Ring in the New Year with Guided Conversations for Smooth Offline Support

Ring in the New Year with Guided Conversations for Smooth Offline Support

As we step into the new year, it’s time to refocus, re-energize, and gear up for fresh opportunities. But what about your customers as they begin the year with their own set of challenges or queries to resolve? 
With Zoho Desk’s Guided Conversations (GC), you can ensure they’re supported seamlessly, even as your team navigates the post-holiday rush.

Zylker Techfix, a mobile gadget firm, has a busy start as its customers flood them with requests: repair appointments, service inquiries, delivery tracking, and questions about new products. By leveraging Guided Conversations, Zylker Techfix provided an efficient, self-service experience that kept customers engaged while their team prioritized high-value tasks.

Here’s why Zylker Techfix setup the Guided Conversations feature within Zoho Desk:
  • Customers could effortlessly log repair or service requests.
  • Delivery updates and product inquiries were instantly addressed without delays.
  • Clear and reassuring messaging kept customers informed that their concerns were logged and would be prioritized.


Guided Conversations acts as a dependable, 24/7 virtual assistant, automating ticket creation while offering a personal touch. Its intuitive, drag-and-drop builder enables you to design workflows that guide customers through their questions, gather essential information, and create tickets—even when your team is unavailable.

For businesses like Zylker Techfix, GC turned the often-hectic start of the year into an opportunity to build stronger customer relationships. By ensuring requests were acknowledged and logged, customers felt valued and confident that their needs were being addressed.

As you plan for the year ahead, Guided Conversations can help you create a customer experience that’s efficient, thoughtful, and future-ready. 

Guide to Set up Guided Conversations (GC) in Zoho Desk
Here’s how you can easily set up Guided Conversations to create tickets when agents are unavailable/offline:
1. Go to Setup > Self-Service > Guided Conversations.
2. Select the department before creating the flow because Guided Conversations are department-specific. 

Create a New Flow
3. Click on the Create Flow tab in the top-right corner.
4. Select the Web Channel
5. Enter a Name and Description for your flow, then click Next.
6. The GC design window will appear. Below the Guided Conversation icon, click the + icon to start building your flow.
7. Drag and drop elements from the right-hand panel to create your conversation blocks.
8. Drag the Text Message Block and drop it into the flow. Type a Welcome message. 
9. Enter the Name of the block and the Message you want to display to customers. This block is used to share direct information with your customers.
10. Click the + icon below the text message block and add a Question Block.
11. Use the Question blocks to collect inputs from customers based on your questions.
For example, use the following Question Blocks using the + icon to receive the information from your customers: 
  • Name (Text Block
  • Email (Email Block)
  • Contact Number (Number Block)
  • Date (Calendar Block for availability)
  • Attachments (Attachment Block to receive files or images, such as screenshots).


Add Button Choice Blocks
12. Use the Button Choice Blocks to present predefined options to customers, such as a list of countries, states, or regions. This is useful for collecting specific information like location and understanding the time zone.
13. Drag the Text Question block to receive a description on the Issues submitted. 
14. Create the Date and Time question block to get the customer's availability time to reconnect, if required. 



To Create a Ticket
15. Now, click on the Zoho Desk blocks, click on the Create ticket.
16. Give the Block Name, choose the Department (the same department where you create this Guided Conversation), choose the layout for the Email template



17. In the Input variable mapping, click on the gear icon, map the field variables in the Tickets layout with the Flow variables created within  GC. 

For example, map the Email field within Tickets to the Email block in GC, map Phone with the Phone field, map Subject with the Issue Type, and map Description with the Describe issue text block



18. Click Save to save the mapping variables
19. In the Output variable mapping, click on the gear icon, map the ticket related information which you would like to share with the customers within the GC.  



