Getting started with AI agents for customer service

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<p id="docs-hc-snippet" style="display: none;">You can begin automating customer service in just minutes with AI agents. Start with an AI agent that answers customer questions using content from trusted knowledge sources. From there, you can move on to more advanced features such as goal-orientedgenerative procedures, scripteddialogues, authorizedactions, andAPI integrationswith systems you already use. Through it all,advanced analyticsare available to help you measure your automation success.</p>
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<div class="note attention" id="ai_agents_gs_advanced__note_vlr_sc2_fhc">
<span class="attentiontitle"></span> Usage of AI agent functionality is measured
through <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5352026794010" target="_blank">automated resolutions</a>. Each account includes
an allowance of automated resolutions based on their plan.</div>
<p class="p">You can begin automating customer service in just minutes with AI agents. Start with an
AI agent that answers customer questions using content from trusted knowledge sources.
From there, you can move on to more advanced features such as goal-oriented <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8979864563610" target="_blank">generative procedures</a>, scripted <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8357749494810" target="_blank">dialogues</a>, authorized <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8357756651290" target="_blank">actions</a>, and <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/sections/8264334170906" target="_blank">API integrations</a> with systems you already use. Through it
all, <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9510024609178" target="_blank">advanced analytics</a> are available to help you
measure your automation success. </p>
<p class="p">This article gives you an overview of how to start using the most important AI agent
functionality. </p>
<p class="p">This article contains the following topics:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="ai_agents_gs_advanced__ul_ofg_txc_f2c">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_pl5_xc2_fhc">Step 1: Optimize your help center content for AI agents</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_g2t_zc2_fhc">Step 2: Configure the channels you want your AI agent to work on</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_bpf_4s1_2jc">Step 3: Create your AI agent</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_k5n_1d2_fhc">Step 4: Configure your AI agent to power more complex automation (Optional)</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_tn3_bd2_fhc">Step 5: Activate your AI agent on your chosen channels</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_bjh_cd2_fhc">Step 6: Monitor your AI agent’s performance</a></li>
</ul>
<p class="p">Alternatively, if you're looking for information about employee service AI agents, see
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10975998779802" target="_blank">Getting started with AI agents for employee
service</a>.</p>
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<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_pl5_xc2_fhc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">Step 1: Optimize your help center content for AI agents</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">During conversations with customers, AI agents can use content from your trusted
knowledge sources, like your Zendesk help center or an external knowledge base, to
generate responses to customer questions. The better your content is, the better
your AI agents’ responses will be. </p>
<p class="p">If you're just getting started with your help center, first review tickets and other
resources to find issues to populate it. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408828230554" target="_blank">Best practices for finding customer issues to start your
knowledge base</a>. </p>
<p class="p">If you already have a help center, consider optimizing your content. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408845739162" target="_blank">Optimizing your knowledge content for generative AI</a>.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_g2t_zc2_fhc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Step 2: Configure the channels you want your AI agent to work on</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">AI agents work on messaging, email, API, web form, and voice channels to
deliver answers to customers. But before they can do that, you need to set up the
channels you want your AI agent to work on. </p>
<p class="p">If you haven't already configured these channels, see the following resources: </p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_g2t_zc2_fhc__ul_yfm_sd2_fhc">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Messaging</strong>: <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408827701530" target="_blank">Getting started with messaging for your
website, help center, and mobile apps</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Email</strong>: <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4887918604058" target="_blank">A complete guide to understanding email in
Zendesk</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">API</strong>: <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408889192858" target="_blank">Managing API token access to the Zendesk
API</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Web form</strong>: <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408888481178" target="_blank">Understanding and optimizing ticket
forms</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Voice</strong>: You must have a Zendesk voice plan. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408838035866" target="_blank">Activating the voice channel and configuring
general settings</a>
</li>
</ul>
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</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested1" id="topic_bpf_4s1_2jc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title4">Step 3: Create your AI agent</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">With your knowledge sources optimized and your channels configured, it’s time to
create your AI agent. As part of the creation process, you’ll: </p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_bpf_4s1_2jc__ul_hhk_2t1_2jc">
<li class="li">Select the brand and knowledge sources the AI agent should use. </li>
<li class="li">Personalize the AI agent, including defining a name, tone of voice, and
supported languages. </li>
<li class="li">Customize the AI agent’s default system replies. </li>
<li class="li">Activate the AI agent on the channels it should be able to interact with
customers on. (Optional) </li>
</ul>
<p class="p">See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10488757995034" target="_blank">Creating an AI agent to automatically resolve
customer issues</a>.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested1" id="topic_k5n_1d2_fhc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title5">Step 4: Configure your AI agent to power more complex automation (Optional)</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Depending on your automation goals, you may want to configure additional settings for
your AI agent after you create it. Performing the creation flow described in the
previous section results in an AI agent that’s capable of responding to your
customers with AI-generated responses based on the knowledge sources you connect to
it. However, with additional configuration, you can power more complex workflows. </p>
<p class="p">For example, you can define specific conversation topics and configure how the AI
agent should handle conversations about those topics. You can also create actions
that the AI agent is authorized to perform, integrations with other third-party
systems you use, and more. </p>
<p class="p">The following configuration steps let you power more complex automation workflows: </p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_k5n_1d2_fhc__ul_grw_xd2_fhc">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_ybv_gd2_fhc">Step 4.1: Create use cases to identify customer requests</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_fv3_3d2_fhc">Step 4.2: Create generative procedures or dialogues to control responses</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_s3r_jd2_fhc">Step 4.3: Create actions, API integrations, and entities to increase automation (Optional)</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_ehv_kd2_fhc">Step 4.4: Configure additional AI agent settings to fine-tune behavior</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title6" class="topic nested2" id="topic_ybv_gd2_fhc">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title6">Step 4.1: Create use cases to identify customer requests</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">To allow the AI agent to help customers most effectively, you need to create use
cases. Use cases are the mechanism by which AI agents understand what a customer
is asking about and connect them with the right procedure or dialogue. Think of
use cases as the topics your customers need help with, such as order returns or
refund requests. </p>
<p class="p">If you don’t create any use cases, the AI agent forms responses using only the
content of your connected knowledge sources, not procedures or dialogues. </p>
<p class="p">See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9041901679130" target="_blank">Creating use cases for AI agents to identify
what customers are asking about</a>.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title7" class="topic nested2" id="topic_fv3_3d2_fhc">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title7">Step 4.2: Create generative procedures or dialogues to control responses</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">After you create use cases, you need to define the flow of the conversation that
the AI agent should have with a customer when that use case, or topic, comes up.
