	Integer	Number of previous independent conversations initiated with agent (New conversation = 0)
@customer_name	String	Name of the customer.
@customer_triggered	String	True if the customer has previously received a messaging trigger.
@account_status	String	Status of the account (Online, Away, or Invisible).
@groupStatus	String	Status of the group (Online, Away, or Invisible).
@customer_is_in_active_conversation	String	True if the customer is active in the conversation.
@customer_requesting_conversation	String	True if the customer is requesting a conversation.
@customer_served	String	True if customer is currently being served by an agent.
@sender	String	The name of the sender.
@sender_type	String	The type of sender (Agent or Customer).
@message	String	The message sent.
@queue_size	Integer	The incoming conversation requests.
@wait_time_min	Integer	Minimum estimated wait time for the first response from an agent to the ticket (in minutes). The wait time is available only for groups with at least 1 ticket routed in the last 7 days. This placeholder is only available when using the event When conversation is added to the queue. Requires the improved messaging backend.
@wait_time_max	Integer	Maximum estimated wait time for the first response from an agent to the ticket (in minutes). The wait time is available only for groups with at least 1 ticket routed in the last 7 days. This placeholder is only available when using the event When conversation is added to the queue. Requires the improved messaging backend.