Connect Zendesk Messaging

Connect SiteGPT to Zendesk Messaging with the SiteGPT app from the Zendesk Marketplace. SiteGPT becomes the AI agent on your Zendesk Web Widget. It answers first, and it passes the conversation to your Zendesk agents when a person needs a human. You connect with Zendesk sign-in (OAuth). You do not need API keys or webhook setup.

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Before you start

• The chatbot owner is on the Scale plan or above. See Plans and limits.
• You have the Manager, Admin, or Super Admin role on the chatbot.
• Your Zendesk account is on Zendesk Suite Professional or above, with Sunshine Conversations access.
• You can sign in to Zendesk as an admin and open Admin Center.
• Your chatbot is not in a HIPAA workspace. Integrations are not available there. See HIPAA.

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Connect SiteGPT to Zendesk

You can also start from https://sitegpt.ai/connect-zendesk. This is the page that the Zendesk Marketplace listing opens. Sign in, then click Connect next to the chatbot that Zendesk should use. A chatbot that is already connected shows Connected to your Zendesk address and a Manage button.

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Make SiteGPT answer your Web Widget

These steps happen in Zendesk. SiteGPT cannot do them for you.

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Let agents end the session

When an agent is done, they end the messaging session. This gives the conversation back to SiteGPT. Zendesk hides the End session control until an admin turns it on. For more detail, see Zendesk’s guide to ending messaging sessions. You do not need to change the Conversation control setting in Zendesk. SiteGPT works with both Pass control and Release control.

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Check that it works

1. Open your Zendesk Web Widget and ask a question that your content answers. SiteGPT replies with an answer from your content.
2. Type “I want to talk to a human”. The conversation goes to a Zendesk agent, and Zendesk creates a ticket.
3. Reply as the agent in Zendesk. The reply shows in the widget.
4. As the agent, solve the ticket and click End session. In SiteGPT Chat History, the conversation shows as resolved.

For step 2 to work, turn on human support in SiteGPT. See Set up human support.

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How it works in Zendesk

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The bot answers first

When a new conversation starts, SiteGPT sends your welcome message and your conversation starters as reply buttons. Then it answers each message from your content. If you set new conversations to start in human mode, SiteGPT sends only the welcome message. It does not answer, and it does not pass the conversation to your Zendesk agents. Keep new conversations in AI mode when you use Zendesk. See Set up human support.

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Reply buttons

Each answer can show up to 10 reply buttons:

• Your follow-up suggestions and suggested follow-up questions. See Follow-up suggestions.
• An escalation button. It shows when Enable Human Support is on and the Request Human Support Prompt and Human Support Confirmation Message fields are not empty. The button text is your Request Human Support Prompt.
• 👍 and 👎 feedback buttons, unless you hide feedback buttons.

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Hand-off to a Zendesk agent

A conversation goes to your Zendesk agents when:

• The person taps the escalation button.
• SiteGPT decides that the person needs a human. This needs human support to be on.
• The person submits the lead form, and you set lead collection to escalate the conversation.

SiteGPT then passes control to Zendesk, and Zendesk creates a ticket. SiteGPT sends a confirmation message to the person, for example your Human Support Confirmation Message. Conversations that SiteGPT answers alone do not create a ticket. An agent can also take a conversation directly in Zendesk. SiteGPT sees this and stops replying. While an agent has the conversation, SiteGPT does not reply and does not save the messages. The Zendesk ticket has the agent part of the conversation. Your SiteGPT Chat History shows the conversation as escalated.

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When the agent is done

When the agent ends the messaging session, Zendesk gives control back to SiteGPT. SiteGPT marks the conversation as resolved in your dashboard. What the visitor does next depends on your Zendesk account. If it uses multiple conversations, the ended conversation becomes read-only, and the visitor starts a new Zendesk conversation. Otherwise, the visitor writes again in the same Zendesk conversation. In both cases, SiteGPT starts a new conversation in your Chat History. The same happens after you resolve the conversation in the SiteGPT dashboard. The new conversation follows your chatbot’s chat mode. In AI mode, the AI answers. In human mode, it does not. Only a typed message starts the new conversation. Form responses, button replies, and reactions to messages from the resolved conversation get no answer.

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Idle conversations

If a conversation that SiteGPT answers gets no new message for 12 hours, SiteGPT gives control of the conversation back to Zendesk. SiteGPT checks every 6 hours, so this usually happens between 12 and 18 hours after the last message. It does not happen while a Zendesk agent has the conversation. SiteGPT is still the responder for your channel. If the visitor writes again in the same Zendesk conversation, the AI answers, because the conversation is still in AI mode. If your Zendesk account uses multiple conversations, the idle conversation becomes read-only, and the visitor starts a new Zendesk conversation. Like every new conversation, it follows your chatbot’s chat mode.

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Lead forms

When lead collection starts, SiteGPT shows a Zendesk form in the Web Widget. After the person submits it, the lead shows in your SiteGPT Leads, and the conversation continues. See Collect leads. Zendesk forms have these limits:

• SiteGPT sends only the custom fields that you mark as required. Optional fields are not sent to Zendesk.
• A Zendesk form has at most 20 fields. Name, email, and phone count toward this limit.
• SiteGPT shortens field labels to 200 characters.

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Messages without text

SiteGPT skips messages that have no text, for example a file or image with no caption.

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Disconnect Zendesk

SiteGPT stops getting conversations from Zendesk and tries to remove its webhook from your Zendesk account. Your conversation history stays in SiteGPT. If you uninstall the SiteGPT bot in Zendesk instead, SiteGPT marks the connection as disconnected. To connect again, click Connect to Zendesk. Each Zendesk account connects to one SiteGPT chatbot. To use a different chatbot, disconnect the current one first, then connect the new one. If you connect a second chatbot to the same Zendesk account, the connection fails and SiteGPT shows “An unexpected error occurred. Please try again.”

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Troubleshooting