Conversation flows are determined by either a generative procedure, which is
more flexible, or a dialogue, which is more structured. </p>
<p class="p">Generative procedures determine the general flow that an AI agent should follow
during a conversation with a customer. Procedures allow conversation flows to
adapt to a customer’s responses during a conversation with an AI agent, while
still aligning with your business policies. </p>
<p class="p">See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8979864563610" target="_blank">Creating generative procedures to shape
flexible conversation flows for AI agents</a>. </p>
<p class="p">Alternatively, you can create dialogues that allow the AI agent to respond to
customer requests according to scripted conversation flows. Dialogues use
defined, branching logic to determine an AI agent's responses and actions during
a conversation with a customer. </p>
<p class="p">See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8357749494810" target="_blank">Creating dialogues to define scripted
conversation flows for AI agents</a>.</p>
<div class="p">
<div class="note" id="topic_fv3_3d2_fhc__note_pt4_pt1_2jc">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> Email AI agents can't use dialogues, and must use
generative procedures instead. </div>
</div>
<p class="p">For each use case you create, you can decide whether it should trigger a more
flexible generative procedure, or else a more prescriptive dialogue. Procedures
require less setup and maintenance, but offer less direct control over very fine
details. Dialogues offer a lot of control, but require more setup and
maintenance. </p>
<p class="p">See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9041911005850#topic_elk_mcf_52c" target="_blank">Configuring whether a use case triggers a
generative procedure or a dialogue</a>.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title8" class="topic nested2" id="topic_s3r_jd2_fhc">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title8">Step 4.3: Create actions, API integrations, and entities to increase automation (Optional)</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">With your use cases created and conversation flows defined—in addition to your
connected knowledge sources—your AI agent is capable of resolving a wide range
of customer requests. However, you can make your AI agent even more effective
creating: </p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_s3r_jd2_fhc__ul_lbq_y22_fhc">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Actions</strong> that allow the AI agent to perform specified tasks during
conversations with customers. These can be actions based on the details of
the session or your customer relationship management (CRM) system, or API
integrations that allow you to update data outside of Zendesk using an API
you specify. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10783053154202" target="_blank">About actions in AI agents</a>. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Entities</strong> that hold pieces of information in customer messages that
have specific meaning, such as the user’s email address. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8357749740698" target="_blank">Creating entities in conversation flows
for AI agents</a>. </li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title9" class="topic nested2" id="topic_ehv_kd2_fhc">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title9">Step 4.4: Configure additional AI agent settings to fine-tune behavior</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">At any point, you can always continue configuring the AI agent’s settings. See
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8357756721178" target="_blank">Accessing and viewing settings for AI
agents</a>.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title10" class="topic nested1" id="topic_tn3_bd2_fhc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title10">Step 5: Activate your AI agent on your chosen channels</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">At this point, your AI agent is ready to start answering a wide range of customer
questions. If you didn’t activate your AI agent during the creation flow, and
instead opted to perform more advanced configuration, now is the time to activate
your AI agent so that it can begin responding to customers. </p>
<p class="p">See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10563002554394" target="_blank">Activating and managing AI agents</a>.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title11" class="topic nested1" id="topic_bjh_cd2_fhc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title11">Step 6: Monitor your AI agent’s performance</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">The final and ongoing step in creating an AI agent is to monitor its performance and
continue to improve its efficiency. The Reporting dashboard gives you insights into
key automation metrics, reports on the value of AI agent outcomes, and helps you
make data-driven decisions to improve future efficiency. </p>
<p class="p">See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9510024609178" target="_blank">Analyzing AI agent performance with the reporting
dashboard</a>. For voice AI agents, filter the dashboard by AI agent or by
the Voice channel, and review call records and transcripts on their associated
tickets.</p>
</div>
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