Preview and Publish
20. Once all blocks are added, click on Preview to view the flow and ensure it works based on your requirements. 
21. Save your changes, and click Publish. Your Guided Conversation is ready to use!
Notes
Note: Some blocks are being developed for Instant Messaging (IM) channels and will appear faded out if you choose IM channels.
Create A GC Widget
i.    Go to Setup(S) >> Self Service >> Guided Conversations >> GC widgets
ii.   Click on Create GC widget. Give a Name and Description
iii.  Choose the Channels. click on the drop-down arrow under Associate flows >> Add Flow >> select the Published GC.
iv.  Click Associate. under Access Permissions, select users based on your preferences. 
v.   Enter your preferred welcome message that you would like to appear on your GC widget.
vi.  Enter End Options based on your preferences.
vii. Click Save to save your GC widget. 
ASAP Widget
Go to Setup (S) >> Self-Service >> ASAP >> Create New Widget. 
a. Enter a Name, enable the widget launcher to show the widget on your website. 
b. Associate the help widget with required departments.
c. Choose the required modules to associate with the widget.
d. Once you are done, click on Generate.  
Embed GC 
You can obtain the embed code to integrate the widget into your website or Help Center, as well as the organization ID for iOS and Android SDKs.
i.   Go to Setup (S) >> Self-Service >> ASAP
ii.  Hover over the created ASAP widget; click on Embeddable Code.  
iii. Copy the web embed code for use on your website or Help Center.
iv. Use the iOS ID for iOS SDK and the Android ID for Android SDK.
That’s it—your Guided Conversation is now live and ready to assist your customers! 

Pro Tip 
Guided Conversations can be tailored to suit a variety of scenarios, from managing customer inquiries to streamlining ticketing operations. Enhance the customer experience by customizing, editing, or updating workflows to meet their needs effortlessly.

Explore our Guided Conversation Guide and the automation with GC to  ensure your customers always have the support they need.

Here’s to a fantastic start to the New Year! Wishing you success and seamless experiences ahead: Happy New Year from the Zoho Desk Team! 🎉




    Access your files securely from anywhere

        All-in-one knowledge management and training platform for your employees and customers.







                              Zoho Developer Community




                                                    • Desk Community Learning Series


                                                    • Digest


                                                    • Functions


                                                    • Meetups


                                                    • Kbase


                                                    • Resources


                                                    • Glossary


                                                    • Desk Marketplace


                                                    • MVP Corner


                                                    • Word of the Day


                                                    • Ask the Experts



                                                              • Sticky Posts

                                                              • Register for Zoho Desk Beta Community

                                                                With the start of the year, we have decided to take a small step in making the life of our customers a little easier. We now have easy access to all our upcoming features and a faster way to request for beta access. We open betas for some of our features
                                                              • Share your Zoho Desk story with us!

                                                                Tell us how you use Zoho Desk for your business and inspire others with your story. Be it a simple workflow rule that helps you navigate complex processes or a macro that saves your team a lot of time; share it here and help the community learn and grow with shared knowledge. 
                                                              • Tip #1: Learn to pick the right channels

                                                                Mail, live chat, telephony, social media, web forms—there are so many support channels out there. Trying to pick the right channels to offer your customers can get pretty confusing. Emails are most useful when the customer wants to put things on record. However, escalated or complicated issues should not be resolved over email because it's slow and impersonal.  When you need immediate responses, live chat is more suitable. It's also quick and convenient, so it's the go-to channel for small issues. 
                                                              • Welcome to Zoho Desk Community - Say hello here!

                                                                Hello everyone! Though we have been here for a while, it’s time to formally establish the Zoho Desk Community; we’re really happy to have you all here! This can be the place where you take a moment to introduce yourself to the rest of the community. We’d love to hear all about you, what you do, what company or industry you work for, how you use Zoho Desk and anything else that you will like to share! Here’s a little about me. I am Chinmayee. I have been associated with Zoho since 2014. I joined here
                                                              • Webinar 1: Blueprint for Customer Service

                                                                With the launch of a host of new features in Zoho Desk, we thought it’ll be great to have a few webinars to help our customers make the most of them. We’re starting off with our most talked about feature, Blueprint in Zoho Desk. You can register for the Blueprint webinar here: The webinar will be delivered by our in-house product experts. This is a good opportunity to ask questions to our experts and understand how Blueprint can help you automate your service processes. We look forward to seeing


                                                              Manage your brands on social media



                                                                    Zoho TeamInbox Resources



                                                                        Zoho CRM Plus Resources

                                                                          Zoho Books Resources


                                                                            Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                                                                              Zoho Projects Resources


