Zendesk Side Conversations Explained
Video
Some tickets need sign-off from people who do not work in Zendesk, such as a manager or the finance team. How an admin turns on side conversations and how an agent then emails those people from inside the ticket.
Chapters
Help from outside the ticket
A customer asks for a refund on a T-shirt. The agent may need approval from a manager or the finance team before the refund goes ahead, and those people often do not work in Zendesk. A side conversation lets the agent email them from inside the ticket, apart from the main conversation with the customer.
Turning on side conversations
The side conversations button sits in the context panel on the right of the ticket. Until an admin turns the feature on, the panel has no plus button to start one. The setting lives in Admin Center under Workspaces, Agent tools, Side conversations, which lists four types: email, child tickets, Microsoft Teams and Slack. Microsoft Teams needs its app installed first. This walkthrough turns on email and saves the change.
Writing the email
After a page reload, a plus button appears in the side conversations panel. The form takes the name and email address of the person to contact, a subject and a message, and it can carry attachments and CC recipients. This walkthrough uses the subject Request for processing refund. The Send button sends the email, and replies come back into Support.
