Conversational ticketing with Zendesk

Learn how to get started with conversational ticketing solution for Zendesk

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Install Conversational ticketing with Zendesk from app directory and start using it by connecting your Zendesk and Slack accounts.

Note

If you are invited to this app as a user, proceed to Get started as an app user section to learn how to connect your Zendesk account.

Features

Track, create, assign or escalate tickets quickly at every step of your daily routine. Connect Zendesk and Slack with Actioner and let them work in harmony.

Use cases

• New ticket alerts: Get notified in Slack whenever there is a new ticket in your Zendesk instance.
• ‍Manage and track ticket lifecycle: Manage the entire ticket lifecycle, and prioritize and resolve tickets by tracking updates in Slack.
• Create ticket with emoji: Open requests by adding emoji reactions to Slack messages.
• Auto-create tickets: Automatically open requests for Slack messages sent in specifically dedicated channels.
• Use threads to drive conversation: Reply to ticket threads to add a comment to your tickets. This enables the requester and agent to track ticket comments right in Slack.
• Quick updates with emojis: Assign and close tickets by adding emojis to messages in the #triage channel. Inform your team that you are on top of a case, or if a case is solved.
• Archive tickets: When tickets are closed, archive them to focus on other requests in your queue.

Get started as an app admin

Step 1. Install conversational ticketing with Zendesk

Visit this link in app directory and click Install button at top right corner.

Step 2. Connect to Zendesk and Slack

After installing the app, you'll be prompted to connect your Slack workspace and Zendesk account.

Complete Zendesk admin connection

1. Click Connect near Zendesk admin connection and proceed to authentication in Zendesk via OAuth2.
2. You will be asked to sign in to your Zendesk account if you haven't already.
3. Click Connect app. You’ll be redirected to Actioner upon successful authorization.

Complete Slack connection

1. Click Connect near Slack connection.
2. Continue with selecting your Slack workspace.

Tip

If your workspace is not available, add it by navigating to your workspace from the left menu and then go to Slack connections page and click + Add Slack workspace.

Step 3. Complete setup actions

Run Setup Zendesk and Slack action first. This action creates a webhook and ticket related triggers in your Zendesk account.

It also creates below channels in your Slack workspace with the prefix you select.

• #triage is the channel for support agents to track, manage and triage on Zendesk tickets.
• #requests is the channel your users can request help from your support team by adding ticket emoji to Slack messages.
• #auto-create-tickets is the channel that any message posted creates a new request in Zendesk.

If you do not enter any prefix, new channels will be created as #actioner-triage, #actioner-requests, and #actioner-auto-create-tickets names.

Step 4. Finish setup guide

When all steps in setup guide are completed, app is ready to be run in Slack.

Get started as an app user

If you are invited to this app as a user, you need to complete Zendesk connection. This connection is required for you to take actions on Zendesk notifications in Slack.

1. Navigate to Zendesk connection, click Connect and proceed to authentication in Zendesk via OAuth2.
2. You will be asked to sign in to your Zendesk account if you haven't already.
3. Click Connect app. You’ll be redirected to Actioner upon successful authorization.

Use cases extended

New ticket alerts

When a new Zendesk ticket is created, Actioner sends a notification to #triage channel. You can invite your support team to this channel to work on new requests.

Create ticket with emoji

When a ticket 🎫 emoji is added to a message in #requests channel, a new Zendesk ticket is created. The requester of the ticket is the Slack user who posted the message. Requester gets a thread message to her original post showing the ticket number and ticket properties. She can mark the ticket as solved when her issue is solved.

Auto-create tickets

When a new message is posted #auto-create-tickets channel, a new Zendesk ticket is created. The requester of the ticket is the Slack user who posted the message. Requester gets a thread message to her original post showing the ticket number and ticket properties. She can mark the ticket as solved when her issue is solved.

Manage tickets

When a new Zendesk ticket is created, Actioner sends a notification to #triage channel. You can take actions on notifications or add emojis to run actions.

Notifications sent to #triage channel include below actions:

• Update: Updates the ticket fields with the values entered or selected.
• Take it: Assigns the ticket to the user who clicked it.
• Add public reply or internal comment: Adds a comment to the ticket. Public reply or internal note can be selected for comment type.
• Escalate: Assigns the ticket to a Zendesk group.
• Requester details: Returns the details of the requester.
• Add follower: Adds a follower to the ticket.

You can also take actions with emojis.

• 👀 emoji assigns the ticket to the user who added it.
• ✅ emoji changes the ticket status to solved.

Track ticket lifecycle

When a ticket's status, prority, group or assignee is updated,

• the ticket post in #triage channel is updated accordingly.
• the update is sent as a thread message to the ticket post in #triage.
• if the request is created from a message in #requests or #auto-create-tickets channel, the request post is updated accordingly.

