About ending messaging sessions

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<p id="docs-ai-summary-content">Learn how to end messaging sessions, a feature that allows agents and end users to conclude real-time chats. This helps manage ticket routing, agent capacity, and workflow transitions. Agents can end sessions to perform wrap-up tasks or switch channels, while end users can close sessions to start new issues. Customize triggers and CSAT surveys to enhance the experience.</p>
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<div class="body">
<p class="p">In a messaging conversation, a <em class="ph i">session</em> is the real-time exchange between the end
user and a human or AI agent. A messaging session can be ended – manually by agents or
end users, or automatically using triggers – providing the flexibility to disconnect the
conversation in the messaging channel when needed.</p>
<div class="p">For instance, ending a messaging session can be useful for an agent when:
<ul class="ul" id="messaging_end_session__ul_vl3_2nv_kdc">
<li class="li">They have all the information they need from the customer but must perform some
wrap-up tasks before closing the ticket. Ending the session prevents the
customer from continuing the discussion or bringing up different issues within
the same conversation.</li>
<li class="li">The conversation can be handled better in another channel, such as email or voice. </li>
</ul>
</div>
<p class="p">Ending a messaging session can be useful for an end user when they have resolved the issue
being discussed on their own, and wants to raise a new one immediately without waiting
for the agent to end the session.</p>
<p class="p">When you’re ready, you can turn the feature on for <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8372292195354" target="_blank">agents</a>, for <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10046732687770" target="_blank">end users</a>, or for both..</p>
<p class="p">This article includes the following sections:</p>
<div class="p">
<ul class="ul" id="messaging_end_session__ul_ktl_wfk_vcc">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_wh1_jnv_kdc">About the terminology used in this article</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_z1v_gf2_tcc">Understanding workflow changes when you allow agents or end users to end messaging sessions</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_ozy_hf2_tcc">Understanding the agent experience when messaging sessions are ended</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_fcd_nnv_kdc">Understanding the end-user experience when messaging sessions are ended</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_wh1_jnv_kdc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">About the terminology used in this article</h2>
<div class="body">
<div class="p"> Some terms used in this article are also used as general references when discussing
Zendesk messaging features. In this article: <ul class="ul" id="topic_wh1_jnv_kdc__ul_btp_tnv_kdc">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Conversation</strong>: The entire lifecycle of a customer request. A
conversation begins when the end user clicks the Web Widget launch button
and enters a comment or otherwise initiates communication and ends when the
related ticket is <em class="ph i">Closed</em>.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Session</strong>: The real-time, live chat-style interaction between an end
user and an agent. Agents can end sessions, which prevents the end user from
interacting with the agent through any messaging channel. Each messaging
conversation has only one session.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Ticket</strong>: Messaging tickets are created when messaging conversations
are handed off from an AI agent and routed to a human agent, group, or queue
in Support. Each messaging ticket is associated with a messaging session.
