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

• The ClearFeed user connecting to Zendesk should have an account on Zendesk and must be using the same email address on both platforms.

• The integration can only be authorized by a Zendesk Admin.

• 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.

Note: This feature is helpful for agents filing tickets on behalf of requestors (customers or internal users). It allows them to associate the ticket with the requestor's email address instead of their own.

1. Click on Save to save the integration successfully

Enabling ticket for a Collection

ClearFeed can give you the ability to push private comments from the triage channel as Internal Comments on Zendesk. Learn how to enable the same here.

Create Tickets

Create Tickets Manually (using Emoji)

How to use emoji reaction to manually create a Zendesk ticket?

1. A conversation is initiated on the request channel.

2. React to the first message on the thread using the 🎟️ emoji.

3. A Zendesk ticket is created for the thread. All messages in the thread (along with the attachments) are synced to the ticket.

Zendesk tickets using Emoji

Create Tickets Automatically

How to automatically convert threads into Zendesk tickets?

1. Every new conversation (Slack thread) that is initiated on the request channel gets converted into a Zendesk ticket automatically.

2. As soon as the ticket conversation occurs, ClearFeed posts a message on the Slack thread sharing the Zendesk ticket details.

Automatic creation of Zendesk tickets

Create from Triage Channel

How to file Zendesk tickets from the Triage channel?

Requests in the Triage channel can be easily converted to Zendesk tickets using the More Actions button. Follow the below steps to do so:

1. For any request on the Triage channel, click on the More Actions button.

2. This will open a modal. Here, select the File a Zendesk Ticket option and proceed.

3. This successfully converts the request into a Zendesk ticket.

The corresponding request channel thread on Slack now displays the title, ID, and Status of the Zendesk ticket.

Zendesk tickets from Triage channel

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.

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. Access Sync Settings by navigating to Objects

2. Choose your Message Sync Mode

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

Zendesk integration sync settings

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.

Only Responders can configure Sync Settings for individual tickets from the request channel in Slack

Configuring Sync Settings for a particular ticket in Slack

Message Sync Mode

Determines how messages are synced between Slack and Zendesk.

• 2-way sync between Zendesk and Slack thread: Replies from Slack are posted on Zendesk and comments from Zendesk are synced to Slack.

  • Only forward sync from Slack thread to Zendesk: Replies from Slack are posted on Zendesk but comments from Zendesk are not posted back on Slack.

• Only backward sync from Zendesk to Slack thread: Only Zendesk comments are posted on Slack and replies from Slack do not go to Zendesk.

• No sync between Zendesk and Slack thread: No comments are synced from Slack or Zendesk.

Status Sync Mode

Determine whether status updates are shared on the request channel thread on Slack or not.

Updates are only delivered when the status is changed to "Solved" or moved to "Open" from "Solved"

• Sync key status changes from Zendesk to Slack thread: Whenever the ticket is "Solved" or moved to "Open" from "Solved - the updates are shared on Slack.

• No sync of status changes from Zendesk to the Slack thread: No status updates are synced to Slack.

Example of how status updates are shared on Slack

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

ClearFeed currently supports only specific Zendesk field types: text, Multi-line, Drop-down, Multi-select, Checkbox, Number, and Date. Additional field types will soon be supported.

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

Forms

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.

Creating Tickets with Forms enabled

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.

Zendesk ticket block on Slack with an option to Mark As Solved

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).

Required to solve a ticket checkbox on Zendesk field configuration

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.

Solve ticket form to fill-up the mandatory fields

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.

Error message shown for unsupported mandatory solve fields

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

Setting up the Slack webhook 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

Create a new webhook on Zendesk

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

Creating a Zendesk trigger

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

Zendesk trigger actions

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

Whitelisting the workflow

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?

Ans: 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.