                                                                                Zoho Sprints Resources


                                                                                  Qntrl Resources


                                                                                    Zoho Creator Resources



                                                                                        Zoho CRM Resources

                                                                                        • CRM Community Learning Series

                                                                                          CRM Community Learning Series


                                                                                        • Kaizen

                                                                                          Kaizen

                                                                                        • Functions

                                                                                          Functions

                                                                                        • Meetups

                                                                                          Meetups

                                                                                        • Kbase

                                                                                          Kbase

                                                                                        • Resources

                                                                                          Resources

                                                                                        • Digest

                                                                                          Digest

                                                                                        • CRM Marketplace

                                                                                          CRM Marketplace

                                                                                        • MVP Corner

                                                                                          MVP Corner









                                                                                            Design. Discuss. Deliver.

                                                                                            Create visually engaging stories with Zoho Show.

                                                                                            Get Started Now


                                                                                              Zoho Show Resources

                                                                                                Zoho Writer

                                                                                                Get Started. Write Away!

                                                                                                Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                                                                                                  Zoho CRM コンテンツ




                                                                                                    Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


                                                                                                        ご検討中の方




                                                                                                                • Recent Topics

                                                                                                                • Deprecation of the Zoho OAuth connector

                                                                                                                  Hello everyone, At Zoho, we continuously evaluate our integrations to ensure they meet the highest standards of security, reliability, and compliance. As part of these ongoing efforts, we've made the decision to deprecate the Zoho OAuth default connector
                                                                                                                • I need to know the IP address of ZOHO CRM.

                                                                                                                  The link below is the IP address for Analytics, do you have CRM's? IP address for Analytics I would like to know the IP address of ZOHO CRM to allow communication as the API server I am developing is also run from CRM. Moderation Update: The post below
                                                                                                                • Important Update: Google Ads & YouTube Ads API Migration

                                                                                                                  To maintain platform performance and align with Google's newest requirements, we are updating the Google Ads and YouTube Ads integrations by migrating from API v19 to the newer v22, before the official deprecation of v19 on February 11, 2026. Reference:
                                                                                                                • Importing into the 'file upload' field

                                                                                                                  Can you import attachments into the file upload field. I would expect it to work the same way as attachments do, But can't seem to get it to work.
                                                                                                                • Zoho recruit's blueprint configuration is not functioning as mapped

                                                                                                                  Current Status: Zoho Blueprint is not functioning as configured. Issue: We are moving a Candidate status in Zoho Recruit "for active file" but we encountered: "Status cannot be changed for records involved in Blueprint." This happens to various client
                                                                                                                • Super Admin Logging in as another User

                                                                                                                  How can a Super Admin login as another user. For example, I have a sales rep that is having issues with their Accounts and I want to view their Zoho Account with out having to do a GTM and sharing screens. Moderation Update (8th Aug 2025): We are working
                                                                                                                • Blocklist candidates in Zoho Recruit

                                                                                                                  We’re introducing Block Candidate, which helps recruiters to permanently restrict a candidate from applying to current/future job openings. Once the candidate is blocked, they will no longer be able to participate in the recruitment process. This will
                                                                                                                • Layout Rules Don't Apply To Blueprints

                                                                                                                  Hi Zoho the conditional layout rules for fields and making fields required don't work well with with Blueprints if those same fields are called DURING a Blueprint. Example. I have field A that is used in layout rule. If value of field A is "1" it is supposed to show and make required field B. If the value to field A is "2" it is supposed to show and make required field C. Now I have a Blueprint that says when last stage moves to "Closed," during the transition, the agent must fill out field A. Now
                                                                                                                • Admin asked me for Backend Details when I wanted to verify my ZeptoMail Account

                                                                                                                  Please provide the backend details where you will be adding the SMTP/API information of ZeptoMail Who knows what this means?
                                                                                                                • Zoho Desk - Upsert Ticket

                                                                                                                  Hi Desk Team, It is common to request more information from end-users. Using forms is a great way to ensure all the required information is collected. It would be great if there were an "upsert" option on the Zoho Form -> Zoho Desk integration which would
                                                                                                                • All new Address Field in Zoho CRM: maintain structured and accurate address inputs

                                                                                                                  The address field will be available exclusively for IN DC users. We'll keep you updated on the DC-specific rollout soon. It's currently available for all new sign-ups and for existing Zoho CRM orgs which are in the Professional edition. Latest update
                                                                                                                • Client Side Scripts for Meetings Module

