Conditional branching in Zoho Desk with Automation Studio
Hello everyone,
We are introducing conditional branching that will allow businesses to manage complex, multi-condition workflows for customer service processes using Automation Studio.
The primary goal is to create multi-branched logic in a single rule.
We are opening Automation Studio on a request basis for Professional and Enterprise edition users across all DCs.
Kindly raise a request through this Early Access Form.
What is conditional branching?
Branched logic or conditional branching allows an automation rule to follow different execution paths according to data, events, business rules, or earlier outcomes. In branched logic the system evaluates a condition - such as amount > 10,000, country = "India", or approval_status = "rejected" and when either both or one of the conditions are met, it routes the work to the appropriate sequence of actions.
Businesses that require multi-step workflows with stricter logic-based rules to govern their processes would benefit from Zoho Desk's Automation Studio.
What is Automation Studio?
Automation Studio helps organizations build and manage complex workflows by connecting multiple conditions and actions in a single rule. Instead of creating several standalone rules, a single workflow can be triggered by an event and move ticket to subsequent steps such as assigning it, updating its status, automating notifications, and follow-ups at specific intervals.
Components in the Automation Studio Builder
An easy-to-use drag and drop builder makes the interface intuitive and user friendly. Building and customizing the rule requires the following components:
1. Triggers
Defines the event that initiates a workflow, such as ticket creation, task created, field updated, calls created, accounts created, or comments updated based on the module selected.
On selecting Field Updated, a criteria must be provided on when the rule must be triggered. For example, the rule must be triggered only when the Ticket Status is updated from Open to Escalated, this will prevent action from triggering whenever the status is updated. It will happen only when the status changes from open to escalated.
2. Criteria
Controls the flow and determines when specific actions should be executed. For example, when the trigger is set to Ticket Created, the rule is triggered every time a ticket is created.
However, if the rule must be triggered only when the Priority is High or Classification is Problem, these conditions can be specified as criteria. This ensures that the rule is not triggered for every ticket that is created, but only when either of the specified conditions is met.
3. Blocks
Defines conditional logic using one or a combination of pre-built blocks.
- Action block: Performs a specific action such as updating a field, assigning a ticket, sending an alert, sending an email, generate content using Zia, adding tags and followers, or notifying via IM. For example, when a ticket is created, the Assign ticket action will assign it to a team or a support representative based on the product type and send a WhatsApp message to the customer that the ticket is assigned to person 'X'
- If block: Defines conditions to determine which path the workflow should follow. Actions are executed only when the specified condition is met. For example, a ticket related to zPad is assigned to the zPad support team.
- Fork block: Creates multiple paths in a workflow to handle different conditions or outcomes. For example, when the customer requests for onboarding, they are assigned to the respective team based on their subscription plan: Standard, Advanced or Ultimate. Using the Fork block, separate paths with specific actions and conditions can be created for each plan.
- Delay block: Pauses the workflow for a specified duration before proceeding to the next step. For example, a support representative sends an email to the customer for additional information. But if there is no response for 3 days, a Delay block can automatically send a reminder email to follow-up with the customer on the 4th day. If there is no response for another 3 days, another reminder along with a WhatsApp message can be sent. Finally the ticket can be closed without manual decision-making, if there is no response from the customer after the 3rd reminder email.
4. Action chaining
Action chaining is the process of using one action's output as the next action's input. For example, if the first action generates a summary of a ticket conversation. The next Action can then use this generated summary (input) and add it as a comment to the ticket (output).
Output:
5. Dot walking
Dot walking allows to access and fetch fields from related modules while creating a rule, without requiring additional custom functions or actions.
For example, from a Ticket record, contact details such as the email address can be accessed during the configuration. This makes it easier to use related data in conditions, actions, and notifications without manually fetching records from another module.
Automation Studio in action: Use cases
Managing conditional requests in order returns and refunds
An e-commerce platform manages order returns through a dedicated Returns and Refunds module. Upon receiving a customer's email request for a return, a ticket is generated in the tickets module. If the email's subject or description includes an Order ID, the system automatically links this ticket to the relevant existing record in the Returns and Refunds module.
In the Returns and Refunds module, each request type is categorized differently for each ticket. For example, after validating the return request, the quality assurance team may approve the refund, reject it after inspection, or may need additional information from the customer on why they want to return the product.
Also, for the approved return requests, the organization waits for 3 days before closing the ticket, giving the customer time to respond if there are any issues with the refund.
The entire process of what happens next after approving or rejecting the return requests can be configured in Automation Studio.
Flow configuration
Dot walking: Using the Dot walking method, the associated record from the Tickets module is accessed and updated when changes occur in the Return Requests custom module, without using any custom function or query.
Action chaining: Using the Action Chaining method, once when the ticket status is changed to Refund Processing, the delay is added for three days.
