Link authenticated conversation to existing end-user instead of creating new user (Messaging)

Hi there!

Feature Request Summary

Context

We added the web widget to our own web app and set up end-user authentication as described on https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4411666638746-Authenticating-end-users-in-messaging-for-the-Web-Widget-and-mobile-SDK#topic_njr_qqx_3sb.

Prior to this, we also set up SSO for Guide. So that end-users get automatically created in Zendesk when our customers open our documentation from our web app (so they can submit a ticket and we already know who they are).

Feature request (limitation and missing feature)

When an authenticated end-user starts a (messaging) conversation from the web widget,
then we expect their conversation to be automatically linked to their existing end-user (if they have any),
but the conversation creates a new end-user, who has no external ID and no email address saved on it.

We would like to:

1. stop creating duplicate end-users,
2. have Zendesk handle the external_id as part of the end-user authentication

The only way to find out the user's identity is to hover over the green mark in the conversation and it shows the external ID that was sent in the JWT.
When querying the end-user using the Users API, there is no external_id saved on that end-user.

Business impact

This means for each conversation, we have to search if there's an existing end-user, and if there is, merge the new user into the old user. If there's no existing user, we have to look up the external_id in our systems to find their email address, then update the end-user manually to add their email address.

It would be much easier for us:

• if Zendesk searched for existing end-users with the same external ID or email address, and made this end-user the requester, instead of creating a new end-user.
  
  
• or, in case no existing user can be found, if Zendesk added the external ID and email address to the end-user that was just created.

I appreciate the email address not being added has been acknowledged as a limitation here: https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4411666638746#topic_gml_kqx_3sb 

I just wanted to highlight that we would like to prevent end-users from getting duplicated, and make sure that end-users have the external ID as expected.

 

Thanks!