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
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!
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
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
Lydia | Zoho Desk
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 featuresShare 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 hereWebinar 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
New to Zoho TeamInbox?
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
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
Make Camera Overlay & Recording Controls Visible in All Screen-Sharing Options
Hi Zoho WorkDrive Team, Hope you are doing well. We would like to request an improvement to the screen-recording experience in Zoho WorkDrive. Current Limitation: At the moment the recording controls are visible only inside the Zoho WorkDrive tab. WhenSend WhatsApp voice messages from Bigin
Greetings, I hope all of you are doing well. We're happy to announce this enhancement we've made to Bigin. Bigin's WhatsApp integration now supports audio messages, so you can record and send voice messages. This makes it easier to handle customer questionsCUSTOM FUNCTION GIVE ERROR #EVAL!
CUSTEM FUNCTION CREATE KYA ZOHOSHEET ME US FUNCTION KO USE KIYA LEKIN DATA TO SAHI HAI LAKIN DATA SHEET ME NAHI LAG LAHA HAI KRUPYA SOLVE KARE MY CODE IS float ADDTWO_TWO(float NO1, float NO2) { ADD = NO1 + NO2; return ADD; }Samsung Keyboard Issues with Notebook
Dear Users, We're sorry to inform you that some of our users are experiencing certain issues like scrolling, delay/lag, cursor placement especially within the text notes. This occurs mainly due to Samsung Keyboard compatibility with Android 13 and someZoho Books | Product updates | October 2025
Hello users, We’ve rolled out new features and enhancements in Zoho Books. From iOS 26 updates to viewing reports as charts, explore the updates designed to enhance your bookkeeping experience. Zoho Books Updates for Apple Devices At WWDC 2025, AppleZoho Developer Community Hackathon 2025 is LIVE!
Hey developers! It’s that time of the year again — the Zoho Developer Community Hackathon 2025 is officially open for registrations! If you’ve been waiting for a chance to stretch your skills, try something new, or finally bring that idea to life, thisZoho Books | Product updates | September 2025
Hello users, We’ve rolled out new features and enhancements in Zoho Books. From PayNow payment method to applying journal credits to invoices and bills in other locations, explore the updates designed to enhance your bookkeeping experience. IntegrateContact data removes Account data when creating a quote
Hi, Our customer has address fields in their quote layout which should be the address of the Account. They prefill the information, adding the account name - the address data is populated as per what is in the account - great. However when they then addfilter broke my data
I uploaded a file recently from Sheets and it has top 2 rows frozen, with table headers in second row and each one is filterable. somehow my first 2 columns became unfiltered and no matter what I do I cannot reapply the filter?? also didn't realize theyZoho Workdrive for Office, "vsto runtime not found"
Hi all, I have been trying to get ZohoWorkdrive_MS-addin_1.4.exe installed, but I keep getting the error "VSTO Runtime Not Found!" - even though I have installed it ... Anyone else hear had problems with the MS addin? FYI, I am using O365 on A Dell laptop running Win 10 Home - fully patched and up-to-date. I have tried compatibility modes and running explicitly as Administrator - the usual steps. Any advice would be appreciated.Add "Fetch Composite Item" Action for Inventory
I want to make a Flow that uses information returned in the GET call for Composite Items, and it's not currently available in Zoho Flow. Please consider adding this functionality.Inactive Items - Make Less Prominent by Default
Currently, when one marks an Item as "Inactive", it really doesn't do much of anything to hide it or get it out of the way. Search and reporting within Finance should, by default, hide inactive Items from standard reports, searches, etc. If one specificallyThis domain is not allowed to add. Please contact support-as@zohocorp.com for further details
I am trying to setup the free version of Zoho Mail. When I tried to add my domain, theselfreunion.com I got the error message that is the subject of this Topic. I've read your other community forum topics, and this is NOT a free domain. So what is theCan no longer export as pdf
In NOTEBOOK I am no longer able to export notes to pdfs as I used to be able to. When I hit that command it asks where I want to send it, but no matter what I chose there is no pdf attachment that shows up in order to send. Nothing happens.Emails are going to notification folder and not in inbox
emails are going to notification folder and not into inboxHow can I prevent the Zoho Vault extension from automatically logging me out?
Hi, I want the Zoho Vault Chrome extension to never log out. How can I do this? It only allows me to log out for 1 week, and the same applies to the Android app.Zoho CRM App - Links
Hi Is there are plan for making Custom Links available in the Zoho CRM Android App? I can't see them being added? Thanks GeneTemplates
Trying to sort out / get rid of unwanted invoice templates, the error msgs are not at all helpful. Surely it's easy to amend the error msg by including a list of the names of the customers / vendors that use it, denying deletion or making it inactiveContacts limit in basic vs standard - what counts? Are customers contacts?
