A practical guide to Zendesk advanced AI conversation flows

Zendesk is a major player in the customer support world, so it’s no surprise they’re leaning heavily into AI. If you're looking to automate more of your support, their advanced AI conversation flows probably seem like the next big thing to try. On paper, it promises to help you build smart, multi-step chats to solve customer problems without needing an agent.

But here’s what many teams are finding out the hard way: setting up and managing these flows is a lot more rigid and complicated than it looks. It can feel like you're constantly trying to adjust your own team's way of working to fit the tool’s limitations, instead of the other way around.

This guide is a straight-to-the-point look at what Zendesk Advanced AI Conversation Flows are all about. We’ll walk through how they work, get into their real-world limitations, and then explore a more flexible and effective way to bring AI into your Zendesk setup.

What are Zendesk Advanced AI Conversation Flows?

At its core, Zendesk Advanced AI Conversation Flows are a tool for building automated, back-and-forth dialogues for your AI agent. Think of it as an upgrade from a simple chatbot that can only handle one question at a time. The aim is to create a guided conversation that can gather info from a customer, troubleshoot a common problem, or walk them through a process step-by-step.

It's important to know this isn't a standard feature. Conversation flows are part of the "Advanced AI" add-on, so you'll need to be on a higher-tier Zendesk plan and pay extra to even get access to it.

The whole idea is to build structured conversations that the bot has to follow, almost like a script. When a customer asks something (what Zendesk calls an "intent"), the bot triggers a pre-planned conversation path. This allows for a bit more automation than a basic bot that just points people to knowledge base articles.

What Zendesk Advanced AI Conversation Flows are designed to do

According to Zendesk’s documentation, conversation flows are meant to give you more control over your automated chats. They come with a set of features built to handle more than just simple, one-off questions.

Here’s a breakdown of what the tool offers:

• Multi-step dialogues: This is the main attraction. It’s the ability for the AI to have a conversation that goes back and forth. For example, if a customer wants a refund, the bot can ask for the order number, confirm the item, and then explain the next steps, all in one go.

• A visual dialogue builder: Zendesk gives you a no-code interface where you can map out these conversation paths. You build the flow by dragging and dropping different "steps," like a message from the bot, a spot for the customer to reply, and logic to handle different answers.

• Conditional logic: This lets you build "if this, then that" rules into your flows. For instance, if a customer provides a valid order number, the chat goes one way. If they say they don't have it, the path can branch off to another set of steps, like connecting them to a human agent.

• Linking different dialogues: Instead of building the same steps again and again, you can connect to other flows you’ve already made. You could have a standard "escalate to an agent" flow that you use across a dozen different conversation paths whenever the bot gets stuck.

• Actions and integrations: The flows can do more than just talk. They can trigger actions inside Zendesk, like adding a tag to a ticket or updating a field. With some more technical work, they can also connect to external systems through APIs to pull or send information.

The real-world challenges

While that feature list sounds pretty good, the actual experience of using Zendesk Advanced AI Conversation Flows often doesn't live up to the hype. Teams tend to hit a few major roadblocks that make the tool feel less like a flexible helper and more like a rigid system that needs constant attention.

The setup is complex and inflexible

The term "no-code" can be a bit of a stretch here. While you don’t need to be a software developer, setting it up is anything but simple. To get a conversation flow running, you often have to dig into triggers, figure out how to use JSON placeholders, and get used to what many users call a clunky and

annoying interface.

Reddit

One of the biggest headaches is the "one intent per conversation" rule. This means once a conversation flow kicks off, it’s stuck on that single track. If a customer starts by asking about a return, but then has a question about a different product, the bot can't switch gears. It's locked into the "return" script, which usually leads to a dead end and a pretty bad customer experience.

Dependence on a perfect knowledge base

The usefulness of Zendesk’s AI is completely tied to how perfect your Zendesk Help Center is. If the answer to a question isn't in a pristine, clearly formatted article, the AI just throws its hands up.

But let's be honest, whose company knowledge is ever that clean? For most of us, important information is scattered all over the place: in old ticket replies, buried in Google Docs, living on messy Confluence pages, and hiding in Slack DMs. Zendesk’s AI can't see any of that.

