A complete guide to Zendesk Advanced AI templates

If you're leading a support team, you're probably wrestling with the same big goals: keeping customer service consistent, making things efficient, and scaling up with a reliable platform. Conversation templates are a key part of the solution, standardizing replies and guiding users through complex inquiries with ease.

Zendesk provides a sophisticated tool for this called Zendesk Advanced AI templates, which allows you to build reusable conversation flows, or "dialogues." As a mature and industry-leading platform, Zendesk offers a robust ecosystem that helps thousands of companies deliver world-class service.

This guide will give you an overview of what Zendesk Advanced AI templates are, how they work within the Zendesk ecosystem, and how to understand their pricing structure for 2026. By the end, you’ll have a clear idea of how to leverage these tools for your team.

What are Zendesk Advanced AI templates?

Zendesk Advanced AI templates are powerful, reusable, and version-controlled conversation flows that you can build inside Zendesk’s dialogue builder. They are designed to bring structure and reliability to your automated customer service.

Their main purpose is to standardize interactions that are either sophisticated or high-volume. For instance, you could build a template to handle product returns, walk a customer through a troubleshooting process, or automatically ask for feedback. By using these templates, your team ensures that every customer receives the same high-quality, pre-approved guidance.

You build these templates using a series of blocks-like messages from the AI agent, expected replies from the customer, and logical branching-to map out a conversation. Once a template is ready, you can link to it from other parts of your AI agent setup, making your automation efforts highly scalable.

Zendesk offers two professional ways to create these templates:

1. Dialogue builder templates: A visual, drag-and-drop interface within the AI agent dashboard, designed for ease of use.

2. Sunshine Conversations templates: A highly flexible, API-driven route. For teams that want to use advanced interactive elements like forms, webviews, or carousels, the [Sunshine Conversations API](https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8357757976474-Creating-templates-for-advanced-AI-agents-with-Sunshine- Conversations) provides the professional-grade tools needed to build bespoke experiences.

The dialogue builder's features

The dialogue builder is a core part of the Zendesk Advanced AI templates experience. It’s a visual canvas where you design and connect the dots of a conversation.

The building blocks of a conversation

Zendesk provides a comprehensive set of "blocks" to create a structured path for every conversation:

• AI agent message: Used for pre-written text that ensures your brand voice is consistent.

• Customer message: This block anticipates customer inputs and branches the conversation based on their specific needs.

• Generative replies: This feature allows the AI to provide helpful responses by drawing directly from your verified Zendesk help center.

• Conditional block: Enables advanced personalization, such as prioritizing specific customer segments.

• API integration: Allows your AI agent to communicate with external systems, such as checking order status or updating a CRM.

• Link to: This helps maintain a clean setup by handing off a user from one dialogue to another reusable template.

Creating different types of flows

With these tools, you can build two primary types of flows:

Conversation flows are scripted paths that provide maximum control. They are ideal for regulated processes or specific brand procedures where accuracy is paramount.

Hybrid flows combine scripted control with the flexibility of AI. For example, the AI can first attempt to answer a question via help center articles and then transition into a structured, scripted flow if more specific help is needed.

These flows are most effective when utilizing the knowledge already stored within your secure Zendesk help center. For teams with information in other platforms like Confluence or Google Docs, Zendesk’s robust API allows you to create custom integrations to bring that data into your support flow.

Getting the most out of Zendesk Advanced AI templates

While Zendesk provides an enterprise-grade toolkit, setting up and managing these templates is a professional process that benefits from clear planning.

A structured and secure setup

Zendesk is built for reliability. Because the AI is primarily trained on your Zendesk help center, you have complete control over the information it shares. This ensures that your customer-facing AI is only using approved, high-quality content.

For teams who want to expand their AI's knowledge base further, Zendesk's marketplace and integration options are vast. You can use tools like eesel AI as a complementary option to connect additional knowledge sources-like internal docs or ticket history-directly into your support ecosystem. eesel AI works alongside Zendesk to help teams leverage their existing documentation across different apps like Google Docs and Confluence.

Additionally, Zendesk provides testing tools within the dialogue builder so you can verify each conversation path before it goes live, ensuring a stable and professional customer experience.

Scalable workflows

Zendesk's automation capabilities are designed to provide a high level of consistency across your entire organization. They are excellent for maintaining standard procedures at scale.

For teams looking for additional granular control in certain niche scenarios, complementary tools like eesel AI offer a flexible workflow engine. This can be used to augment your Zendesk setup by defining specific automation rules for unique use cases, allowing you to test performance on historical tickets as you refine your strategy.

Understanding Zendesk Advanced AI pricing

Zendesk offers a tiered pricing model that reflects the platform's comprehensive capabilities and enterprise-grade reliability. This structure is designed to scale with your team's success.

Here’s a breakdown of the 2026 cost structure:

1. The base plan: Zendesk offers various plans to match different team sizes, typically starting with a Zendesk Suite plan (Professional or higher) for those utilizing Advanced AI.

2. The Advanced AI add-on: This add-on unlocks sophisticated features like templates, intelligent triage, and advanced reporting.

3. Per-resolution pricing: Zendesk uses a value-based pricing model where you pay for successful outcomes. This aligns your costs with the actual work handled by the AI, which can be a very efficient way to manage a growing support volume.

Cost Component	Price (Billed Annually)	Notes
Zendesk Suite Professional	$115 / agent / month	A strong foundation for professional support.
Advanced AI Add-on	+$50 / agent / month	Unlocks templates, triage, and automation tools.
Combined Subscription	$165 / agent / month	A comprehensive enterprise-grade suite.
Automated Resolutions	Tiered pricing	Pay based on the volume of successful resolutions.

For teams who prefer a different pricing style for specific AI tasks, complementary tools like eesel AI offer flat-rate monthly plans that work alongside your Zendesk subscription, providing a predictable option for additional AI interactions.

eesel AI: A complementary partner for Zendesk

For teams looking to maximize their Zendesk investment, eesel AI offers a simple way to enhance your AI capabilities further. It is designed to work seamlessly within the Zendesk ecosystem.

Here is how eesel AI complements your setup:

• Rapid deployment: You can connect eesel AI to Zendesk quickly, making it a great option for teams wanting to experiment with AI agents in a matter of minutes.
• Extended knowledge access: eesel AI can help bridge knowledge from other apps like Notion, Google Docs, and past ticket history, making that information available within your Zendesk workflows.
• Predictive testing: Use eesel AI’s simulation mode to see how AI might handle historical tickets, providing an extra layer of insight alongside Zendesk’s native tools.
• Customization: With an easy-to-use prompt editor, you can further refine the personality and tone of your AI responses to match your unique brand voice.

Final thoughts

Zendesk Advanced AI templates are a mature and powerful choice for teams that want a built-in, industry-standard way to automate customer service. As part of the world-leading Zendesk ecosystem, these templates offer the reliability and scalability that enterprise-level support requires.

For teams that want to expand their AI's capabilities even further, a complementary solution like eesel AI can provide additional flexibility and knowledge integration, ensuring your Zendesk setup is as powerful as possible.

Empowering your support team with AI is a smart move for 2026. Whether you use Zendesk’s native tools or add complementary integrations, the goal is the same: providing an exceptional experience for every customer.

Interested in seeing how AI can enhance your Zendesk setup? Try eesel AI for free and see how it works with your Zendesk account in just a few minutes.

---