A practical guide to Zendesk AI Simplify Content in 2025

If you work in support, you know the pressure is on. Customers want answers, and they want them now, fast, and on any channel they choose. But keeping up is tough. Between managing a knowledge base, writing clear agent responses, and staying on top of every little product update, it feels like a never-ending cycle. It's a massive time sink.

Zendesk has rolled out its own set of AI tools to help, with a feature called "Simplify Content" leading the charge. It's built to help agents write better and faster, right inside Zendesk. On paper, it sounds great. But what's it actually like to use? This guide will break down how Zendesk AI Simplify Content really works, what it’s good at, how much it costs, and where it falls short. We’ll also look at a different approach that might be a better fit if you're serious about automating your support.

What is Zendesk AI Simplify Content?

First off, Zendesk AI Simplify Content isn't something you buy on its own. It’s part of a bigger toolkit of AI writing features that Zendesk includes in its platform, often as part of their "Copilot" add-on.

So, what does it actually do? In simple terms, it takes text you've written and rephrases it to be clearer and easier for customers to understand. Think of it like a little editor sitting on your shoulder, ready to polish your replies before you send them off.

It also comes with a few other tools under the "Enhance writing" umbrella that you should know about:

• Expand: Got some quick notes or bullet points? This tool will flesh them out into a full paragraph. It’s handy for when you know what you want to say but don't want to spend time writing it all out.

• Change Tone: This lets you adjust the vibe of your message. With a click, you can make it "more friendly" or "more formal" to match a customer's mood or your brand voice.

• Write a custom prompt: If the other options don't cut it, you can just tell the AI what you want. Things like "fix grammar" or "summarize this" are fair game.

The key thing to grasp here is that all of this lives and breathes inside Zendesk. These tools are made for ticket comments and help center articles, which is convenient, but as we’ll get into, it's also a big limitation.

How to use Zendesk AI Simplify Content

Zendesk’s AI writing tools are meant to be used in two main spots: handling live tickets and building out your knowledge base. Let's look at what that looks like in practice.

Making agent responses better on the fly

Picture this: one of your agents is trying to walk a not-so-tech-savvy customer through a tricky software setup. The agent's first draft is technically correct, but it’s packed with jargon. Instead of spending five minutes rephrasing it, they can just highlight the text, click "Simplify Content," and get a version the customer will actually understand. If the customer is getting frustrated, the agent could use "Change Tone" to make the reply sound a bit more empathetic.

The main goal here is to keep communication clear and consistent. It helps make sure every agent is on brand and can solve problems on the first try. But it's still a manual process. The agent has to write something first. It’s an editor, not a writer. It doesn't really take away the work of figuring out the answer. This is different from a tool like eesel AI's Copilot, which drafts complete answers from scratch by learning from your old tickets and knowledge sources. It flips the script, letting your agents be editors who just review and send.

Speeding up knowledge base articles

If you manage the help center, these tools can feel like a nice little shortcut. You could start with a rough outline for an article, use the "Expand" feature to get a first draft, and then polish it with "Simplify Content" before hitting publish. It can certainly speed things up compared to writing every word yourself.

But here’s the catch: the whole process is stuck inside the Zendesk bubble. The AI has no clue about the technical documents your engineers have in Confluence, the product updates living in Google Docs, or the quick fixes shared in a Slack channel. That means the content it generates might be incomplete or, even worse, out of date. This is where eesel AI takes a different approach by connecting to all your company's knowledge, wherever it is. It syncs with your wikis, docs, and chats to make sure any answer it generates is based on the complete, up-to-date picture. It can even spot gaps in your knowledge base by analyzing resolved tickets and suggest new articles for you.

This infographic illustrates how eesel AI connects to multiple knowledge sources, overcoming the siloed knowledge limitations of tools like Zendesk AI Simplify Content.

Zendesk AI Simplify Content: Setup and limitations

Zendesk's AI tools are built-in, but getting them running and understanding their blind spots is important before you go all in. Let's dig into the setup and the constraints you need to know about.

Setup and requirements

Here's the first thing to know: features like Zendesk AI Simplify Content usually aren't part of the basic Zendesk plans. To get them, you'll likely need to be on a pricier Zendesk Suite plan or buy the "Copilot" add-on for every single agent. An admin can turn them on with a flip of a switch, but that simple click comes with a bigger price tag and a possible plan upgrade.

Basically, they're locking you deeper into their world. If you’re happy with your current helpdesk plan and just want to add some AI smarts, you’re often pushed into an expensive upgrade you might not need. eesel AI offers a different path. It's a self-serve platform you can get running in minutes with a one-click integration for Zendesk. It plays nicely with your existing tools and plans, letting you add powerful AI without a big, costly overhaul.

