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!

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! 🎉

• 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 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

• Recent Topics

• Why hybrid project management might be the best fit for you?

  Project management techniques are designed to equip teams with proven methods for easy and efficient project execution. While management teams may have apprehensions about adopting the hybrid method of project management, we’ve compiled the top reasons

• Allow all Company Users to view all projects, but only owner/admins can change projects

  I was wondering if there was a permission setting I could adjust to allow all our company users to see all projects created. Then, only the project owners and admins with the change permission. Thanks

• Fail to send Email by deluge

  Hi， today I gonna update some email include details in deluge, while this msg pops up and restrict me to save but my rules has run for one year. can you tell me how to use one of our admin account or super admin account to send the email? I tried to update

• Seeking help to be able to search on all custom functions that are defined

  Hello I have a lot of custom functions defined (around 200) and i would like to search some specific strings in the content of those. Is there a way to accomplish that? If not, is there a way to download all existing custom functions in some files locally

• Totals for Sales Tax Report

  On the sales tax report, the column totals aren't shown for any column other than Total Tax. I can't think of a good reason that they shouldn't be included for the other columns, as well. It would help me with my returns, for sure. It seems ludicrous

• Add Bulk Section / Grid Layout Duplicate Feature in Zoho Forms Builder

  Currently in Zoho Forms, users can only duplicate individual fields. There is no option to duplicate an entire section or two-column/grid layout with all internal fields. This becomes inefficient when building structured forms such as Family Details,

• Leistungsdatum in Rechnungen (Zoho Books)

  Hallo, ist es irgendwie möglich den Leistungszeitraum in der Rechnung aufzuführen? Beste Grüße Aleks

• Zoho Trident Windows - Streams Not Visible

  Namaste We’re having an issue with Streams not being visible in Trident (Windows), which is important for us as we share many emails internally. It appears that the feature to show Streams above the Inbox folder, as seen in the default mailbox view, is

• Sales IQ Chat Widget is Only Displaying Last Name

  Can anyone suggest why the widget is only displaying "last name"?! We have the latest version of the wordpress plugin installed. Thanks Thanks!

• Shopify - Item sync from Zoho Inventory

  Hi team, We’ve connected Shopify with Zoho Inventory. We want that when an item is created in Zoho Inventory, it must create a product in Shopify. But currently, new items created in Zoho Inventory are not getting created in Shopify even after clicking

• Bulk upload image option in Zoho Commerce

  I dont know if I am not looking into it properly but is there no option to bulk upload images along with the products? Like after you upload the products, I will have to upload images one by one again? Can someone help me out here? And what should I enter

• Is it possible to setup bin locations WITHOUT mandating batch tracking?

  Hi fellow zoho users, I'm wondering if anyone else has a similar issue to me? I only have some products batch tracked (items with shelf life expiry dates) but I am trying to setup bin locations for my entire inventory so we can do stock counting easier.

• Kill zoho meeting

  Saying the quiet part out loud. Can zoho please just give up on the idea that they can make a meeting platform and just make our workplace licenses cheaper when you remove it so people can switch to zoom or teams. Tired of the excuses, you guys cant make

• Utilisation de Zoho en conformité avec l’article 286 du Code général des impôts (CGI)

  Cher(e) client(e), Conformément à l’article 286 du Code général des impôts (CGI) impose aux entreprises assujetties à la TVA d’utiliser des systèmes de caisse ou de gestion commerciale certifiés lorsqu’elles enregistrent des ventes à des particuliers.

• Unable to Create Task as a Support Administrator

  Hello! I want to ask for help regarding creating tasks within the tickets. I am by default the Support Admin. I should be able to create tasks or activities right? But there's a prompt that I need to contact the Administrator. See photos for reference.

• Introducing Forms in Zoho Sheet

  We hereby bring you the power of ​forms in Zoho Sheet. ​Now, build and create your own customized forms using Zoho Sheet. Be it compiling a questionnaire or rolling out a survey, Zoho Sheet can do it all for you. Forms is an excellent feature that helps you collect information in the simplest of ways and having it in Zoho Sheet takes it a notch higher. Build Simple yet Powerful forms Building forms using Zoho Sheet is fairly simple. The exclusive 'Form' tab lets you create one quickly. Whether you

• Layout one survey question in a time & redirect next Page based on previous response

  I have doubt while, I am scripting survey on the Zoho where I redirecting to next page based on my previous response but didn’t get success on this. Please help me on this and tell me how I layout one survey questions in a time when I submit response

• Zoho Bookings form pre-filled with Zoho Forms in

  Hi, I've got a contact page on my website and I'd like to have the option to book an appointment (redirected to zoho bookings page) after an option is submitted on the contact form. how would I go about doing this? thanks

• Support “Other” Option with Free Text in Dropdown Fields

  Hello Zoho Bookings Team, Greetings, We would like to request an enhancement to the registration form fields in Zoho Bookings, specifically for dropdown fields. Current Limitation: At the moment, dropdown fields do not support an “Other” option that allows

• Sending automated messages that appear in the ticket's conversation thread

  Good morning, esteemed Zoho Desk community, warm greetings Today I am here to raise the following problem, seeking a solution that I can implement: I need to implement an automation that allows me to send reminder messages to customers when I am waiting

• Introducing parent-child ticketing in Zoho Desk [Early access]

  Hello Zoho Desk users! We have introduced the parent-child ticketing system to help customer service teams ensure efficient resolution of issues involving multiple, related tickets. You can now combine repetitive and interconnected tickets into parent-child

• Please verify my account

  Hi, We have just launched our website and received media coverage in our country. Hundreds of users are signing up for our platform every day. We would like to send them a welcome email, but we are unable to do so because our ZeptoMail account has not

• Payment Card or Identity form-fill from Vault?

