Getting started with Zendesk Suite - Part 3: Understanding how end user accounts are handled

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<p class="sidenav-heading">Articles in the series</p>
<ul class="nav nav-underline flex-column" id="zs_getting_started_suite_4__ul_zt2_yzs_x5b">
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<a class="nav-link" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408881937306">Introduction: Getting started with Zendesk
Suite</a>
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<a class="nav-link" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4944856070426">Part 1: Accessing Zendesk Suite admin
settings</a>
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<a class="nav-link" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4944849237658">Part 2: Adding team members</a>
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<a class="nav-link" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4944925937818">Part 3: Understanding how end user accounts are
handled</a>
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<a class="nav-link" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4944919944730">Part 4: Managing user access security and
authentication</a>
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<a class="nav-link" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4944930820506">Part 5: Adding support channels</a>
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<a class="nav-link" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4944922385050">Part 6: Routing incoming support requests</a>
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<a class="nav-link" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4945055494170">Part 7: Managing support requests during
non-business hours</a>
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<a class="nav-link" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4944993140762">Part 8: Guaranteeing customer support
expectations with service level agreements</a>
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<a class="nav-link" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4944968790426">Part 9: Reporting on support activity</a>
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<a class="nav-link" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4944994159130">Part 10: Enabling customer satisfaction
ratings</a>
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<a class="nav-link" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6501074649242">Part 11: Leveraging AI features with Zendesk</a>
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<a class="nav-link" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4944970330138">Part 12: Using the Zendesk developer platform to
extend your support solution</a>
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<a class="nav-link" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4944970747418">Part 13: Rolling out your Zendesk Suite support
solution</a>
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<li class="li"><a class="nav-link" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6579939982746">Part 14: Additional features</a></li>
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<p class="p">In addition to team members, the other type of users added to your Zendesk account are end users (the people you support, your customers). They can be
added by importing them into your account, added manually by agents, or automatically as
they contact you for support using the communication channels you set up.</p>
<p class="p">Your customers can contact you via any of the communication channels you set up, and all
those interactions from those different channels are captured in their user
profiles <em class="ph i">if</em> the end user’s channel-specific contact points (telephone number,
messaging handle, etc.) have been added to their user profile.</p>
<p class="p">Therefore, it’s possible to be in contact with a single customer using multiple channels
and have more than one user profile for that customer. For example, a customer first
contacted you for support via email message (and their user profile was created using
that email address). Then later, they called your support telephone number, and the
agent they spoke to did not inquire if they had already contacted them for support or
asked for their email address. Likewise, that same customer could contact you using one of their other email addresses, creating a new user profile.</p>
<p class="p">To manage these cases, you can easily merge duplicate end user accounts to track every support transaction in a single user profile. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408887695898-Merging-a-user-s-duplicate-account" target="_blank">Merging a user's duplicate account</a>. </p>
<p class="p">Although an email address is not always required for an end user account to be created,
it’s best, if possible, to acquire each end user’s email address because an email
message is often the best way to follow up on a support conversation that occurred on a
different channel such as messaging and voice. </p>
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<div class="note note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> Each end user’s email address <em class="ph i">is</em> required when you bulk import users via a
CSV file (see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408893496218-Bulk-importing-users-" target="_blank">Bulk importing users</a>) or if you require
end users to sign in to your Zendesk account to access your help center and submit a
support request (see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408883052442-Managing-end-user-settings" target="_blank">Managing end user settings</a>). </div>
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<p class="p">Having multiple accounts for a single end user is not a technical issue; you can
successfully support your customers on any channels you set up, even though
separate channel-specific user profiles might be created. However, if maintaining a
single user profile is important, you should always ask ‘new’ contacts if they
have previously reached out for support and ask for their contact details to see if you
can match them to an existing user profile.</p>
<p class="p">You can also organize end users if needed. For example, you can segment your end users
into organizations and then view, route, and report on tickets specific to those
organizations.</p>
<p class="p">For more information about end user accounts, see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408893585178-Adding-and-managing-end-users" target="_blank">Adding end users</a>.</p>
<p class="p"></p>
<p class="p">Continue to <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4944919944730-Getting-started-with-Zendesk-Suite-Part-5-Managing-user-access-security-and-authentication" target="_blank">Part 4: Managing user access security and
authentication</a>.</p>
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