FAQs: Answer Bot in SalesIQ Chat and Zobot Platforms | Zoho Desk

FAQs: Answer Bot in SalesIQ Chat and Zobot Platforms

Prerequisites

What does Zoho Desk Answer Bot do in a chat experience?
Answer Bot helps end users find answers from a bot trained on the articles available in the portal’s Knowledge Base (KB) module. It is intended to provide self-service answers from published help content rather than require a customer to wait for an agent to locate the same information.

For example, a customer asking how to update a billing address can receive an answer based on the applicable KB article, instead of beginning with a live-agent conversation.
Is Zoho SalesIQ the same as Zoho Desk Answer Bot?
No. Zoho SalesIQ powers the live-chat channel in Zoho Desk, while Answer Bot is a bot capability that helps users find answers from Knowledge Base articles. A live-chat deployment can involve agent conversations, while Answer Bot is designed for self-service answers.

The available documentation does not provide the detailed configuration sequence for placing Answer Bot specifically inside SalesIQ chat or every Zobot platform. It does, however, document the SalesIQ–Desk live-chat connection and the Knowledge Base basis of Answer Bot.
What must be in place before configuring the SalesIQ chat channel in Zoho Desk?
Link a Zoho Desk account to a Zoho SalesIQ account. Users need the Support Channels administrative permission to access the Zoho Desk chat-channel setup.

If an organization does not have a SalesIQ account, enabling the chat channel creates a SalesIQ portal linked to the Zoho Desk portal. If the organization already uses SalesIQ, an administrator selects the existing SalesIQ portal to link it with Desk.
Does Answer Bot need Knowledge Base content?
Yes. The available developer documentation states that Answer Bot is trained on articles available in the portal’s KB module. The quality and completeness of published help content therefore directly affect the usefulness of self-service answers.

Before deployment, review articles for accuracy, relevance, and suitability for a customer audience. Do not treat an internal agent procedure as customer-ready simply because it exists in a repository.

Connecting Zoho Desk and SalesIQ

How can a new SalesIQ user enable the Zoho Desk chat channel? In Zoho Desk, go to Setup > Channels > Chat.
  1. In Zoho Desk, navigate to Setup > Channels > Chat.
  2. On the Chat Settings page, select Enable Chat.
    1. A Zoho SalesIQ account is created using the Zoho Desk portal name.
    2. The default SalesIQ embed is automatically linked.
Chat can also be enabled from Setup > Departments > [select a department] > Channels > Chat.

How can an existing SalesIQ customer link the account to Zoho Desk?
  1. In Zoho Desk, navigate to Setup > Channels > Chat.
  2. Select Enable Chat.
  3. Choose the required Zoho SalesIQ portal from the drop-down list.
  4. Select Continue.
This links the selected SalesIQ portal to the Zoho Desk account. Confirm that the selected portal is the intended production environment before continuing, particularly when an organization has separate testing and production portals.
How is the chat widget made available on a website?
After chat is enabled:
  1. Select a SalesIQ embed from the Name drop-down menu.
    1. For new SalesIQ users, the default embed is preselected.
  2. Copy the selected embed’s code snippet.
  3. Add the code to the website’s source file.
Customers can then start chats from that website. By default, the widget is also added to the Help Center; clear Include live chat in Help Center if chats should not be available there.
Can different departments use live chat?
Yes. During Zoho Desk live-chat setup, select the departments that need the chat channel and add chat agents to each department. All Public Departments can be selected to add chat to all public departments quickly.

To add agents, select the plus icon next to a department and search by agent name, or choose All Agents to add all agents in that department.

For example, a company can add chat agents to its Billing and Technical Support departments while leaving an internal Operations department out of the public live-chat configuration.

Chat behavior and operational controls

Can chat conversations become support tickets?
Yes. Zoho Desk’s SalesIQ-powered chat integration supports automatic conversion of chats to tickets, with the conversion configured in Zoho SalesIQ. This is separate from the documented Answer Bot behavior; the available documentation does not state that Answer Bot itself automatically creates tickets when it cannot find an answer.

