Zendesk

ClearFeed offers a highly configurable bi-directional integration with Zendesk, enabling agents and responders to work on synced tickets between Slack and Zendesk.

Before getting started, ensure that ClearFeed is integrated with Slack.

Integrate Zendesk

• On the ClearFeed web app, navigate to the Settings from the nav bar, and then open the Integrations section.

• Next, click on the Connect button next to Zendesk. This will open a modal.

• Input your Zendesk sub-domain in the modal and click on the Connect.

• This will redirect you to Zendesk's sign-in page. Fill in your credentials and sign in.

• After you sign in, you will be redirected to ClearFeed, and your integration will be completed.

After you have successfully integrated your Zendesk account with ClearFeed, it is time to set Zendesk as a Ticketing Integration for your Collection.

Enable Ticketing

1. On the ClearFeed web application, open the Collection where you want to enable Ticketing

2. Click on Settings tab, and expand the Ticketing Settings section.

3. Enable the toggle, and choose the Zendesk as the Ticketing Integration.

4. Choose the Trigger Mode: Emoji (Manual) or Automatic

   • Emoji: Create tickets when the configured emoji is used on a message.

   • Automatic: Create tickets for all new messages on a channel.

5. Ask for Requestor Email: Enable this checkbox to associate a separate requestor email for tickets initiated by responders.

1. Click on Save to save the integration successfully

Create Tickets

Create Tickets Manually (using Emoji)

Create Tickets Automatically

Create from Triage Channel

Link to Zendesk Ticket

You can link Slack threads to existing Zendesk tickets.

• Messages are added from the thread to the Zendesk ticket.

• Replies are shared on the Slack thread and vice-versa.

Functionalities

Once you create a Zendesk ticket from Slack, ClearFeed enables the following:

1. Replies on the Slack thread and the Zendesk ticket are synced bidirectionally.

2. The corresponding request channel thread on Slack now displays the Title, ID, URL, and Status of the Zendesk Ticket.

3. Status changes from Zendesk are reflected on Slack

   • We also support showing Zendesk Custom Statuses on Slack.

4. ClearFeed adds the following labels to the Zendesk ticket: slack-channel-name, clearfeed, name of the form used to create the ticket.

5. Public comments from the triage channel are also synced back to the Zendesk ticket.

6. Internal Comments from the Triage channel are synced back to the Zendesk ticket as Internal Notes.

7. Status change updates are posted on the thread when the Zendesk ticket is moved to Solved status.

Emoji Rules for Zendesk

You can react to a request message using the 👀 and ✅ emojis (or any emojis of your choice) to assign and resolve Zendesk tickets. Follow these steps to enable and configure emoji rules:

• Open your Collection's Settings.

• Expand Emoji Rules.

• Enable the rules you want and click the edit icon to change the emoji.

  • To add a custom emoji, select Add Custom Emoji and choose the desired emoji for the action.

• Apply emoji rules for:

  • Select either External ticketing platform or ClearFeed requests & external ticketing platform

Once the configuration is complete, reacting to a request with the 👀 emoji (or the emoji configured for "Assign") will assign the Zendesk issue to the user and status of the ticket is not chnanged by ClearFeed. However if the ticket status is New, Zendesk would automatically move it to Open. No status change takes place in other cases. Similarly, reacting with the ✅ emoji (or the emoji configured for "Solved") will move the Zendesk ticket to Done.

Settings

Sync Settings

Sync settings allow you to choose whether messages are synced bidirectionally or in a single direction. Additionally, you can decide if updates to the linked ticket's status are shared in the Slack thread.

For all Tickets

To configure common sync settings for all new tickets - follow the steps below:

1. Go to Forms on the web app and then go to Sync Settings

2. Choose your Message Sync Mode

3. Select whether status updates are shared in the Status Sync Mode setting

For Individual Tickets

You can also configure different sync settings for individual tickets. Once a ticket is created from Slack, access the three-dot menu (shown in the illustration below) and configure your settings.

AI-Driven Status Settings

ClearFeed automatically transitions the Zendesk ticket's status to Pending/Open based on the nature of the requester's reply.

You can access these settings on the Settings tab here.

• Re-Open Tickets on All Customer Messages

  • If toggled ON: Every customer message will re-open a ticket.

  • If toggled OFF: ClearFeed will not re-open tickets when customers express thanks or satisfaction but will re-open tickets on all other messages.

• Mark Ticket Pending on Responder Reply

  • If Toggled ON: ClearFeed will move tickets to pending automatically on Responder replies. The only exceptions are when the Responder expresses thanks or makes a promise to act in the future.

AI-Summarization Setting

You can access these settings on the Settings tab here.

If enabled, the Description of the ticket will include a summary of the thread messages followed by the messages themselves. If disabled, only the messages will be included.

Disconnect Tickets from Zendesk

After the Support team resolves the issue and the ticket is transferred to another team or the conversation shifts to a different topic, it may be necessary to unlink the Zendesk ticket from the Slack thread. You can do this directly from Zendesk:

1. Open the Zendesk ticket that you want to stop syncing with Slack

2. Go to the Tags section

3. Add the following tag -> cf-disabled

This ticket will now stop syncing comments and status updates between Zendesk and Slack.