Deliver personalized campaigns and onboarding plan based on Contact attributes
Businesses can send relevant campaigns and onboarding materials based on a contact's subscription plan, business vertical, and number of user licenses. For example, free and paid users can receive different communications, while larger teams can receive onboarding resources and session reminders based on their requirements. A prospect from financial institution can be sent specific use cases and case studies to impact lead conversion.
Another advantage of setting up multiple conditions in a single workflow, is that the system will pick the criteria and dynamically change the operation to suit the existing contact property. For example, if the free plan user moves to a paid plan the marketing collaterals sent henceforth will automatically pitch for the paid user without manual decision-making.
Likewise, onboarding journey for a team of 20 user licenses can be sent implementation guidelines and supporting materials along with weekly remote session reminders pre-designed to suit their business use case.
Flow configuration
AI-driven summarization and automated ticket routing based on product type
An e-commerce company can use Zia's Generate Content to summarize customer requests, send an acknowledgement based on the generated summary, and automatically route tickets to the appropriate support team based on the product involved.
Flow configuration
Prevent SLA breach with time sensitive escalations
An IT helpdesk team can identify unresolved tickets that are closer to the SLA due time and automatically escalate them by updating the ticket priority and notifying the appropriate team.
Flow configuration
The above use cases are some of the possibilities that you can get started with. We encourage you to try Automation Studio and share your use cases with us.
Here are the resources you would need to setup and understand the use cases where Automation Studio would be useful.
- Automation Studio - An Overview
- Building Blocks Using Automation Studio
- Creating a Rule using Automation Studio
To try the feature kindly raise a request using the Early Access form.
PM: @Akhil Vijayakumar
Thanks and regards,
B. Akshaya | Zoho Desk - User Education
Access your files securely from anywhere
Zoho FSM Video Tutorials
Centralize Knowledge. Transform Learning.
All-in-one knowledge management and training platform for your employees and customers.
New to Zoho Recruit?
Zoho Developer Community
New to Zoho LandingPage?
Zoho LandingPage Resources
New to Zoho Survey?
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Bigin?
Topic Participants
Akshaya B
Sticky Posts
2024 Email Authentication Standards: Elevating Security with Google and Yahoo
In contemporary email communication, email authentication plays a pivotal role in mitigating email fraud, spam, and phishing attacks. Brace yourself for a new level of security. Starting February 2024, Gmail and Yahoo will be implementing robust emailUsing Agent Email Address as From Address
Currently, while replying to a ticket, it is possible for agents to choose their own email addresses as 'from' addresses. Although we built this just for that little extra flexibility, in hindsight, it hasn't figured much in conventional usage. Almost all businesses prefer that responses to their customers' tickets be sent from the common support/service email address and NOT from those of individual agents. During personal interactions at events, some of you have even made passing mentions aboutEdit and Delete options in Comments
A lot of teams have been using ticket comments extensively to collaborate everyday. Notification Center further improved this experience by bringing real-time updates. As we continue to build more improvements to this experience, we've shipped a small-yet-importantWebinar 2: Supercharged customer support for growing business
Join us for this webinar and learn how to step up your support game using a real-time communication platform to generate happier, more successful customers. In this live webinar, we will will discuss the importance of SalesIQ for your support team and how it can help you: Understand your customers better and their journeys to proactively support and engage them even before they ask for help. Integrating real time conversations into Zoho Desk’s Support, providing a conversational customer serviceCustomize Colors of your Customer Self Service Portal
You asked for it. We heard you. We're happy to roll out the most sought after feature request, Customizing the Colors of your Customer Self-service Portal. Now you can set the color of your customer portal to mimic your company's web site, so that your customers visiting the portal will not feel alienated by the default theme. Go ahead and configure the color of the header, tabs, fonts and background according to your needs. You can either choose between default color themes like Blue, Grey, Green
New to Zoho TeamInbox?
Zoho TeamInbox Resources
Zoho CRM Plus Resources
Zoho Books Resources
Zoho Billing Resources
Zoho Projects Resources
Zoho Sprints Resources
Qntrl Resources
Zoho Creator Resources
Zoho CRM Resources
Design. Discuss. Deliver.
Zoho Show Resources
Get Started. Write Away!
Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.
Zoho CRM コンテンツ
-
オンラインヘルプ
-
Webセミナー
-
機能活用動画
-
よくある質問
-
Ebook
-
-
Zoho Campaigns
- Zoho サービスのWebセミナー
その他のサービス コンテンツ
Nederlandse Hulpbronnen
ご検討中の方
Recent Topics
Open Quote Ammount
Night, Is there a way to print the quote for a customer to show the dollar total for open quotes. Thanks RudyMinor Problem: Dashboard Forgets Cash vs Accrual
The dashboard doesn't reflect my cash/accrual choice from settings, AND doesn't remember what I've set it to.information on a suggestion how to treat old records in the - pipeline deals, notes, activities (tasks- events-calls) and emails etc.