Use threads to drive conversation

Both the requester and the support agent can continue to send their comments by staying in Slack and replying from the post on their channel. A few uses for this flow:

• Keeps requesters informed as soon as the agent update their request.
• Reduces context-switching both for the support agent and for the requester. Requester can continue to track ticket updates from the Slack post she originally requested help. Support agent can track updates on the Slack post on her team's #triage channel.
• Both the support agent and requester can track the ticket updates from the Slack post
• Enables agents and requesters to collaborate by establishing the means to a better communication. Issues can be closed faster with reduced error prones.
• Prevents copy - paste activity in Slack into tickets.

Replying to requester

Support agents can send a reply to the requester from the ticket thread in #triage channel. This

• Adds a new public reply to Zendesk ticket.
• Updates the ticket status to open.
• If the ticket is created from a Slack message (via emoji or automatically), the requester gets the reply from the Slack thread she originally requested help. She gets the notification from Actioner but the message is an impersonation of the support agent with a copy of her Slack profile picture and display name.

Replying to support agent

Requester can send a reply to the support agent from the request thread in #requests or #auto-create-tickets channel. This

• Adds a new public reply to Zendesk ticket.
• Updates the ticket status to pending.
• Agent gets the reply from the Slack thread in her #triage channel. She gets the notification from Actioner but the message is an impersonation of the requester with a copy of her Slack profile picture and display name.

Adding internal comments to ticket

Support agents can send internal notes to the ticket from the thread in #triage channel. This

• Adds a new internal note to Zendesk ticket.
• Does not update the ticket status.
• Message is not sent to the request thread.

Comments added outside of Slack

If the comment source is Zendesk postal, or email, or any other sourse, the comment is sent as a thread reply to ticket post in #thread channel.

• Agents get the reply from the Slack thread in #triage channel. The message is sent from Actioner but with the name of the Zendesk user who commented.
• If the comment is an internal note, the Slack message starts with a lock 🔒 emoji.

How to customize this app

Conversational ticketing with a different tool

Conversational ticketing solution is tailored for Zendesk. If you are using another tool such as Freshdesk or Jira Service Management, etc. you can build a conversational ticketing app that works with your system. The only prerequisite here is your tool having public API support. You can then add a connection to your app, and update workflows and actions to work in align with your system.

Add more tools to conversational ticketing app

You can use as many tools as you want with Actioner as long as they have public APIs. You can create new connections, actions that send data to your tool, and workflows that send data from your tool and combine them within the existing app.

Get notified of only specific tickets

1. Go to Zendesk Admin Center and find the trigger named Actioner - Ticket created.
2. Add filters for the tickets you want to get notifications.
3. You can apply the same filters to below triggers in Zendesk:
   • Actioner - Ticket status updated
   • Actioner - Ticket priority updated
   • Actioner - Ticket group updated
   • Actioner - Ticket assignee updated
   • Actioner - Public reply added to a ticket
   • Actioner - Internal note added to a ticket

Update Slack notification in #triage channel

To update the Slack notification in #triage channel,

1. Navigate to Actions tab of your app and find the action named Notify triage channel with new ticket.

2. Find the Slack request named SendMessage on Requests tab

3. Update the Markdown block of this request.

   Note that the markdown block contains values that are stored in context. These content are originally added to context via functions named ShowTicketFields and ShowTicketSource. If you want to show other to additional ticket fields, you can update ShowTicketFields function.

4. Navigate to Actions tab of your app and find the action named Update message and thread in triage channel with ticket updates.

5. Update this action with the same changes you did for Notify triage channel with new ticket action.

Update actions on the Slack notification in #triage channel

To update actions on the Slack notification in #triage channel,

1. Navigate to Actions tab of your app and find the action named Notify triage channel with new ticket.

2. Find the Slack request named SendMessage on Requests tab

3. Update the Action block of this request.

   Caution

   If you want to add an action that does not exist on the app, you first need to create it. After creating the action, you can then use it in the Action block.

4. Navigate to Actions tab of your app and find the action named Update message and thread in triage channel with ticket updates.

5. Update this action with the same changes you did for Notify triage channel with new ticket action.

Set another channel for #triage

To set another channel to for new alert notifications and for triaging on tickets,

1. Navigate to Workflows tab of your app and find the workflow named Get ticket events from Zendesk.

2. Go to the Notify triage channel with new ticket step and select your channel on Triage channel field.

   By default, this field is dynamically configured to be set with the value entered during the setup of the app. You first need to select Static option through the gear button to see the list of channels in your Slack workspace.

3. Go to the workflow named Assign the ticket when eyes emoji is added and find the step named Assign ticket with eyes emoji. Select your channel on Channel field.

