Getting started with Zendesk Suite - Part 5: Adding support channels

We’ve mentioned support channels briefly several times in this article. You know that
messaging and voice, for example, are channels your customers can
use to contact you for support. These are just several of the many channels that you can
add.
All incoming support requests from each channel you set up automatically become tickets,
which you can then view, manage, and resolve in the Agent Workspace.
Admins are able to add channels using the Channels section of the Admin Center.
Here’s a quick summary of the channels you have available to add. Follow the links for
more information about and instructions for adding these channels.


Note: Some of the following channels may not be available on all Zendesk plans. The
articles that are linked below indicate the plans that are included.








Email
Customers contact you via email addresses that you create in Admin
Center. You can also redirect external email addresses (a support email
address you already have on your own or a different email provider) to your
Zendesk account. See A complete guide to understanding email in Zendesk.


Contact form in your help center
This web form is included in your help center. You can use
the standard contact form or create custom ticket forms with custom and
conditional ticket fields. See Optimizing your ticket forms for a better
agent and end-user experience.


Comments in your help center
You can create tickets from the comments added to the articles
and community posts in your help center. Replies from agents are added as
comments. See Creating a ticket from a comment on a
knowledge base article and Creating a ticket from a community post
or comment.


Messaging
Messaging provides ongoing messaging conversations that persist across
devices and sessions. You can embed messaging into your help center and your
websites. See Getting started with web and mobile
messaging.


Voice
You provide support telephone numbers to your customers so they
can contact agents. Customers can also leave a voicemail when agents are unavailable or during off hours. These are captured as recordings in
new tickets, which can then be followed up on. See Enabling the voice channel and configuring general
settings.


SMS text messaging
If you enable it, customers can send text messages to your
support telephone numbers. See Getting started with
Text.


Facebook wall posts and private messages
The Facebook channel enables wall posts and private messages from
Facebook Pages to become tickets. See Setting up your Facebook
channel.


X (formerly Twitter)
This channel enables you to convert incoming direct messages and liked
tweets to tickets. See Setting up your X (formerly Twitter)
channel.


Social messaging channels
You can connect several social messaging channels to your Zendesk.
Messages sent through private channels, such as Facebook Messenger and
X (formerly Twitter) DM become tickets, and agents can respond to messages from these
third-party channels in the Agent Workspace. See Getting started with social
messaging.


Additional chat, messaging, and voice channels using Sunshine
Conversations
The Sunshine platform enables you to add even more social messaging
channels. For example, you can also add Viber, Telegram, and Apple Messages
for Business. Messages sent to these channels become tickets in the Agent
Workspace. When an agent responds in the Agent Workspace, the comment
appears as a reply in the user's messaging app. See Adding Sunshine Conversations channels to
the Zendesk Agent Workspace.
Note: The social messaging channels
that can be enabled through Sunshine Conversations are only available if
you’re also using messaging and the Agent Workspace.



Third-party apps and integrations
In the Zendesk Apps Marketplace you can
find many third-party apps and integrations that also become channels and
create tickets in Support. For example, you can create a ticket from a Slack
message, and in Google Play, you can convert reviews into tickets. Details and
set up instructions are provided in the descriptions you’ll find in the
Marketplace.


Zendesk API
You can use the Zendesk API to create custom channels, which create new
tickets. See Part 11: Using the Zendesk developer
platform to extend your support solution.




The channel that was used to submit a support request is visible on the ticket below the
ticket title, as in this example.

You’ll also use this channel source information when viewing reports in Explore (see
Understanding ticket channels in Explore) and
if you want to set up routing for tickets that are received from specific channels (more
about this below in Part 6: Routing incoming support requests).



About the Web Widget and the mobile SDKs

The mechanisms for providing several different channels to your end users are the Web
Widget and mobile SDKs. All three enable you to embed elements of your support
solution where your customers are.
The Web Widget and the mobile SDKs are considered channels, but they’re essentially
channels for other channels.
Web Widget. The Web Widget is used to embed ongoing messaging conversations
and AI agents into your websites and your help center. See Working with messaging in the Web Widget.


Note: You can use either the messaging Web Widget or the Web Widget (Classic). You
can’t use both at the same time.

Mobile SDKs. Mobile SDKs for iOS and Android enable you to embed messaging
into your mobile apps, your help center knowledge base articles, a contact form for
submitting a support request, and other options. See Working with messaging in the mobile SDKs and Embedding customer service in mobile apps with the Support
SDK.



Using AI agents across channels

AI agents can help your customers locate the answers they need without
having to contact a human agent or wait for hours or days to receive a response
during non-business hours.
You can use AI agents in messaging conversations and in email
notifications, where they can respond to customers with AI-generated responses
sourced from your help center to help customers resolve their issues quickly.
For more information, see Understanding everywhere you can use AI agents.

Continue to Part 6: Routing incoming support
requests