How to Maximize Customer Support With Zendesk Chatbot Integrations

Discover how Zendesk chatbot integrations can help you power up your conversations, increase efficiency, and provide better customer support in this guide.

How to Maximize Customer Support With Zendesk Chatbot Integrations
Created time
Jun 3, 2024 04:06 AM
Image
Maximize Customer Support With Zendesk Chatbot Integrations.webp
Publish date
Jun 3, 2024
Slug
zendesk-chatbot-integrations
Featured
Featured
Type
Article
Ready to Publish
Ready to Publish
Zendesk is a powerful live chat provider for customer support. It allows your human agents to manage inquiries, track customer interactions, and collaborate with each other.
However, in its most basic configuration, Zendesk relies on your human agents to be available to handle customer needs. This is where Zendesk chatbot integrations come in.
Discover what these Zendesk chatbot integrations offer, how to set one up for your Zendesk system, and the best practices you can apply to maximize customer support in 2024.

What Is a Zendesk Chatbot Integration?

In its most basic configuration, Zendesk provides access to chat-related functionalities through its Messaging, Support, and Chat platforms. These may include:
  • Conducting asynchronous, consistent conversations with customers
  • Sharing content across various customer records
  • Routing support requests to qualified agents
  • Automating responses to frequently asked questions or providing basic troubleshooting steps
Zendesk chatbot integrations further enhance these functionalities by adding a layer of automation powered by artificial intelligence to your workflow. Since AI handles most of the work, these chatbots can free up your support staff and reduce their workload.
These integrations are primarily available via the Zendesk Marketplace. However, if you have the technical resources, you can create custom chatbot integrations using Zendesk's supported APIs.

Benefits of Using Zendesk Chatbot Integrations

Zendesk chatbot integrations can bring significant enhancements to your support workflow. Here are some tangible benefits of using them:

Improved response times

Configure your Zendesk chatbot integration to answer frequently asked questions and resolve common inquiries immediately, without needing a human agent to intervene. This promotes self-service and provides your customers with quicker resolutions.
Chatbots with robust AI models can also analyze and understand the intent behind more complex questions, allowing them to provide accurate and relevant information even for less common inquiries.

24/7 availability

Zendesk’s native chat features require someone from your staff to be available during fixed hours unless you assign someone to man the platform around the clock. This is what differentiates chatbot integrations. Unlike human staff, chatbots can provide level-one support 24/7 as long as your servers remain operational.

Cost savings

AI-powered chatbot integrations handle basic complaints, which comprise a significant portion of support requests. This deflection allows your agents to focus on more complex issues requiring human interaction. Cost-wise, this means you don’t need to hire additional agents or pay for overtime to handle the same menial tasks.

Enhanced customer experience

Chatbots offer efficient and nearly instant answers for customers, especially when trained on a comprehensive knowledge base. Customers expect such speed as a standard, and meeting this expectation can significantly enhance their experience with your business.

How to Integrate Zendesk with My AskAI

You can explore numerous integrations on the Zendesk Marketplace, ranging from CRM-related features to sales chatbots. However, if you're seeking an affordable AI-powered chatbot that seamlessly integrates with Zendesk, My AskAI is an excellent choice.
My AskAI enables you to create brand-aligned chatbots that require no code. Once created, you can effortlessly install them into your Zendesk Messaging system as web widgets. Keep in mind that you will need a Sunshine Conversations subscription to access this integration.
Here’s a more detailed process that you can follow.

Step 1: Creating a Zendesk Account and Logging In

You can begin using Zendesk by signing up for its free trial offer:
  1. Open a browser and go to Zendesk Register.
  1. Provide your work email in the field and click “Next.”
  1. Fill in your details, including your full name, phone number, job title, company details, language, and password.
  1. Review Zendesk’s terms. If you want to proceed, click “Complete trial signup.”
  1. Verify your email address using the verification email sent to you by Zendesk.

Step 2: Configuring Chatbot Settings and APIs

Proceed to create a My AskAI account using the following steps:
  1. Go to My AskAI and click “Login > Create a new account.”
  1. In the provided text field, enter your website’s homepage, select “Zendesk” as your live chat provider, and click “Next.”
  1. Provide any other details asked for and verify your email.
  1. Log into your account once done.
My AskAI will then search and index your website’s pages to gather all the information that your AI chatbot needs to train on. During this step, you can customize your chatbot to add your branding, including your company name, color, logo, and other details.
Wait for My AskAI to notify you via email once it has completed crawling your web pages. Your chatbot will then be ready for testing.

Step 3: Enabling the Zendesk Chatbot Integration

First, prepare your chatbot for integration through your My AskAI Dashboard:
  1. In the Dashboard, go to “Chatbot setup > Integrations.”
  1. From the options provided, click “Zendesk.”
  1. In the dialog box, click “Connect Zendesk account.”
  1. Enter your Zendesk subdomain and hit “Sign in.”
  1. When asked for access, click “Allow.”
Next, do the following steps in your Zendesk Admin Center:
  1. Navigate to “Channels > Bots > Manage bots.”
  1. Click “Connect” for the “My AskAI” option.
  1. Set up your automation rules as needed and you’re good to go.
For a more detailed walkthrough, refer to My AskAI’s Zendesk Messaging documentation.

Best Practices for Zendesk Chatbot Integration

After enabling a Zendesk chatbot integration like My AskAI, make sure to apply the following principles to maximize your customer support efforts:

Leverage reporting capabilities

Make sure to check the analytics and reporting features of your chatbot integration. For example, My AskAI provides an Insights Report that highlights your traffic volume, what your chatbot struggles to answer, and more information. By analyzing such metrics, you can continuously improve your chatbot's performance.

Ensure smooth human handover

AI chatbots have not yet grown to the point where they can completely replace human support agents. As such, you should ensure that options to talk to a human staff member are readily accessible in your chatbot to ensure customer satisfaction.

Conclusion

Zendesk is a great live chat platform that you can leverage for your business’s customer support needs. You can further enhance its capabilities by installing Zendesk chatbot integrations, which allow you to access AI-powered support handling, automation, and other advanced functionalities.
If you’re a small business looking to power up your Zendesk Messaging system, My AskAI would be a great choice.
.

Start using AI customer support in your business today

Create free AI agent

Written by

Alex Rainey
Alex Rainey

Alex is an experienced CTO and founder who largely focuses on all the technical areas of My AskAI, from AI Engineering, Technical Product Management and overall Platform Development.