4. Go to the workflow named Solve the ticket when check mark ✅ emoji is added. Select your channel on Channel field.

5. Go to the workflow named Update ticket with thread messages in #triage channel. Select your channel on Channel field.

6. Do not forget to invite Actioner app to the Slack channel you selected.

Setup multiple #triage channels

To use this app with multiple #triage channels, you first need to decide which tickets will be sent to which channel. Let's assume a scenario that you want to get notified of tickets assigned to Support group in #triage channel and you want to get notified of tickets assigned to Billing group in #billing channel. Let's first start with modifying existing configuration in Zendesk.

1. Go to Zendesk Admin Center and find the trigger named Actioner - Ticket created.
2. Add filters for the tickets you want to get notifications in #triage channel.
3. Clone this trigger in Zendesk.
4. Go to cloned trigger and apply your filters to get notifications in #billing channel.
5. Go to JSON body of the trigger and change the value given for the event. You can use below JSON for this example:

{
 "event": "ticket_assigned_to_billing",
 "id": "{{ticket.id}}",
 "actorUser": "{{current_user.name}}"
}

6. Navigate to Workflows tab of your app and find the workflow named Get ticket events from Zendesk.

7. Add a new step. Build the new step the same as the step named Notify triage channel with new ticket.

8. Change the step filter from {{event.body.event}} equals ticket_created to {{event.body.event}} equals ticket_assigned_to_billing

9. Go to input parameters and select your channel on Triage channel field.

   By default, this field is dynamically configured to be set with the value entered during the setup of the app. You first need to select Static option through the gear button to see the list of channels in your Slack workspace.

10. Go to the workflow named Assign the ticket when eyes emoji is added and clone it.

11. Find the cloned workflow and select your channel (#billing in this example) on Channel field.

12. Go to the workflow named Solve the ticket when check mark ✅ emoji is added and clone it.

13. Find the cloned workflow and select your channel (#billing in this example) on Channel field.

14. Go to the workflow named Update ticket with thread messages in #triage channel and clone it.

15. Find the cloned workflow and select your channel (#billing in this example) on Channel field.

16. Do not forget to invite Actioner app to the Slack channel you selected.

Update emoji to assign tickets

To use another emoji to assign tickets to yourself,

1. Navigate to Workflows tab of your app and find the workflow named Assign the ticket when eyes emoji is added.
2. Update the Emoji field with the emoji you want to use.

Update emoji to solve tickets

To use another emoji to solve tickets,

1. Navigate to Workflows tab of your app and find the workflow named Solve the ticket when check mark ✅ emoji is added.
2. Update the Emoji field with the emoji you want to use.

Set another channel for #requests

To set another channel to create requests with emojis,

1. Navigate to Workflows tab of your app and find below workflow named Create a ticket when there is ticket emoji.
2. Select your channel on Channel field.
3. Navigate to Workflows tab of your app and find below workflow named Reply to the ticket when a thread message is sent in the #request channel.
4. Select your channel on Channel field.
5. Do not forget to invite Actioner app to the Slack channel you selected.

Set another channel for #auto-create-tickets

To set another channel to automatically create requests for Slack messages sent,

1. Navigate to Workflows tab of your app and find below workflow named Auto-create a ticket for a new message in a channel.
2. Select your channel on Channel field.
3. Navigate to Workflows tab of your app and find below workflow named Reply to ticket when a thread message is sent in #auto-create-tickets.
4. Select your channel on Channel field.
5. Do not forget to invite Actioner app to the Slack channel you selected.

Update emoji to create tickets

To use another emoji to solve tickets,

1. Navigate to Workflows tab of your app and find the workflow named Create a ticket when there is ticket emoji.
2. Update the Emoji field with the emoji you want to use.

Create tickets when Slack messages contain or do not contain specific words

If you want to add such a filter to a channel that requests are created with an emoji,

1. Navigate to Workflows tab of your app and find below workflow named Create a ticket when there is ticket emoji.
2. Go to root conditions.
3. Add a condition with Message filter.

If you want to add such a filter to a channel that requests are automatically created,

1. Navigate to Workflows tab of your app and find below workflow named Auto-create a ticket for a new message in a channel.
2. Go to root conditions.
3. Add a condition with Message filter.

Setup multiple #requests channels

To setup multiple #requests channels,

1. Navigate to Workflows tab of your app and clone below workflows:
   • Create a ticket when there is ticket emoji
   • Reply to the ticket when a thread message is sent in the #request channel
2. Find the cloned workflows and select your channel on Channel fields.
3. Do not forget to invite Actioner app to the Slack channel you selected.

Setup multiple #auto-create-tickets channels

To setup multiple #auto-create-tickets channels,

1. Navigate to Workflows tab of your app and clone below workflows:
   • Auto-create a ticket for a new message in a channel
   • Reply to ticket when a thread message is sent in #auto-create-tickets channel
2. Find the cloned workflows and select your channel on Channel fields.
3. Do not forget to invite Actioner app to the Slack channel you selected.