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Integrating eesel AI with Zendesk Messenger

This guide walks you through integrating eesel AI with the Zendesk Messenger for realtime conversations and handover to a live agent queue.

Patrick Teen avatar
Written by Patrick Teen
Updated over a week ago

Setup

Collecting information before handing to a live agent

Collecting information at the start of a conversation

Initial Setup

Step 1: Create the Conversations API Key

  1. Navigate to the Conversations API:

    • Log in to your Zendesk admin account.

    • Go to Apps and integrations > Conversations API.
      ​

  2. Create an API Key:

    • Click Create API key.

    • Enter a descriptive name that helps identify this key as an Eesel conversation key.
      ​Example: Eesel AI Messenger API Key

  3. Record Your Credentials:

    • After creation, note the APP ID and Secret Key. They should appear similar to:

      • App ID

      • Key ID

      • App Secret

    • Important: Keep these credentials secure as they will be used later in the integration process.

Step 2: Contact the eesel team and set up a test web widget Channel

  1. Contact the eesel AI support team through your dashboard chat. Let them know you'd like to set up your Zendesk web widget and that you have your credentials ready.

  2. Create a New "Web Widget" Channel for Testing:

    • In your Zendesk admin interface, navigate to the Channels section

    • Create a new Web Widget channel specifically for testing purposes.

    • Note: If you already have an existing Web Widget channel, you might need to create a new brand or a separate instance dedicated to testing. This helps ensure that your test traffic does not interfere with your live support channels.

    • Follow any additional setup instructions provided by Zendesk for configuring the Web Widget channel.

Step 3: Setup your eesel configuration

  1. Once provided with the URL for your eesel web widget settings, add your API credentials from earlier.

  2. Name your Zendesk integration.

  3. Add an avatar URL.

  4. Fill out any extra custom options here, as needed.

  5. Select a default handover option:

    1. Agent Workspace: the bot will handover to your Zendesk agent workspace when prompted

    2. Answer Bot: the bot will handover to your Zendesk Answer Bot (used for things like collecting information with forms or other Answer Bot workflows at the end of the conversation.)

  6. Save configuration and activate on test widget.

Step 4: Configure human handoff

  1. Go to the customize page in the dashboard

  2. Click create new action and select Chat handover under Zendesk

  3. Set a clear trigger prompt, such as:

    1. "If the question is about billing, use zendesk_chat_handover to escalate to a human, and inform the user."

Other configurations:

Collecting information before handoff to live agent

Some information can be collected during the conversation using the prompt, however if you're looking to fill forms, you'll need to use some of the Zendesk Answer Bot functionality.

  1. In the messenger configuration page, set the handover target to Answer Bot.

  2. Then, inside Zendesk use Zendesk's Answer Bot workflows to take actions like:

    1. Collect relevant user info

    2. Perform business hour checks

    3. Route to the appropriate human agent:

  3. Add an API call to the end of this answer workflow with the relevant data (you can find this at the top of your messaging config page you used during setup):

    1. Request Method: POST

    2. Request URL: (Insert copied handover URL)

    3. Request Body:

      ```

      {

      "conversationId": "Conversation ID",

      "handover_to": "zd-agentWorkspace"

      }

      ```

Collecting information at the start of a conversation

To collect information at the start of a conversation, you can use Zendesk's Answer Bot workflows to perform business hour checks, initiate forms, and all other possible answer bot workflows before handing over to eesel AI for the bulk of the conversation.

To do so, you must have:

  • A web widget already created

  • eesel connected to the web widget already, having followed the above steps ^

With those prerequisites, follow these steps:

  1. Create a new AI agent. To do so:

    1. Head to your admin center > AI > AI agents

    2. Click "Manage AI Agents for messaging", and "Create AI Agent".

2. Give the AI Agent a clear name, provide any other settings options you prefer, and select the correct brand you want it operating with.

3. Before hitting "Publish", select "Advanced settings" in the bottom right.

4. Create a name, upload an avatar, and ensure you select the appropriate brand/channels.

5. Go to "Answers" and create a new Workflow accordingly.

6. Configure whatever answer workflow you want, then when you want the handover to happen, add an "API call" step with the relevant data inserted (you can find this at the top of your messaging config page you used during setup):

  • Request method: POST

  • Request URL: (paste copied handover URL)

  • Request Body: ```

    {

    "conversationId": "Conversation ID",

    "handover_to": "[INSERT COPIED HANDOVER PAYLOAD]"

    }

    ```

7. Head to "Behaviour" and change the setting to "Start with an answer".

8. Deactivate eesel from the Web Widget channel (using the provided URL from eesel support), so that the Zendesk Answer Bot for data collection is the first thing that responds.

It's a bit complicated (we're working on streamlining it), but reach out if you need assistance with any of the steps!

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