TheSlack for Zendesk integrationincludes the Answer Bot for Slack integration.
The integration implements Answer Bot in Slack so you can get help without waiting for someone to reply. It listens on selected Slack channels and resolves questions by providing article suggestions from your Guide knowledge base.
Answer Bot for Slack is a free feature available in the Slack for Zendesk integration if you are on the Professional plan.
This article includes the following topics:
松弛的回答机器人集成
这个特性是建立在Zend的松弛esk integration. It is automatically available when you install the Slack for Zendesk integration. After the integration is installed, Zendesk admins can use Admin Center to add Answer Bot to Slack channels.
Adding Answer Bot to a Slack channel
Zendesk administrators can add Answer Bot to specific Slack channels in Admin Center. Answer Bot can be added to public and private channels. You must have access to the private channels to add Answer Bot to them.
You first need to install theSlack for Zendesk integrationandactivate Answer Botfor this feature to be available.
To add Answer Bot to a specific channel
- InAdmin Center, click
Apps and integrationsin the sidebar, then selectIntegrations > Integrations. - In theSlacksection, clickView.
- ClickConfigureunder the name of the Slack workspace you want to configure.
- Click theAnswer Bottab.
- ClickAdd Answer Bot.
The Add Answer Bot page appears.
- In theSlack Channelfield, select the channel where you want to add Answer Bot.
The dropdown list displays public and private channels (that you have access to) whereZendesk is invitedand Answer Bot is not already set up.
The Slack channel list includes private channels that you are a member of. If the app is a member of a private channel that you're not a member of, you won't see it here until you are also invited to that channel.
If you don't see your private channels in Zendesk (and you do see them in Slack), make sure you added the Zendesk app to these channels. Also, ensure that your default email in Zendesk matches your Slack email address.
- In theBrandfield, select thebrandto associate with this Answer Bot.
- In theSegmentsfield, selectuser segmentsto refine article recommendations by user segment.
- ClickSave.
Answer Bot is added to the channel.
A message appears in the Slack channel, notifying users that Answer Bot is now available.
Removing Answer Bot from a Slack channel
To remove Answer Bot from a Slack channel, you need to delete it. Deleting Answer Bot from a channel removes it from that channel only. You can’t recover it after you delete it.
To delete Answer Bot from a Slack channel
- InAdmin Center, clickApps and integrationsin the sidebar, then selectIntegrations > Integrations.
- In theSlacksection, clickView.
- ClickConfigureunder the company name.
- Click theAnswer Bottab.
- Click the options menu (
) next to the channel, then click删除.
Editing Answer Bot settings for a Slack channel
After you’ve added Answer Bot to a channel, you can update the settings. The changes take effect within the Slack channel immediately after you save them.
To edit Answer Bot settings for a Slack channel
- InAdmin Center, clickApps and integrationsin the sidebar, then selectIntegrations > Integrations.
- In theSlacksection, clickView.
- ClickConfigureunder the company name.
- Click theAnswer Bottab.
- Click the options menu () next to the channel, then clickEdit.
- Update the Answer Bot settings as needed.
- ClickSave.
Asking a question in Slack
Answer Bot listens on configured Slack channels and offers article suggestions when a question is posted. Answer Bot only listens on Slack channels and does not interact with direct messages in Slack.
To ask a question using Answer Bot in Slack
- Post a question in the Slack channel containing at least five words ending with a question mark. Answer Bot responds to the question by starting a thread.
- ClickYesorNoto indicate whether your question is answered.
- If more than one article is found, clickMore suggestionsto see additional articles.
- Click the article number button if it answers your question, orNone of the aboveif a suitable answer is not provided.
Your response to article suggestions is visible in the form of a green tick or red cross emoji reaction after the question. This is particularly useful in a busy Slack channel. It indicates to other members of the channel whether the question was successfully resolved or whether it needs someone to respond.
If the suggestion doesn’t answer your question, you can create a ticket directly from Slack by clickingSubmit a Request. For more information on submitting and viewing tickets created in Slack, seeUsing the Slack for Zendesk integration.
18 Comments
Big +1 to Nicole above.
My team would LOVE to integrate this into ZenDesk but with the base permissions set within Help Center not working in the Slack integration we are moving away from it as we'd have to completely migrate all internal documents out of our Help Center to avoid user visibility on things they shouldn't see.
Ha! Michael, I've literally been migrating all of our internal articles out of Zendesk this past week! It's a workaround but definitely not ideal b/c our agents would rather see all articles in the same place.
Did this ever get fixed?
HiChristopher Bosma,
Could you please share the issue you're experiencing with Answer Bot for Slack?
It looks good now, Sean.
This issue was actually in our Zendesk - something misconfigured on our end with the Slack integration. We've set our Slack integration back up with Zendesk and channels are now receiving tickets.
HeyChristopher Bosma,
Thanks for the update, great to hear everything is working as expected now.
How does this work if we have one instance of Zendesk with multiple brands? Does it allow you to pick which brand you want the answerbot to offer articles from?
Are there any roadmap plans to resolve the permissions issue?
HeyJaniece Caldwell,
When setting up Answer Bot in Slack, you are able to select the help center brand which should be utilised in that channel's responses.
We're working on improving the integration to include the ability to filter article recommendations more granularly. More information will be available in the coming months.
Can anyone describe how the Answer Bot manages to generate its matched articles? I'm not finding the suggestions to be very good and I'm wondering if there are techniques to optimize our articles for the Answer Bot's search/matching criteria. It doesn't seem like the Labels added to articles have any noticeable effect on the likelihood of getting a good match.
BTW, I found the functionality for the first time through the Slack integration setup. It sounds super useful, in theory, and I wish I had found it sooner!
This article may be of help:Understanding how Answer Bot works with your content
HeyChris Lauff,
Thanks for your feedback. We're currently exploring adding the ability to better refine content searches in Answer Bot by enabling theselection of both Segments and Labelsin the Answer Bot configuration. This should support more targeted scoping of search for a channel (for example being able to limit HR labelled articles within a #ask-hr channel).
As we have more information regarding this, I'll update this thread.
Why doesn't answer bot give suggestions to every question that fits the criteria?
I asked two different questions and answer bot had no response for us.
We use this as a tool to see where we have knowledge gaps, so when someone asks a question, and we don't have an article for it, we write one.
Hiroyaleagleteam!
I went ahead & created a ticket for your behalf as this might need further troubleshooting. Please keep an eye out for our email!
If we have the Zendesk bot active with the Slack integration but not enabled in Zendesk configuration.
Is it added value to add triggers for the bot to improve the answering of the bot in Slack?
HeyChristian de Heij,
The responses within Slack will also provide an ability to respond on whether the article recommendation was useful or not, which should support the answer responses.
Hi team! Did Zendesk ever resolve the issue where Answerbot in Slack was answering with guides that should only be viewable to agents and admins? I didn't see a definitive answer in the comments section.
HeyJudy Phu,
While the current Answer Bot responses should only include articles which are available toEveryone,我们正致力于改善增刊ort explicit selection of the Guide segments which you want to respond to in each channel. This will enable configuration for Slack channels to also query articles which are viewable by authenticated users.
Hallo, any update on allowing this for agents and admins? I could see this being much more useful for internal questions than for external questions.
Pleasesign into leave a comment.