An infographic showing how eesel AI connects to various knowledge sources, a key advantage over Zendesk Advanced AI Conversation Flows.

This is a huge blind spot, and it’s why a tool like eesel AI takes a different approach. Instead of just looking at one source, eesel AI connects to all of your knowledge, no matter where it is. It learns from your help center, sure, but it also learns from the incredibly valuable context in thousands of your past tickets. It can plug into your internal wikis and documents to build a complete brain that actually gets how your team solves problems.

No effective way to test before launch

Maybe the scariest part is launching a new automation without having a clue how it will actually perform. With Zendesk’s conversation flows, you're pretty much building in the dark. There’s no real simulation mode to see how your flows would have handled real customer questions from last week. You just have to build it, turn it on, and cross your fingers.

A screenshot of eesel AI's simulation mode, which allows testing against past tickets before launch, a feature missing from Zendesk Advanced AI Conversation Flows.

This is a massive advantage for eesel AI. It has a simulation mode that lets you test your AI setup on thousands of your actual past tickets in a safe environment. You get a real, data-driven forecast of your potential resolution rate and can see exactly how the AI would reply to different kinds of questions. This allows you to find problems, tweak the AI's tone, and get everything right before a single customer ever sees it. It’s the difference between guessing and knowing.

The hidden costs

On top of the functional issues, the cost of Zendesk's AI can be a real shock. It isn't just one price; it's a confusing system of plans and add-ons that can get expensive, fast.

A pricey, multi-layered add-on

First off, to even use advanced AI features like conversation flows, you need to be on a Zendesk Suite Professional or Enterprise plan, which already start at $115 per agent per month. But that’s just to get in the door.

The Advanced AI package is another add-on with its own price tag. On top of that, other AI tools, like their Agent Co-pilot for helping agents write replies, are also a separate add-on, often costing around $50 per agent, per month. It's easy to find yourself paying for your main plan plus two or three extra AI fees for every single agent.

The unpredictable cost of "automated resolutions"

This is where the pricing gets really confusing. Zendesk's model is based on something they call "Automated Resolutions" (ARs). An AR is basically any conversation the AI handles without a human getting involved.

Your plan comes with a small number of these ARs each month. But once you go over that limit, you start paying for each extra one, usually around $1.50 to $2.00 each. This creates a strange situation where the better your AI does its job, the more you pay. A busy month could lead to a surprisingly high, unpredictable bill.

A clearer, more predictable alternative

This is a big departure from the simple pricing you'll find with a tool like eesel AI. There are no per-agent fees and, more importantly, you're never charged per resolution. You pay a simple, flat monthly fee based on your interaction volume. Your bill is always predictable, and you aren't penalized for successfully automating more tickets.

Here’s a quick comparison of the two models:

The verdict: When to look for an alternative

Zendesk Advanced AI Conversation Flows might work for a very specific kind of team: one with simple, straightforward support needs, a perfectly organized knowledge base, and a budget big enough to handle unpredictable fees.

For most teams, though, these limitations are hard to ignore. If you need an AI that can handle the reality of messy company knowledge, adapt to what customers are actually asking, and be properly tested before it goes live, the native tool probably isn't the right fit. And if you prefer a bill that's predictable and doesn't punish you for being successful, you're going to hit a ceiling pretty quickly.

This is where an integrated solution like eesel AI's Zendesk integration starts to make a lot more sense. It offers far more power and flexibility without making you switch away from the helpdesk you already know. It plugs right into your current workflow, giving you better control, better results, and a clear return on your investment.

A more straightforward way to automate Zendesk

With eesel AI, you get an approach to support automation that's built for how teams actually work.

• Get up and running in minutes, not months: It’s a true self-serve platform. You can connect Zendesk and build your first AI agent in the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee.

• Bring all your knowledge together: Instantly connect past tickets, internal docs, and other sources to give your AI a complete picture of your business.

• Test with confidence: Use the simulation mode to check performance and forecast your ROI before you flip the switch.

• Full control and clear pricing: Get fine-grained control over your automated workflows with a simple, predictable monthly bill. No surprises, ever.

Curious to see what your Zendesk support could look like with a more powerful AI? Sign up for a free trial of eesel AI and simulate your first AI agent today.