Test the conversion rule and the post-chat ticket fields before rollout so follow-up conversations reach the appropriate support workflow.
Where are chat-widget appearance and other chat-specific settings managed?
Zoho SalesIQ powers the chat channel in Zoho Desk. Customize chat embeds, their appearance, and other chat-specific settings in the linked Zoho SalesIQ account.
Which live-chat capabilities are available through the Desk-linked SalesIQ plan?
The documented Desk-linked SalesIQ plan provides access to several SalesIQ capabilities, including:
  1. Unlimited chat volume
  2. Up to 25 departments
  3. Conversation search and unlimited chat history
  4. Translation support
  5. Unlimited website embeds
  6. Embed and chat-window customization
  7. Reporting and the chat app for agents
  8. Mobile SDK, live-chat monitoring, IP blocking, chat from an email signature, and concurrent-chat limits
Enterprise-grade features such as screen sharing, remote access, visitor tracking, visitor routing, and chat routing are not available under this plan. Purchase SalesIQ licenses to access plan-specific features where needed.
Can chat messages be translated?
The SalesIQ-powered Zoho Desk chat channel supports real-time translation powered by Google Translate. The available documentation does not state whether this changes or expands the language behavior of Answer Bot itself.

Answer Bot availability and content design

Does Answer Bot use open-web information when answering a customer?
The available material says that Zia’s generative AI produces Answer Bot responses exclusively from Knowledge Base articles. This is intended to keep responses constrained to verified internal content. The documentation does not establish that Answer Bot uses open-domain information in SalesIQ or Zobot deployments.
How should Knowledge Base articles be prepared for Answer Bot?
Use focused, current articles that answer a real customer question directly. State the goal, prerequisites, steps, and known limitations. Keep distinct tasks in separate articles when they require different outcomes.

For example, publish separate articles for “Reset a password,” “Unlock a locked account,” and “Change the account email address.” Combining them into a generic “Login support” article makes it harder to provide a precise self-service answer.
What happens if Answer Bot cannot find a relevant article?
The available documentation does not define the no-answer response, escalation path, agent handoff, or ticket-creation behavior for Answer Bot in SalesIQ chat or Zobot platforms. Validate the behavior in the intended channel before launch and ensure customers have a clear route to human support where needed.
Can Answer Bot be used directly in a mobile app?
Yes, the Zoho Desk ASAP Android SDK documentation provides an Answer Bot module. The Android method is:
`ZohoDeskPortalChatKit.showAnswerBot(activity);`

Here, `activity` is the activity instance that launches the Answer Bot module. The SDK documentation describes this as a way to display the Answer Bot module; it does not document the full SalesIQ or Zobot configuration for that module.

Zobot platforms and documentation boundaries

Which Zobot platforms are supported for Zoho Desk Answer Bot?
The available source names “Using Zoho Desk Answer Bot in SalesIQ chat and Zobot Platforms” as an Answer Bot topic, but does not list the supported Zobot platforms, platform-specific setup, authentication requirements, or feature differences. Confirm these details in the current product documentation before committing to a channel design.
Are the setup steps identical for SalesIQ chat and every Zobot platform?
The available documentation does not establish that a SalesIQ configuration is automatically reusable in other Zobot platforms. SalesIQ chat setup and the Android SDK module are documented separately, so treat channel behavior and deployment configuration as items to validate per platform.
What permissions, limits, or details should be confirmed before launch?
Confirm the following in the current configuration and feature documentation:
  1. The user has Support Channels administrative permission for the Desk chat setup.
  2. The correct SalesIQ portal and website embed are selected.
  3. The desired departments and chat agents are associated.
  4. Customer-facing KB articles are complete, reviewed, and current.
  5. Chat-to-ticket conversion behavior is configured and tested in SalesIQ.
  6. Required SalesIQ plan features are available; some enterprise-grade features require additional licenses.
  7. The Answer Bot fallback behavior is suitable for questions it cannot answer.
  8. Zobot-platform support and channel-specific behavior are confirmed.