The Zendesk chatbot utilizes artificial intelligence to handle customer tickets, answer questions, and reroute complaints to the designated department. With all the benefits of this innovative feature, the company becomes more efficient at using its resources and handling customers’ issues.
In this article, we’ll dig deeper into the chatbot features and how to create the Zendesk chatbot. So, keep reading to learn more about this topic.
What is a Zendesk Chatbot?
Zendesk was founded in 2007, designing and selling products to cater to the needs of companies and organizations. Its functions relate to improving sales, customer support, and other customer-related communications. The cost of manually handling a customer support ticket is almost $22. That is why companies depend on reliable software like Zendesk to handle tickets more efficiently.
Customer complaints and their late handling can negatively impact the company’s sales and market share. Therefore, Zendesk introduced the chatbot feature to help the company improve its status. The main idea was to start providing timely and efficient responses to customers’ inquiries and complaints.
The Zendesk chatbot or answer bot enhances the customer communication experience without unnecessarily depleting one of the company’s most important resources; employees’ time. It’s an artificial intelligence solution that uses automation features to respond to customers’ messages in a familiar and friendly way.
The chatbot has access to the company’s database. So, it can streamline increasing communication channels to ensure that customers have the best customer support experience.
Zendesk chatbot can integrate into any messaging channel or app. For example, the company’s website, Facebook messenger, or WhatsApp messenger. In general, they can be almost everything that can give customers instant responses. These responses can answer the customers’ questions and end the query. Or it can provide some of the needed information until an agent can handle the issue.
What is the need to use the Zendesk chatbot?
Zendesk chatbots are game-changers for businesses that want to streamline customer support and improve engagement. Here’s how they help specific industries:
- E-commerce and Retail. Handle large volumes of inquiries about order tracking, returns, and shipping and offer personalized shopping experiences through upselling and cross-selling.
- SaaS and Technology Companies. Quickly address technical FAQs and troubleshooting requests and guide users through onboarding, demos, or product usage.
- Customer Support Teams. Automate repetitive tasks like password resets or answering FAQs so that you can free up agents to focus on more complex customer issues.
- Healthcare Providers. Answer routine questions about appointments, services, and insurance.
- Financial Services. Assist with account management, transactions, and fraud alerts and provide secure, real-time support for customer concerns.
- Travel and Hospitality. Offer instant support for booking changes, cancellations, or itinerary updates. Share travel recommendations and FAQs about policies.
- Education and EdTech. Respond to queries about admissions, courses, or schedules. Help students and parents navigate learning platforms.
- Startups and Small Businesses. Automate support processes without needing a large team and save costs.
- Nonprofits. Answer questions about donations, volunteer opportunities, and programs without large investments.
- Telecommunications and Utilities. Address service outages, billing inquiries, and account details. Provide quick self-service options for common requests.
Which Businesses Benefit the Most?
- Companies with frequent customer interactions (e.g., retail, tech).
- Small or growing teams needing to scale support efficiently.
- Organizations requiring multilingual support or 24/7 availability.
- Businesses prioritizing customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.
How do Chatbots Work?
Bots like the chatbot for Zendesk are fed with an enormous amount of data that includes natural language processing and predefined conversational flows. This way, they can better understand and respond to customers’ queries. Then, the bot uses machine learning to answer customers’ questions after analyzing their messages.
The more straightforward question is, the faster and clearer the answer will be. When customers ask complicated questions, the chatbot can spend more time trying to guide the customer.
However, chatbot Zendesk improves itself over time. With more data from frequently asked questions and queries, the bot eventually identifies the most suitable response and becomes more helpful.
The data fed into the chatbot system is usually divided into different categories, like responses about working hours, payment issues, and login problems. These predetermined scenarios can handle and get rid of several tickets while an agent is working on handling a single customer’s complaint. In addition, with every interaction, the bot will be able to adjust its answers to provide better support if a new client asks the same question.
Most Common Types of Chatbots
Companies can use three types of chatbot solutions to handle their customers’ queries. And the most common one is task-specific chatbots. This chatbot is designed to help customers with specific tasks like telling them about working hours or refund submission processes. However, because they deliver specific responses, these bots require bigger budgets and access to more data.