Zendesk Forms

Visit the Forms section to learn how to set up forms and utilize them for ticket creation.

Creating Tickets with Forms

• Once the forms are set up, users will see a File Ticket button. Clicking this button will prompt users to complete ticket creation.

• If multiple forms are set up, a drop-down will appear asking the user to choose which form to fill for the particular ticket.

Solving Tickets

You can solve Zendesk tickets from the request channel by clicking on the Mark As Solved button on the ticket details message.

This button can be configured to be accessed by everyone or only responders. If you want to configure the accessibility and visibility of this action, read about Screen Configuration for Zendesk to understand the detailed steps.

Mandatory fields

On Zendesk, you can configure the custom fields as Required to solve a ticket. This ensures certain fields are always updated before tickets are resolved (read more here).

If you have configured fields on Zendesk that are required before solving a ticket - ClearFeed will display these fields in a Solve ticket dialog box when you try to solve a ticket in which such mandatory fields are associated.

Note: This dialog box will only show the ClearFeed-supported Zendesk field types (Text, Multi-line, Drop-down, Multi-select, Checkbox, Number, and Date).

If any other field types are required to solve the ticket - we will show an error message stating the field names. These fields can be updated from Zendesk to solve the ticket.

Edit Tickets from Slack

You can manage Zendesk tickets filed using ClearFeed directly from a Triage channel. This allows agents to view and edit the ticket's details, and directly solve them, all from a Triage.

Learn more about this here.

Reverse Zendesk Flow

Work on Zendesk Tickets created from other channels (eg. email, help centre, chat) from Slack using ClearFeed's Reverse Zendesk flow.

Supported Workflow

• Zendesk tickets that are started outside of Slack (via email or help centre) can be brought to Slack

• ClearFeed would enable bi-directional sync of comments and status ensuring that the support team can remain on Slack first

• Agents can respond to these tickets from Slack. They can also edit the ticket properties from the triage channel

• If a Form has been used in Zendesk while creating the ticket - you can also choose to import that form in ClearFeed to display its values in Slack

Setup

1. Create a dedicated Slack channel (or reuse where the Zendesk ticket notifications would arrive. Also, monitor this channel using ClearFeed (learn how to monitor a channel)

2. Create a new Slack Webhook Workflow

   1. Go to Slack Workflow Builder

   2. Create a workflow and start the workflow from a webhook

   3. Configure the variables ticket_id and ticket_url

   4. As a next step, select Send Messages to a channel

   5. Select the channel that we configured in Step 1.

   6. Add the message exactly as follows: Ticket #ticket_id needs attention

   7. Finish and publish the workflow

1. Copy the Web Request URL from the webhook workflow step once published.

1. Now go to Zendesk Admin Center → Webhooks and Create a New Zendesk Webhook as shown below

   • The endpoint URL should be the same as the Web request URL copied from Slack in the previous step

1. Create a new Zendesk Trigger: Go to Zendesk Admin Center → Business Rules → Triggers and Create a new Zendesk trigger with the following conditions:

1. In the Actions section, choose Notify by > Active webhook and point to the Slack Webhook Web Request URL.

   • The request body can be customized based on the variables set up in the Slack Webhook Workflow

1. Whitelist the Slack Webhook Workflow Bot: Go to the following page → https://web.clearfeed.app/settings/additional-settings and under Bot Whitelisting Preferences, select and add the bot with the same name as the webhook workflow created previously.

Testing Workflow

1. Start a ticket directly from Zendesk or via email (to the Zendesk support group)

2. Notice how the ticket comes as a notification into Slack in the monitored channel

3. ClearFeed replies to the notification with ticket sync details

4. Reply to the Slack thread and observe how the comments get synced back to Zendesk and vice-versa.

FAQs

1. What happens if a requestor tries to change the sync settings from the request channel? Answer: If a requestor tries to modify any of the sync settings from Slack, they see an error that points out that this setting is only accessible by responders.

1. Can you sync internal notes from Zendesk to Slack or vice-versa? Answer: Yes, you can sync internal comments from the Slack triage channel to Zendesk and vice-versa. To configure this, you can follow the guide here.

2. Why do I see a footer saying "submitted .. on behalf of" when Slack messages are posted in Zendesk by ClearFeed? Answer: In certain cases, Zendesk automatically adds this footer to messages posted by ClearFeed. The name of the person mentioned in "on behalf of" refers to the person who has authorized (ie. installed) the ClearFeed App in Zendesk. This usually happens when we post messages by admins (other than the person who installed ClearFeed) in Zendesk. But, typically, is not seen when ClearFeed posts on behalf of regular users and agents.

1. Is it possible to tag users on Slack when they are mentioned in a Zendesk ticket? Answer: Yes, it is possible to tag Slack users when they are mentioned in a Zendesk ticket. However, this feature is disabled by default to prevent duplicate notifications.

   If you'd like to enable this functionality, please reach out to our Support team .