Key limitations of a closed system

Having a tool built right in is convenient, but it comes with some serious downsides. Zendesk's AI operates with blinders on, and that can create more headaches than it solves.

• Siloed Knowledge: This is the biggest problem. Zendesk's AI is completely unaware of any information outside of Zendesk itself. It can't see your internal wikis in Confluence, your product notes in Google Docs, or the real-time problem-solving happening in Slack. This means the AI's suggestions can be incomplete or just plain wrong, forcing agents to double-check everything and eroding their trust in the tool.

• Not Much Customization: The preset tones of "friendly" and "formal" are pretty basic. You can't teach the AI your specific brand voice, define key terms, or build out more complex workflows. It’s a stark contrast to the powerful prompt editor in eesel AI, which gives you full control over the AI's personality, tone, and the specific jobs it can do, from looking up order details to escalating tickets based on rules you set.

• No Way to Test Without Risk: With Zendesk, you just turn the feature on and hope for the best. There's no way to see how the AI will handle your actual ticket history before you let it loose. That's a bit of a gamble. The simulation mode in eesel AI is a standout feature here. It lets you safely test your entire AI setup on thousands of your past tickets in a practice environment. You can see exactly how it would have answered, get a sense of your automation rates, and calculate your potential ROI before it ever talks to a live customer.

The eesel AI simulation mode, which allows teams to test the AI's performance on historical tickets before live deployment, a key advantage over Zendesk AI Simplify Content.

Zendesk AI pricing: The real cost

Let's talk money. Figuring out the cost of Zendesk's AI features is, well, a bit of a maze. It’s not one single product but a mix of tools spread across different plans and add-ons. To understand what you'll actually pay for these simplification tools, you have to look at the whole picture.

Zendesk Suite plans and add-ons

Most of the generative AI tools are part of the Zendesk Suite plans, but even then, the really good stuff often costs extra. Here's a quick look based on their official pricing.

Plan	Price (per agent/month, billed annually)	Key AI Features Included
Suite Team	$55	AI Agents (Essential), Generative Replies, Knowledge Base
Suite Professional	$115	All of Team + CSAT surveys, advanced reporting
Suite Enterprise	$169	All of Professional + Custom roles, sandbox environment

While "Generative Replies" are in the Suite Team plan, more advanced tools for ticket summarization, auto-assist, and smart triage require the Copilot add-on, which is another cost on top of your plan. On top of that, Zendesk charges for "Automated Resolutions" on a pay-as-you-go basis, costing you around $1.50 to $2.00 each time a bot fully solves an issue. This makes your monthly bill unpredictable and hard to budget for.

This layered and fluctuating pricing can be a real headache. It's a big difference from eesel AI's pricing model, which is all about being clear and predictable. eesel AI offers all-inclusive plans based on a set number of AI interactions, with no surprise per-resolution fees. You can even get started with a flexible month-to-month plan, giving you total control over your spending without getting locked into a long contract.

A screenshot of eesel AI's transparent, all-inclusive pricing page, which contrasts with the complex, multi-layered cost structure of Zendesk AI Simplify Content.

A more flexible alternative: eesel AI for Zendesk

Instead of overhauling your helpdesk or signing up for expensive, locked-in upgrades, you can add a specialized AI layer on top of what you already have. This is where eesel AI shines, connecting smoothly with your Zendesk setup to get around its built-in limits and unlock some serious automation.

Here’s a side-by-side look at how the two stack up:

Feature	Zendesk AI (Copilot)	eesel AI
Setup Time	Minutes, but you'll need plan upgrades and add-ons.	Minutes, with a one-click integration for any plan.
Knowledge Sources	Limited to only the Zendesk Help Center and tickets.	Connects to over 100 sources (Confluence, GDocs, Slack, etc.).
Customization	Limited, with pre-set tones and simple rules.	Full prompt control for persona, tone, and custom actions.
Pre-Launch Testing	Not available. You have to activate it and see what happens.	Powerful simulation on thousands of your historical tickets.
Pricing Model	Complicated, with required plan tiers, add-ons, and per-resolution fees.	Transparent flat fee with no hidden charges.

Move beyond basic simplification to true automation

Zendesk AI Simplify Content and its related writing tools are a solid first step for teams already deep in the Zendesk world who don't mind paying for the upgrades. They offer a handy way to polish agent replies and speed up article writing, as long as you're okay with staying within Zendesk’s walled garden.

But their biggest weaknesses, like siloed knowledge, limited customization, and a confusing pricing model, hold them back from being a truly game-changing AI solution. For support teams that want comprehensive automation, full control over their process, and a clear return on their investment, the answer isn't a slightly smarter built-in feature. It's an AI platform that works with your current tools to make them far more powerful.

Ready to connect all your company knowledge and launch an AI agent you can actually control? Get started with eesel AI for free or book a no-obligation demo to see it in action.