                                                                                                                  Will zoho please add client side scripting support to the meetings module? Our workflow requires most meeting details have a specific format to work with other software we have. So we rely on a custom function to auto fill certain things. We currently
                                                                                                                • Introducing Multiple Sandbox Types and Support for Module's Data Population

                                                                                                                  Register here for the upcoming Focus Group webinar on Multiple Sandbox | Help documentation to learn more about the new enhancements Hello everyone,  Sandbox in CRM is a testing environment for users to create and test new configurations like workflow
                                                                                                                • CRM x WorkDrive: File storage for new CRM signups is now powered by WorkDrive

                                                                                                                  Availability Editions: All DCs: All Release plan: Released for new signups in all DCs. It will be enabled for existing users in a phased manner in the upcoming months. Help documentation: Documents in Zoho CRM Manage folders in Documents tab Manage files
                                                                                                                • Creator Offline

                                                                                                                  We had online access setup and working on our iphones. We have just set it up on an 'Android Tablet' and it is not downloading all the images? We use it to show customers our catalogue. Any ideas. Offline components all setup on both devices
                                                                                                                • Drag 'n' Drop Fields to a Sub-Form and "Move Field To" Option

                                                                                                                  Hi, I would like to be able to move fields from the Main Page to a Sub-Form or from a Sub-Form to either the Main Page or another Sub-Form. Today if you change the design you have to delete and recreate every field, not just move them. Would be nice to
                                                                                                                • Enable or disable any Field Rule!

                                                                                                                  Hello Zoho Forms Community, We are excited to announce a powerful new enhancement to Field Rules that gives you greater control and flexibility in managing your form logic! Previously, if you wanted to temporarily deactivate a field rule, you had two
                                                                                                                • Marketing Tip #20: Increase traffic with strong meta titles and descriptions

                                                                                                                  Meta titles and descriptions are what people see first on search results before they ever click through to your website. If your pages use generic titles or basic descriptions, you miss the chance to stand out, and search engines may not know which page
                                                                                                                • Different form submission results for submitter and internal users

                                                                                                                  I'm looking for suggestions on how to show an external submitter a few results while sending internal users all the results from the answers provided by the external user. The final page of our form has a section with detailed results and a section with
                                                                                                                • Kanban view on Zoho CRM mobile app!

                                                                                                                  What is Kanban? The name doesn't sound English, right? Yes, Kanban is a Japanese word which means 'Card you can see'. As per the meaning, Kanban in CRM is a type of list view in which the records will be displayed in cards and categorized under the given
                                                                                                                • Not able to delete a QC nor able to revert or create a cycle of manufacturing for QC failed Jobs

                                                                                                                  Not able to delete a QC nor able to revert or create a cycle of manufacturing for QC failed Jobs
                                                                                                                • Dheeraj Sudan and Meenu Hinduja-How do I customize Zoho apps to suit my needs?

                                                                                                                  Hi Everyone, I'm Meenu Hinduja and my husband Dheeraj Sudan, run a business. I’m looking to tweak a few things to fit my needs, and I’d love to hear what customizations others have done. Any tips or examples would be super helpful! Regards Dheeraj Sudan
                                                                                                                • is there any way to change the "chat with us now" to custom message?

                                                                                                                  is there any way to change the "chat with us now" to custom message? I want to change this text
                                                                                                                • Deprecation Notice: OpenAI Assistants API will be shut down on August 26, 2026

                                                                                                                  I recieved this email from openAI what does it means for us that are using the integration and what should we do? Earlier this year, we shared our plan to deprecate the Assistants API once the Responses API reached feature parity. With the launch of Conversations,
                                                                                                                • Capture Last check-in date & days since

                                                                                                                  I have two custom fields on my Account form, these are "Date of Last Check-In" and "Days Since Last Contact" Using a custom function how can I pull the date from the last check-in and display it in the field "Date of Last Check-In"? and then also display the number of days since last check-in in the "Days SInce Last Contact" field? I tried following a couple of examples but got myself into a bit of a muddle!
                                                                                                                • Any recommendations for Australian Telephony Integration providers?