Self-service bots can guide customers to recommended knowledge base articles included in the company’s resources. For instance, this includes manuals or blog posts to help them find the solution to the problem they’re facing. The chatbot acts more precisely than a generic search engine, directing customers to the specific FAQ page or blog article that tackles their issue.
A knowledge-providing chatbot uses the company’s information and can serve several channels like the company’s website, messaging app, mobile app, or email. It’s a fast and potent way of handling customers’ inquiries and will save employees time so they can focus on more demanding issues.
A decision-tree chatbot relies on creating a customized conversational flow. It gives customers quick answers with an option to talk to a live agent if their issue isn’t solved. Such a chatbot needs a builder tool so that the company can create its own conversational flow.
Zendesk Chatbot Features
As the studies suggest, more than 1.4 billion people currently use chatbots while buying products and services, inquiring about businesses, or facing an issue with their purchases. The chatbot Zendesk software solution has several features that make it stand out from different chatbot solutions that are currently available on the market.
- It has a flexible pricing model that depends on the company’s size. There is also a free trial period, where the company can access all the features to test the software solution.
- The chatbot has an easy-to-use interface that minimizes the time employees need in order to understand and utilize the app.
- It creates a unified communication space for all communication channels. This allows users to refer to previous inquiries by the same customer or responses by a different employee on another platform.
- This solution provides skill-based conversational routing. This helps direct customers to the right resource or department, where their queries and inquiries can be better handled.
- The chatbot creates an advanced ticket routing and queuing system to help employees respond to the tickets in order. There’s also a system for conditional ticket fields, so the ticket will be canceled or re-opened if a specific action occurs.
- Using the chatbot Zendesk, employees can use real-time dashboards and reports for feedback and reporting to management. For example, they can identify a faulty product according to the number of tickets requesting a refund or exchange.
- The app integrates with email messaging to cover more communication channels.
Subtleties of Setting Up a Zendesk Answer Bot
Automating customer support with Zendesk Answer Bot can save time and improve response efficiency—but setting it up requires more than just switching it on. To create a seamless experience, you need to fine-tune its tone, train it with the right content, and ensure smooth handoffs to human agents when needed. Here’s how to get it right.
Tone of Voice of Zendesk Bot
Setting up a Zendesk Answer Bot isn’t just about getting it to respond—it’s about making sure it sounds right. The tone of voice you choose can make the difference between a robotic, impersonal exchange and a smooth, helpful conversation. Do you want your bot to be formal and professional, or friendly and casual? Zendesk lets you tweak the bot’s personality to match your brand. Use concise, clear language that feels natural, and don’t forget to add a touch of warmth—customers appreciate a bot that sounds human, even if they know it’s AI.
Training Your Answer Bot for Accuracy
Your bot is only as good as the content it’s trained on. If it’s giving vague or incorrect responses, customers will get frustrated fast. Start by feeding it well-structured knowledge base articles, FAQs, and common support queries. Use real customer interactions to refine its responses and keep testing different scenarios. The more relevant information it has, the better it can guide users to the right solutions.
Handling Escalations Smoothly
No bot is perfect, and sometimes, a human touch is needed. Make sure your Answer Bot knows when to step aside. Setting up clear escalation paths—where tricky questions get handed over to a live agent—is key. You can configure the bot to recognize frustration signals (like repeated questions or negative sentiment) and offer to connect the customer with support. This keeps the experience smooth and frustration-free.
A well-configured Zendesk Answer Bot can transform customer support, offering quick, reliable answers while freeing up agents for more complex tasks. But to make the most of it, focus on its tone, train it with the right content, and set up smart escalation rules.
Benefits of Zendesk Chatbots
Chatbots mainly aim to increase efficiency, cut down costs, optimize employees’ time, and overall improve the customers’ experience. The chatbot from Zendesk is one of the top chatbot solutions on the market, and it provides specific benefits that make it stand out.
- Zendesk chatbot covers the three types of chatbots. So, you can use it to answer specific questions, reroute customers’ tickets through decision-making trees, or facilitate self-service.
