About creating scripted conversation flows for email AI agents (Legacy)

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<p id="docs-hc-snippet" style="display: none;">If you'veconnected an AI agent to email, the AI agent can have multiple interactions with the customer over email, offering greater automation potential. For example, if a customer emails a request but leaves out key details, such as order ID, the AI agent can request the missing information before going any further.</p>
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<div class="note" id="topic_npm_pmq_q2c__note_yhw_ddp_ljc">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> This article applies only to <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6970583409690#topic_y13_cgb_2jc" target="_blank">zero-training AI agents</a>, which are considered legacy
functionality as of May 11, 2026.</div>
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<p class="p">If you've <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8357750858010" target="_blank">connected an AI agent to email</a>, the AI agent can have
multiple interactions with the customer over email, offering greater automation potential. For
example, if a customer emails a request but leaves out key details, such as order ID, the AI
agent can request the missing information before going any further. </p>
<p class="p">Email conversation flows notify the AI agent when there is a new customer reply, and
recognize when a human agent is needed. Using these data points, you can track reopen rates
and <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9510024609178" target="_blank">measure automation performance</a> for the AI agent.</p>
<p class="p">This article covers the following topics:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_npm_pmq_q2c__ul_zj3_hxn_5fc">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_z4m_lqq_q2c">Understanding email conversation flows</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_ljm_1xq_q2c">Limitations for email conversation flows</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_z4m_lqq_q2c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">Understanding email conversation flows</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">You <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8357749494810" target="_blank">use the dialogue builder</a> to create conversation flows for an email
AI agent, similar to creating conversation flows for a messaging AI agent. However, the
available block types differ between the two types of AI agents. For details, see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8357749494810#topic_krz_vym_g2c" target="_blank">Available block types</a>.</p>
<p class="p">Additionally, email conversation flows support automating the first triggered use case in
every conversation. When the dialogue of the triggered use case is complete, and the ticket
won't receive any more responses from the AI agent, the tag
<code class="ph codeph">escalated_by_ultimate</code> is added to the ticket to indicate that the
automation is complete. </p>
<div class="p">The <code class="ph codeph">escalated_by_ultimate</code> tag is automatically applied in the following
scenarios: <ul class="ul" id="topic_z4m_lqq_q2c__ul_ek5_hcp_s2c">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_xnx_qxn_5fc">Actions without a reply</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_ezr_b5q_q2c">Single-reply dialogues</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_q21_c5q_q2c">Link to</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_h53_c5q_q2c">Multiple-reply dialogues</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_dgy_15q_q2c">Escalation block</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="p">
<div class="note" id="topic_z4m_lqq_q2c__note_tgf_zcp_s3c">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> The exception to this rule is that the
<code class="ph codeph">escalated_by_ultimate</code> tag is applied <em class="ph i">only </em>when reaching an
escalation block if you’ve selected “Keep automation active” when <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8357756604186#topic_gmk_hwr_mhc" target="_blank">configuring the email automation threshold</a>.</div>
</div>
<p class="p">Whenever this tag is added, the AI agent does not provide any more responses. This includes
instances where a human agent manually adds the tag before the automation is complete.</p>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested2" id="topic_xnx_qxn_5fc">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title3">Applying actions without sending a reply</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Simply add actions in a reply and leave the text reply block empty. This way your email
AI agent will apply actions without sending anything to your customer.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested2" id="topic_ezr_b5q_q2c">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title4">Using single-reply dialogues</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Single-reply dialogues with conversation flows work the same way as without conversation
flows. If nothing follows a ticket reply block in the dialogue builder, the automation is
considered complete.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested2" id="topic_q21_c5q_q2c">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title5">Using link to</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">While email conversation flows are limited to one use case per conversation, linking
allows you to continue the conversation in another dialogue, so the link to block is not
considered the end of the conversation. Even though it's the final block in the dialogue,
you can link to other single- or multi-reply dialogues. </p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title6" class="topic nested2" id="topic_h53_c5q_q2c">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title6">Using multiple-reply dialogues</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Multiple-reply dialogues can use the additional block options available for email
conversation flows, including customer messages, link to blocks, and multiple ticket
replies.</p>
<p class="p">These dialogues allow the AI agent to send follow-up questions to confirm the customer's
intention or request missing information. Additional messages from the customer can be
processed and used during the automation.</p>
<p class="p">The number of blocks is not limited, but it's a good idea to use no more than three
messages to gather the required information to automate a case.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_h53_c5q_q2c__image_qjl_gfj_42c" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/bots_21170190572434.png" width="500"></p>
<p class="p">There following events are supported for AI agents for email, and can be triggered in
multiple-reply scenarios:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_h53_c5q_q2c__ul_qgj_vcy_q2c">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Ticket received by AI agents - Advanced</strong>: This event is triggered only once per
conversation, when the first customer message is received.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Ticket processed by AI agents - Advanced</strong>: This event and the related actions are triggered
with each ticket reply.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Ticket reply delay events</strong>: The delay events are triggered for each reply. When
using delays with email conversation flows, don't set long reply delays, but consider
reply delays of 10-30 minutes.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title7" class="topic nested2" id="topic_dgy_15q_q2c">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title7">Using an escalation block</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">When an email conversation needs to be escalated to a human agent, you can use an
escalation block. This block adds the escalation tag to the ticket, can trigger additional
actions, and sends the ticket to a human agent to take over.</p>
<p class="p">For more information, see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8357756604186" target="_blank">Configuring escalation strategies and flows for AI agents</a>.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title8" class="topic nested1" id="topic_ljm_1xq_q2c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title8">Limitations for email conversation flows</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Email conversation flows have the following limitations:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_ljm_1xq_q2c__ul_pb2_rxq_q2c">
<li class="li">No rule-based escalations</li>
<li class="li">No AI agent replies to tickets older than three days</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
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