  Hello! I'm working on replacing Bitwarden with Vault and one issue I've run into is that I can't find any option to fill address and payment forms from Payment Card or Identity info that has been saved in Vault. Is there a way to do this? Is it a planned

• Ability to add VAT to Retainer Invoices

  Hello, I've had a telephone conversation a month ago with Dinesh on this topic and my request to allow for the addition of VAT on Retainer Invoices.  It's currently not possible to add VAT to Retainer Invoices and it was mutually agreed that there is absolutely no reason why there shouldn't be, especially as TAX LAW makes VAT mandatory on each invoice in Europe!   So basically, what i'm saying is that if you don't allow us to add VAT to Retainer Invoices, than the whole Retainer Invoices becomes

• Time Log Reminder

  Tracking the time spent on tasks and issues is one of the most important functions of a timesheet. However, users may forget to update the time logs because they have their own goals to achieve. But, time logs must be updated at regular intervals to keep

• [Early-access] Introducing Zoho's CommandCenter - Cross-Zoho business process automation

    Resources to help Webinar recording | Documentation  Feature Restrictions Currently available on early-access only for US data center accounts Features Role CommandCenter as a Service uses signals across Zoho services to propel the movement of records

• Tip #58- Accessibility Controls in Zoho Assist: Learning- 'Insider Insights'

  Learning should be clear and interruption-free for everyone. Timely feedback plays an important role in helping users understand actions as they happen, without breaking their focus. In this post, we’ll explore the final section of Accessibility: Learning.

• ZIA "Generate Content" action doesn't have contexual data from the ticket

  "Generate Content" action doesn't have contexual data from the ticket. I try to get AI to help me with this ticket but it doesn't seem to have any ticket information as context. Although the ticket has a lot of information in it.

• Zoho Desk - Zoho FSM Integration issue on Mobile and iPad

  Hello Team, I am trying to create a Work Order (WO) using the Zoho FSM integration (Add-on Service) that is integrated with Zoho Desk. The issue is that the integration is not working on mobile devices and iPads. While I am able to create the WO, Request,

• E-File Form 1099 Directly With the IRS From Zoho Books

  The Form 1099 filing season has begun, and businesses are required to e-file certain forms with the IRS to report payments made to vendors and contractors. If your business made qualifying payments during the year, you must e-file the appropriate Form

• Can I hide empty Contact fields from view?

  Some contacts have a lot of empty fields, others are mostly filled. Is there a way I can hide/show empty fields without changing the actual Layout? I would like to de-clutter my view, and also be able to add information later as I am able. I would be willing to learn to code a button, but I am highly confused about it and thus worried it would be beyond me.  I've looked at a lot of the developer documents and I'm not able to make a lot of sense of them.  Thank you in advance to anyone who knows the

• Suggestions for showing subscribed Topics in CRM (contact record)

  We have several Topics set up in ZMA. We also have a sync set up between ZMA and CRM. I'd like to display the subscribed topics on the CRM Contact record. This will allow the Sales team (who uses CRM) to see at a glance what topics a Contact is subscribed

• Replies sometimes creating separate ticket

  Sometimes when a customer responds to an email coming from Zoho Desk, instead of adding a reply to the original ticket, a separate ticket is created. This happens even though the response subject line contained the ticket number, and the person responding

• Re-hide fields when option is unselected

  Hi all Can anyone help me with this - when I create a 'show' field rule for when a dropdown option is selected, how to I make it so the 'show' option re-hides if that option is no longer selected?

• Allow Attaching Quartz Recordings to Existing Zoho Support Tickets

  Hi Zoho Team, We would like to request an enhancement to how Zoho Quartz recordings integrate with Zoho Support tickets. Current Behavior: At the moment, each Quartz recording automatically creates a new support ticket. However, in many real-world scenarios:

• I'm getting this error when I try to link an email to a deal inside the Zohomail Zoho CRM extension.

  When I click "Yes, associate," the system displays an "Oops!! Something went wrong" error message. I have attached a screenshot of the issue for reference.

• Custom Fields

  There is no way to add a custom field in the "Timesheet" module. Honestly, the ability to add a custom field should be available in every module.

• Remove the “One Migration Per User” Limitation in Zoho WorkDrive

  Hi Zoho WorkDrive Team, Hope you are doing well. We would like to raise a critical feature request regarding the Google Drive → Zoho WorkDrive migration process. Current Limitation: Zoho WorkDrive currently enforces a hard limitation: A Zoho WorkDrive

• Translation from Chinese (Simplified) to Chinese (Traditional) is not working. It randomly translated. Google Translate accurately but zoho translate is not working at all

  Hi friends, The newly added language for translation. https://www.zoho.com/deluge/help/ai-tasks/translate.html "zh" - Chinese "zh-CN" - Chinese (Simplified) "zh-TW" - Chinese (Traditional) my original text: 郑这钻 (and it is zh-CN) translated traditional

• Consultant-Only Booking Page

  Zoho Bookings does not allow for Meeting Type OR Workspace-Wide booking pages to be turned off. This is detrimental to organizations that have territory-based or assigned accounts, because if prospects can go to these booking pages and either select the

• Next Page