- The chatbot saves customers and employees valuable time by providing faster responses and solutions to ticketing issues.
- It makes customer support agents look and feel more knowledgeable. With unlimited access to information, live agents can answer all customers’ questions on the spot and without delay.
- The app automates repetitive work to eliminate errors and decrease the time employees need to access a ticket or solve an issue.
- The app can suggest modern self-service that can help employees access the company’s database instead of waiting for another employee to come and handle the issue they’re facing. It becomes possible thanks to using improved machine learning.
- It can be integrated into multiple communication channels to eliminate wait time.
- Chatbots free the time of HR and IT staff. They automate most of the work they would spend accessing information about working hours, recruitment procedures, or troubleshooting issues.
- As it’s an open and flexible platform, so you can use the built-in chatbot or integrate another answer bot or chatbot to cater to your company’s needs.
Overall, using the Zendesk chatbot increases employees’ productivity and customer satisfaction.
Steps to Create Zendesk Chatbot
Creating a Zendesk chatbot is a straightforward task with a few simple steps. Once the bot is up and running, you can add more data to help improve its performance and make it work better.
Option 1: Using Zendesk Answer Bot (Simple & No-Code)
Zendesk’s built-in Answer Bot can provide automated responses and guide users to relevant help articles.
Steps to Set Up Answer Bot
Enable Answer Bot
- Go to Zendesk Admin Center → AI & Bots → Bots & Automations.
- Enable Answer Bot and configure it.
Create Automated Flows (Flow Builder)
- Navigate to Bots & Automations → Flow Builder.
- Click Create Flow.
- Design the bot’s conversation flow using the visual editor.
- Add response options, trigger conditions, and answer suggestions.
Connect to Help Center
- The bot can suggest relevant articles from the Zendesk Help Center.
- Train the bot by reviewing reported unhelpful responses.
Deploy on Zendesk Chat & Messaging
- Assign the bot to Zendesk channels (Web Widget, Mobile App, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, etc.).
- Test the bot’s responses before going live.
Option 2: Custom Chatbot (Advanced – Using Zendesk Sunshine)
For more advanced use cases, developers can build a chatbot using Zendesk Sunshine Conversations and integrate it with AI (like OpenAI, Dialogflow, or custom NLP models).
Steps to Build a Custom Zendesk Chatbot
Create a Zendesk Sunshine Account
- Sign up for Zendesk Sunshine Conversations.
- Obtain API keys.
Set Up a Messaging API
- Use Sunshine Conversations API to handle messages.
- Configure webhook endpoints to process user inputs.
Develop the Bot Logic
- Integrate with NLP services (Google Dialogflow, Microsoft Bot Framework, etc.).
- Set up business rules for ticket creation, escalation, and FAQs.
Connect to Zendesk Support
- Use API calls to create and update tickets automatically.
- Enable seamless handoff to human agents when needed.
Deploy on Multiple Channels
- Integrate the bot with Web Widget, WhatsApp, Messenger, SMS, Slack, etc.
Which One Should You Choose?
- For quick automation, go with Zendesk Answer Bot.
- For advanced customization, use Sunshine Conversations.
FAQ
1. What is Zendesk Answer Bot?
Zendesk Answer Bot is an AI-powered chatbot that automates responses and directs users to relevant help articles.
2. How do I enable Zendesk Answer Bot?
Go to Zendesk Admin Center → AI & Bots → Bots & Automations and enable it.
3. Can the chatbot escalate issues to human agents?
Yes, both Zendesk Answer Bot and Sunshine Conversations allow seamless handoff to human agents when needed.
4. What channels does the chatbot support?
The chatbot can be deployed on Web Widget, Mobile App, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, SMS, Slack, and more.
5. Can I integrate AI and NLP services with Zendesk bots?
Yes, using Sunshine Conversations, you can integrate AI services like OpenAI, Google Dialogflow, and Microsoft Bot Framework.
Conclusion
The chatbot feature from Zendesk is an excellent addition to any company, regardless of its size and niche. It allows employees to respond better to customers’ queries by handling some tickets from start to finish. It also helps create an organized system for ticketing and responses so that employees can handle more tickets with better quality and in less time.