Tickets include all manual and automatic events applied to the ticket, such
as status changes, triggers and other business rules, and both public and
internal replies.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_z1v_gf2_tcc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Understanding workflow changes when you allow agents or end users to end messaging sessions</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">When an agent or end user ends a messaging session, the messaging channel is
essentially turned off for that conversation, which affects the following aspects of
the conversation lifecycle:</p>
<div class="p">
<ul class="ul" id="topic_z1v_gf2_tcc__ul_vwt_fhk_vcc">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_gl2_rjl_hdc">Ticket routing</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_rn4_hf2_tcc">Triggers</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_py5_hf2_tcc">Agent capacity</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_c1g_j4v_kdc">Ticket status</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_dxl_j4v_kdc">CSAT surveys</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested2" id="topic_gl2_rjl_hdc">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title4">Ticket routing</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p" dir="ltr">When an agent ends a messaging session, the associated ticket can be
treated as an email ticket rather than a messaging ticket for the purposes of
omnichannel routing and agent capacity. </p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">Depending on your <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4828787357210#topic_hr4_1lh_n2c" target="_blank">routing configuration</a>, you can choose
to route all tickets associated with an agent-ended messaging session as
messaging tickets or as email tickets. If you need to control routing for
specific tickets, you can <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408886797466" target="_blank">create ticket triggers</a> using either
the <em class="ph i">Ticket &gt; End session</em> or the <em class="ph i">Ticket &gt; Set routing channel</em>
actions. </p>
<div class="p" dir="ltr">
<ul class="ul" id="topic_gl2_rjl_hdc__ul_prp_ppf_k3c">
<li class="li">
<em class="ph i"><strong class="ph b">Ticket &gt; End session</strong></em>: Use this action to end the session
but keep the ticket in the messaging channel.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b"><em class="ph i">Ticket &gt; Set routing channel</em></strong>: Use this action to end
the session and move the ticket to another channel.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="p">
<div class="note note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> Do not use the <em class="ph i">Ticket &gt; End session</em> and <em class="ph i">Ticket &gt; Set routing
channel</em> actions in the same trigger, as they may conflict and
produce unpredictable routing results</div>
</div>
<p class="p">To remain eligible for routing by omnichannel routing when the messaging session
ends, the ticket's routing channel must be changed to <em class="ph i">email</em> and the
ticket must have your auto-routing tag. To route these tickets, you can create a
custom queue using the <em class="ph i">Ticket &gt; Channel | Is | Messaging</em> and <em class="ph i">Ticket
&gt; Routing channel | Is | Email</em>
conditions.</p>
<p class="p">If a ticket's routing channel is <em class="ph i">messaging</em> after the messaging session is
ended, it is ineligible for routing and removed from any queue it might be in.
You must use the routing configuration setting or ticket trigger action to
change the routing channel to <em class="ph i">email</em> for the ticket to remain eligible for
routing by omnichannel routing. Additionally, when switching a ticket from
messaging to email, the auto-routing tag must be present on the ticket when it
does not match any custom queue. You can add the auto-routing tag in the same
trigger as the <em class="ph i">Ticket &gt; Set routing</em> channel action.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested2" id="topic_rn4_hf2_tcc">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title5">Triggers</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Because the messaging channel is unavailable on a ticket with an ended session,
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5973077601562" target="_blank">messaging triggers</a> can’t run on them.
However, <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408886797466" target="_blank">ticket triggers</a> will still act on them
when conditions are met, including triggers with the <em class="ph i">Ticket &gt; Channel | Is
| Messaging</em> condition.</p>
<p class="p">When you allow agents to end messaging sessions, a new ticket trigger condition
is added: <em class="ph i">Ticket &gt; Messaging session ended reason</em>. When used in
combination with the <em class="ph i">Ticket &gt; Channel | Is | Messaging</em> condition, you
can build ticket triggers that fire on messaging tickets with ended messaging
sessions. These conditions are helpful if you need to replace the bypassed
messaging triggers or want to <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8082415949210" target="_blank">send a CSAT survey</a> when an agent ends
a session. </p>
<p class="p">Two new ticket trigger actions are added as well: <em class="ph i">Ticket &gt; Messaging
session | End Session</em>, which automatically ends the ticket's messaging
session and <em class="ph i">Ticket &gt; Set routing channel</em>, which changes the routing
channel to <em class="ph i">email</em> and ends the messaging session if it's ongoing. These
can can be helpful when managing surges in tickets, ticket received outside of
business hours, and reporting on messaging tickets after their sessions are
ended. </p>
<p class="p">The following recipes can help you create ticket triggers with these conditions
and actions:</p>
<div class="p">
<ul class="ul" id="topic_rn4_hf2_tcc__ul_ebs_4tw_zfc">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9339278067482" target="_blank">Recipe: Managing a surge in