I’ve been using books for a number years for my small business. I only ever work with 20 clients at any given time. I do purchase services from a number of vendors to run my business, so there are some comtacts there too. I used to use the basic package,Finding missing records
I have a challenge and I am not really sure where to start with it. I can't find any similar threads on here, can anyone help: I have two forms, FormA and FormB. Both forms have records that contain a field called Job_Number. What I am trying to achieveRead webpage - MSXML2.ServerXMLHTTP
I have the following VBA script, put together from various sources (mainly zoho forum/help/support, so it once worked, I guess): private Sub GetListOfSheets() Dim url As String Dim xmlhttp As Object Dim parameters As String Dim html As String range("B1").valueAddin Support in Zoho Sheet
Is there any addin support available in zoho sheet as like google marketplace to enhance productivity by connecting with other apps, providing AI data analysis, streamlining business processes, and more?Prevent Unapproved Quotes from Exporting to Zoho CRM Finance Module
Is it possible to prevent unapproved quotes in Zoho Books from being exported from Zoho Finance module inside Zoho CRM?ZOHO BOOKS - RECEIVING MORE ITEMS THAN ORDERED
Hello, When trying to enter a vendor's bill that contains items with bigger quantity than ordered in the PO (it happens quite often) - The system would not let us save the bill and show this error: "Quantity recorded cannot be more than quantity ordered."Updates for Zoho Campaigns: Merge tag, footer, and autoresponder migration
Hello everyone, We'd like to inform you of some upcoming changes with regard to Zoho Campaigns. We understand that change can be difficult, but we're dedicated to ensuring a smooth transition while keeping you all informed and engaged throughout the process.Process between CRM and Campaigns to ensure double opt-in contacts?
I would like to ask for a few clarifications to ensure we fully comply with best practices and legal requirements: According to the documentation (Zoho Campaigns CRM sync – Default option), the best and recommended way to sync contacts is by using theWhat's New in Zoho Inventory | August – October 2025
Hello customers, The last quarter has been incredibly productive! We've released a powerful slate of new features and enhancements in Zoho Inventory designed to give you better control, greater efficiency, and expanded functionality across your inventorySearch not working!
I have items in my notebook tagged but when I search for a tag nothing comes up! Any fix for this?Let's Talk Recruit: Meet Zia, your all-in-one AI assistant (Part-2)
Welcome back to Let’s Talk Recruit series. In Part 1, we introduced Zia and how AI is reshaping the way recruiters work. This time, we’re taking a closer look at how far Zia has come and how each update continues to simplify your everyday tasks. WhenZoho Developer - Feature Request Platform
Zoho Developer is one of the most underatted platform in zoho ecosystem, however, it may just be what zoho needs to welcome more people to use Zoho Services. The more developers you have creating zoho creator applications and zoho extensions the moreLast/Previous month in relative date filter
In the relative date filter, what is the difference between "Last 2 months" and "Previous 2 months"? So, if we are on 25-July, then is my understanding correct of the following: Last 2 months :=: 25-May~24 July Previous 2 months :=: 01-May~30-June Thanks.Tags get removed from notes on mobile
I don't know why this keeps happening even after all these app updates but if you log out and log back into the app or you reinstall it, all the tags you assigned to your notes get taken off, but if you go on the desktop version the tags are still there.Show Zoom Link in Recipient's Calendar
We set up meetings within a record, selecting the "Make this an online meeting". We use Zoom. Most of the recipients go to their calendar (usually Gmail or Outlook, corporate) to join the Zoom meeting, but there is no Zoom link in the calendar. Can thisHow to fetch custom fields for time entries in Zoho Project API v3
In the previous Zoho Projects REST API, we were able to retrieve custom field details for time entries, including picklist options, using the endpoint: GET /restapi/portal/[PORTAL_ID]/timesheetcustomfields In the new Zoho Projects API v3, we tried usingVAT rates - exempt and out of scope
Good Evening, UK based company here. I am a bit confused in respect of setting up VAT rates for exempt goods and services; at present I am simply leaving the VAT rate blank in the transactions in order to prevent any VAT appearing in the VAT return. WhenZoho is blocking emails I subscribe to from one sender
About 4 months ago I stopped receiving newsletters that I subscribe to from @thedispatch.com. They tell me that zoho's server is blocking them. I've added them to my contacts list, but they're not even reaching my inbox. I don't know how to troubleshootIntroducing Lead Capture: Empower exhibitors to capture leads effortlessly
Events provide a great opportunity for exhibitors to generate awareness and engage with potential customers. Efficiently distributing attendee information to exhibitors through a seamless and secure way is of paramount importance. Introducing Lead CaptureWork Order Creation Issue
Dear Team, I would like to inquire about the daily limit for Work Order creation in Zoho FSM. Yesterday (02/05/2025) at around 6:30 PM GST, I attempted to create a Work Order, but I have been unable to do so since then. Please find the attached imageAccessing shared mailboxes through Trident (Windows)
Hi, I have a created a couple of shared mailboxes. The mailboxes are showing up on the browser based Zoho workplace, but I cannot seem to figure out how to access my shared inboxes through Trident (Windows). Am I missing something or is this feature notURGENT: ChatGPT Extension Failing With “gpt-3 Access Error” (Priority Support)
Appreciate support reviewing this urgently. I am a Priority Support member and need immediate clarification on a recurring issue involving the ChatGPT extensions inside Zoho Desk. Both extensions — including the version created and published by Zoho —Next Page