                                                                                                                  HI,  I am looking for some advice on phone providers as we are looking to upgrade our phone system, does anybody have experience with any of the Australian providers that integrate with CRM Telephony? So far we are looking at RingCentral and Amazon Connect, and would love to hear feedback on any of the other providers you might have tried.  Thank you
                                                                                                                • Why is the ability Customize Calls module so limited?

                                                                                                                  Why can't I add additional sections? why can't I add other field types than the very limited subset that zoho allows? Why can I only add fields to the outbound/inbound call sections and not to the Call Information section?
                                                                                                                • PDF Annotation is here - Mark Up PDFs Your Way!

                                                                                                                  Reviewing PDFs just got a whole lot easier. You can now annotate PDFs directly in Zoho Notebook. Highlight important sections, add text, insert images, apply watermarks, and mark up documents in detail without leaving your notes. No app switching. No
                                                                                                                • CRM gets location smart with the all new Map View: visualize records, locate records within any radius, and more

                                                                                                                  Hello all, We've introduced a new way to work with location data in Zoho CRM: the Map View. Instead of scrolling through endless lists, your records now appear as pins on a map. Built on top of the all-new address field and powered by Mappls (MapMyIndia),
                                                                                                                • Enhance Appointment Buffers in Zoho Bookings

                                                                                                                  There was previously a long-standing feature request related to enhancing the way appointment buffers work in Zoho Bookings, but it looks like the original post has been deleted. I am therefore adding a new request that Zoho Bookings adjust how appointment
                                                                                                                • Subscriptions for service call

                                                                                                                  So we install products and we want to offer a service contract for the customers yearly service calls to be billed monthly. So ideally at some point we want to email them a quote for their needs. WE will choice it our end based on the equipment. It would
                                                                                                                • Add RTL and Hebrew Support for Candidate Portal (and Other Zoho Recruit Portals)

                                                                                                                  Dear Zoho Recruit Team, I hope you're doing well. We would like to request the ability to set the Candidate Portal to be Right-to-Left (RTL) and in Hebrew, similar to the existing functionality for the Career Site. Currently, when we set the Career Site
                                                                                                                • Delay in rendering Zoho Recruit - Careers in the ZappyWorks

                                                                                                                  I click on the Careers link (https://zappyworks.zohorecruit.com/jobs/Careers) on the ZappyWorks website expecting to see the job openings. The site redirects me to Zoho Recruit, but after the redirect, the page just stays blank for several seconds. I'm
                                                                                                                • How to add interviews through API

                                                                                                                  I'm trying to add an interview without much luck. The documentation gives examples of adding just about everything except an interview. However, the issue might be the way I'm formatting it, because the documentation is unclear to me. It seems as if the xml should be passed in the url, which seems unusual. I've tried the data as both plain and character escaped, but nothing seems to work, nor do I even get an error response. https://recruit.zoho.com/recruit/private/xml/Interviews/addRecords?authtoken=***&scope=recruitapi&version=2&xmlData=<Interviews> <row
                                                                                                                • Connection to other user

                                                                                                                  Zoho Cliq handles sharing of Custom OAuth Connections that require individual user logins.
                                                                                                                • How to invite friends on other social media platforms to one of my group chats in arattai?

                                                                                                                  Hello, I have formed chat groups in arattai. I want to invite my friends on other social media platforms like WhatsApp/ FB to one of my groups. Different friends would be invited to different groups. How to share an invite link of one of my groups to
                                                                                                                • Cliq does not sync messages after Sleep on Mac

                                                                                                                  I'm using the mac app of Cliq. When I open my mac after it was in sleep mode, Cliq does not sync the messages that I received. I always have to reload using cmd + R, which is not what I want when using a chat application.
                                                                                                                • Facing Issues with Sites Mobile font sizes

                                                                                                                  my page renediaz.com is facing issues mobile view, when i try to lower font sizes in home page, instead of changing the size, it changes the line space
                                                                                                                • Search not working!

                                                                                                                  I have items in my notebook tagged but when I search for a tag nothing comes up! Any fix for this?
                                                                                                                • Set expiration date on document and send reminder

                                                                                                                  We have many company documents( for example business registration), work VISA documents. It will be nice if we can set a expiry date and set reminders ( for example 90 days, 60 days, 30 days etc.,) Does Zoho workdrive provide that option?
                                                                                                                • Next Page