Hi, I would like information or a suggestion on how to treat old records in the - pipeline deals, notes, activities (tasks- events-calls) and emails etc. ? As each option (pipeline deal, notes, activities, emails etc.) counts as a record and as we advanceAutomating Employee Birthday Notifications in Zoho Cliq
Have you ever missed a birthday and felt like the office Grinch? Fear not, the Cliq Developer Platform has got your back! With Zoho Cliq's Schedulers, you can be the office party-cipant who never forgets a single cake, balloon, or awkward rendition ofzoho stream web notifications
since im locked out of IMAP and cant use my mail app that lets my team collaborate and chat below emails, im trying out the zoho version of this... zoho streams. On the bottom of an email in the zoho mail web app, i "comment" and mention another user.New in Zoho CRM: Pre-fill Public Forms with CRM Data
Public forms just got more flexible! With the new Pre-fill Public Forms with CRM Data option in the Zoho Forms integration, people filling out your public forms can search for a CRM record, select the right one, and have the form automatically populateHEIC File Type Viewer
Hi, It would be nice to be able to click on the images in the All Entries/Reports Tables which are HEIC the same as JPG, PNG, etc. so they open in a viewer from Zoho or the Attachment Service, today HEIC requires you to download each image and open itZoho Books | Product updates | October 2026
Hello users, October brings a range of new features and enhancements to Zoho Books, designed to simplify compliance, streamline accounting workflows, and improve inventory management. From the launch of the Nigeria Edition and France’s e-invoicing capabilitiesSpecific ListView Canvas on Canvas Home Page Always Loads Most Recent ListView, Not the One Specified
I had mentioned this to ZOHO, but I mainly wanted to see if others in the Community are also facing this problem. I created a Canvas ListView for a Custom Module, and then created a Canvas Home page (technically on a tab item, but I'm not sure if thatprint preview
We are using microsoft edge, till 12 sep we were getting directly print option. Now we are getting this preview option we have to click print option again. How to bypass this-preview option?Zoho Projects - Has something changed regarding to linking Projects and Deals via the API?
I am trying to link Zoho Projects to Deals in CRM using the API, but each time, the Deal Contact is added as a Client user and receives an email invite asking them to join the organisation. These are internal projects and the customer should not haveConnection into Cliq?
I have the SalesIQ chat widget on my site using the Zohobot but I'm not always on and my employees don't keep it open all the time. We do have Cliq open all the time though so I'd love a way to manage those discussions directly in Cliq as they come in.Kaizen #264 - Using zoho-crm Skill to Write Functions
Hello CRM wizards, Welcome back to another week of Kaizen. In our previous Kaizens, we explored how the zoho-crm skill can assist you across various Zoho CRM developer tools. This time, let us see how it can help you write Deluge Functions, from simpleEdit Pinned Comments in Zoho Desk
It's great that private comments can now be pinned to the top of the ticket but what would be extremely helpful would be to allow for the pinned comment to be edited vs. having to find the comment in the ticket to edit it.Recover accidentally deleted mail account
Email account was accidentally deleted from admin console.mail sent to gmail goes directly to spam
Hi TKIM and SPF are configured and verified. E-mails coming from zoho to my personal gmail account are going directly to the spam folder. How can I solve this? I can send you guys the headers privately if you need to.Shopify Integration: How do I change the default Unit of Measure from KG to PCS
For those using Shopify with Zoho Inventory, has anyone managed to have imported items default to PCS/EA instead of KG? If so, where is this configured? I can only find weight units in Shopify, not a sales unit of measure.flexible subscription plan
Greetings! We currently have 5 Standard plans, but would like to add 5 mail-lite one just to receive emails (do not need other business features or storage. As Super Admin, I tried to do that my self but didnt see the option on your sales platform. Pleasemail
We want our tracked links in campaign and journey emails to use our own domain instead of the shared maillist-manage.net domain. We have already created the CNAME links.rexven.com → customer-campaign.zoho.com (DNS only). Does our plan support a customUseless support and impossible to add users for whom I paid for
Over a week ago i signed up for 5 emails addresses and 10GB, and so far I only have 1 email working, no access to the dashboard. Remote connection with "support"....useless Screen grabs sent to "support" useless Messages to "support"... now not answeringMr
can't access my emailReduce Mail Lite Renewal from 2 licenses to 1
Hello Zoho Support, I have a Mail Lite 5GB subscription with 2 licenses. have deleted the unused user, and now only 1 user/license is being used. My subscription is due for renewal, but the renewal page still shows 2 licenses and does not give me an optionAdding additional records dynamically to a subset of fields