messaging traffic (messaging routing configuration)</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9339297143834" target="_blank">Recipe: Managing a surge in
messaging traffic (omnichannel routing
configuration)</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9340032656026" target="_blank">Recipe: Managing tickets created
outside of business hours using End session as a ticket trigger
action</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9340024053402" target="_blank">Recipe: Reporting on messaging
tickets with ended sessions</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title6" class="topic nested2" id="topic_py5_hf2_tcc">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title6">Agent capacity</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">The agent’s <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4776409839770" target="_blank">messaging ticket capacity</a> is released
after they end a messaging conversation session. The agent’s email ticket
capacity is not affected.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title7" class="topic nested2" id="topic_c1g_j4v_kdc">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title7">Ticket status</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">A ticket’s status does not automatically change when an agent ends the associated
messaging session.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title8" class="topic nested2" id="topic_dxl_j4v_kdc">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title8">CSAT surveys</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Because the messaging channel is turned off when an agent ends a messaging
session, the action of solving the ticket doesn’t occur in the messaging channel
and, therefore, the conditions in the default messaging CSAT trigger can’t be
met.</p>
<p class="p">Using <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/7689997846554" target="_blank">customizable CSAT</a> (available on Suite Growth plans
and above), you can create a trigger that automatically sends the survey to end
users when an agent ends their messaging session. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8082415949210-" target="_blank">Recipe: Sending a CSAT survey when a
messaging session ends</a>.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title9" class="topic nested1" id="topic_ozy_hf2_tcc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title9">Understanding the agent experience when messaging sessions are ended</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p" dir="ltr">When you allow agents to end messaging sessions, they can do so in the
composer in Agent Workspace.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_ozy_hf2_tcc__image_x53_4hk_vcc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/end_session-AW.png" width="400"></p>
<p class="p">When an agent ends a messaging session in a conversation, the related ticket is
updated in the Agent Workspace in several ways:</p>
<div class="p">
<ul class="ul" id="topic_ozy_hf2_tcc__ul_fpw_xhk_vcc">
<li class="li">In the composer, the messaging channel option is deactivated for that
conversation. Agents can contact the customer through other available
channels.</li>
<li class="li">If the end user’s email address is known, the composer defaults to public
reply; if no email is provided, the composer defaults to an internal
note.</li>
<li class="li">The end session event is captured and displayed in the ticket event
history.</li>
<li class="li">Agents can continue communicating with one another on the ticket using
internal notes.</li>
<li class="li">The status of the associated ticket isn’t influenced by the messaging
session’s state.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title10" class="topic nested1" id="topic_fcd_nnv_kdc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title10">Understanding the end-user experience when messaging sessions are ended</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">The end user’s experience when a messaging session ends is slightly different
depending on whether that session was ended by an agent or by the end user. </p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">When an agent ends a messaging session</strong>, the end user can’t reply to the
related ticket through that messaging conversation. If an end user enters new
replies in the Web Widget after the session is ended, it’s treated as a new agent
interaction that initiates a new messaging session and, ultimately, a new
ticket.</p>
<p class="p">Customers aren’t automatically notified when an agent ends a messaging session. To
prevent customer confusion, you may want to instruct your agents to inform the
customer that they're ending the conversation and any new replies will result in a
new messaging conversation and ticket. To streamline this communication, admins can
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408844187034" target="_blank">create a macro</a> with a standardized
statement for them to use.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr"><strong class="ph b">When an end user ends a messaging session</strong>, as with agent-ended
sessions, the end-user can no longer reply to the related ticket through the Web
Widget. Additionally:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_fcd_nnv_kdc__ul_uf5_fhk_33c">
<li class="li" dir="ltr">A message appears in the conversation confirming that the
conversation has ended.
</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">A New conversation button appears at the bottom of the messaging
session in the Web Widget, <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8008427696410-Allowing-multiple-conversations-for-your-end-users#topic_nwd_wjy_1dc" target="_blank"><u class="ph u">unless the button has been
removed</u></a>.
</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">A CSAT survey is sent to the end user, if configured to do so.
</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">If the end conversation request fails, a banner message appears
informing end users the conversation didn’t end.
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
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