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A few basic questions about Zendesk Support


Zendesk Support is a world-class site full of useful information. But after searching for, and reading, lots of articles I still have some very basic questions:

We run a travel site that takes bookings. We have a need to organise our emails so that everyone can easily find every email regarding an individual booking, both incoming and outgoing. (And later we would add other channels like chat and WhatsApp).

It seems to me that Zendesk Support would do this job well. But throughout the Zendesk site there only seems to be talk of using Support for problems.

1) I assume that it would also be good for bookings, is that right?

Ok, so we set up Zendesk and start using it. A client then writes to our chosen email address (we will retain and use one of our domain email addresses) and Zendesk Support automatically starts a thread and sends us an email to tell us about the new thread. We then open the Zendesk console, and find the thread.

2) To reply by email to the client we then write a comment in the Zendesk console - is that right?

3) And presumably our email system gets a copy of the comment?

4) What happens to our actual email system? - We will be doing everything in Zendesk, so all the usual maintenance of our email inbox is not being done - marking as read, cancelling stuff, moving to other folders and so on. How do people manage the inbox on the original email server?

Thanks for any help on this.


Solution

  • Zendesk Support is a world-class site full of useful information. But after searching for, and reading, lots of articles I still have some very basic questions:

    We run a travel site that takes bookings. We have a need to organise our emails so that everyone can easily find every email regarding an individual booking, both incoming and outgoing. (And later we would add other channels like chat and WhatsApp).

    It seems to me that Zendesk Support would do this job well. But throughout the Zendesk site there only seems to be talk of using Support for problems.

    You are correct in that a plurality if not majority of use cases are for customer contact centers which usually focus on addressing issues after they arise. At the same time, I know Zendesk is used for a variety of other use cases including in your space.

    1) I assume that it would also be good for bookings, is that right? Ok, so we set up Zendesk and start using it. A client then writes to our chosen email address (we will retain and use one of our domain email addresses) and Zendesk Support automatically starts a thread and sends us an email to tell us about the new thread. We then open the Zendesk console, and find the thread.

    Yep, that sounds correct. Details on the mechanism for configuring the Support Address and redirecting messages to Zendesk can be found here.

    2) To reply by email to the client we then write a comment in the Zendesk > console - is that right?

    While it is possible to work from an inbox, Yes, the main emphasis is on working in the Zendesk agent console.

    3) And presumably our email system gets a copy of the comment?

    I would suggest to check out some of the articles provided by Zendesk about email. forwarding, SPF, email archiving

    4) What happens to our actual email system? - We will be doing everything in Zendesk, so all the usual maintenance of our email inbox is not being done - marking as read, cancelling stuff, moving to other folders and so on. How do people manage the inbox on the original email server? Thanks for any help on this.

    Basically, Zendesk will be used by agents to respond to communications and guide the interactions, and the email box can be considered as operational in directing emails as needed. Separately you can configure email archiving as linked above.

    Depending on what system you're using, Gmail has a built in connector described here, details on Exchange here, or something else here.

    What do you want the interaction to look like between it and Zendesk and what does your current operation look like compared to motivation for using something like Zendesk?