I'm trying to create a service ticket layout which will be passed to a Creator application for Field Service Management (FSM) purposes. We need to be able to define a specific subset of service product fields such as "Service Product", "Service Product Serial Number", "Service Product Warranty End Date" and "Service Product Current Warranty Status". We may need to record more than one of these subsets, in case the customer has more than one product which has to be serviced on their site. It seemsPush error with Zoho Books and Zoho CRM
I have successfully linked Books and CRM but I have some push errors with the following message: "The customer associated to this record is not linked to module chosen in the current contact sync configuration." I am unable to work this out, could you help please.Function #24: Automatically display deal name from Zoho CRM on quotes in Zoho Books
Deals allow businesses to organize and visualize their sales pipeline. This provides a clear overview of all potential opportunities and helps in making informed decisions. Zoho CRM empowers you to create deals or potentials for your clients and monitor{"code":57,"message":"You are not authorized to perform this operation"}
In my trial version of Zoho account, I am trying to integrate Zoho CRM Contact Module with Zoho books but when i call API it gives such type of error {"code":57,"message":"You are not authorized to perform this operation"}. I am using refreshed tokenAllow widgets to be placed between native sections in the Ticket Properties panel
One of our biggest frustrations with the Tickets module is how rigid the Ticket Properties panel is. Every section there is built only from native Zoho Desk fields. We can add sections, rearrange fields, and pick layouts, but we can’t put anything custom#13 Understanding Your Zoho Invoice Limits
Ravi's busiest month was also the month his invoicing stopped working. He had been using Zoho Invoice comfortably for months. Then, just when business picked up, he hit a limit he hadn't expected. The problem wasn't that he had missed a payment or forgottenMap Dependency Upgrades in Zoho CRM
Map Dependency Fields enhancements are now available across all DCs. Hello everyone, We’ve introduced a set of enhancements to Map Dependency Fields to make setup simpler, faster, and more intuitive. Map Dependency helps control how values appear acrossHow to Allocate Incoming Purchase Stock to Specific Sales Orders in Zoho Inventory?
Hi all, We are using Zoho One Enterprise and need guidance on managing sales order–wise allocation of incoming stock in Zoho Inventory. Our workflow is: A customer order is received, and the Sales Order is confirmed. The sales team immediately createsHow to disable automatic ticket closure emails for specific outgoing communications?
Is there a way to disable the automatic "Ticket Closed" email notification for specific tickets or outgoing emails? Currently, every time we send an email to a customer, the system automatically sends a "Ticket Created" email, followed by a "Ticket Closed"Zoho Webinar - Sharing System Audio (NOT AVAILABLE)
Hi, We are having a serious problem with Zoho Webinar. In the webinars we run, we very often share the audio from a video we are streaming directly from YouTube or other applications. Until recently we were using Zoom, but as we use other Zoho applicationsWhat's new in Zoho Workplace | September 2026
Hello Zoho Workplace community! Here's a roundup of all the new features and announcements that went live across Zoho Workplace applications in September. Zoho Mail Compose Options Across Templates You can now use the Undo, Redo, and New List optionsUnable to export reports despite enabled report export permissions
Hi Zoho Community, We are unable to export reports in Zoho CRM. When attempting an export, we receive the following error: “Cannot Export Report — You do not have permission to export one or more modules used in this report. Please contact your administrator.”What does "Tickets for Review" do?
What is the purpose of the va nilla view " Tickets for Review?"Set department automatically for incoming calls
Is it possible, when receiving an incoming call through Zoho Desk (using Twilio integration), for the department to be auto-selected based on the phone line being called? Currently, we have to manually select the department from the dropdown menu whenZoho Desk training for administrators in EU and US region
Hello Everyone, Get ready for the certified Virtual Classroom training for our Zoho Desk users in Europe and the US. Our in-house Zoho Desk expert, @Dheeraj | Zoho Desk, will conduct the virtual classroom training. This training focuses on simplifyingSupport Plan: Recuring Issue
Hi Zoho Team, Could you please look into this recurring alert and provide clarification on why this restriction is still in place? This issue has become a bottleneck in our workflow, significantly limiting our automation capabilities. We are unable toWebinar de Zoho People: tecnología para RR. HH.
¿Y si RR. HH. pudiera estar tan conectado con el negocio como el resto de tu organización? La gestión de personas está evolucionando, y los departamentos de Recursos Humanos necesitan herramientas que les permitan ir más allá de las tareas administrativasZoho CRM still doesn't let you manage timezones (yearly reminder)
This is something I have asked repeatedly. I'll ask once again. Suppose that you work in France. Next month you have a trip to Guatemala. You call a contact there, close a meeting, record that meeting in CRM. On the phone, your contact said: "meet meNext Page