A guide to Zendesk macros with input options to prompt agents for values (2025)

If you've ever managed a support team using Zendesk, you know the drill. Macros are a lifesaver for repetitive, cookie-cutter responses. But the second a reply needs a unique detail, like a specific refund amount or an order number, the whole automated process just stops in its tracks.

Your agents are left hunting for placeholder text like "XXX_AMOUNT_XXX" inside a big block of text, doing the math on the side, and just hoping they don’t make a typo. It’s slow, it’s a recipe for mistakes, and it kind of defeats the whole purpose of automation in the first place.

So, why can’t you just create Zendesk macros with input options that prompt an agent for values? Let’s dig into why this feature doesn’t exist, look at the common workarounds (and why they don’t quite cut it), and introduce a modern, AI-powered way to finally solve this headache for good.

What are Zendesk macros?

Think of Zendesk macros as pre-set recipes that your agents can use with a single click. They can run a bunch of actions at once, like sending a canned response, changing a ticket’s status to "solved," adding tags, or assigning the ticket to a new team.

They’re a basic building block for an efficient support team, designed to get rid of the mind-numbing work of typing the same reply or clicking the same five buttons over and over. Their real strength, however, is in handling tasks that are exactly the same every time, not situations that need fresh information for each ticket.

The core limitation: Why Zendesk macros aren't interactive

The simple truth is that Zendesk macros weren't built to be interactive. They're designed to run a list of pre-set actions immediately, without any pauses to ask for more information. There’s just no built-in feature that lets a macro stop and prompt an agent for values before it finishes.

This creates a serious bottleneck in really common support situations. For years, one of the most popular feature requests in the Zendesk community has been for macros that can handle prorated refunds, where an agent needs to punch in a specific dollar amount and the number of days a service was used. A standard macro just can’t ask for that info.

The manual placeholder problem

Let’s stick with that refund scenario. For most teams, the workflow looks something like this:

1. An agent sees a ticket that needs a prorated refund.

2. They apply the "Prorated Refund" macro.

3. The macro drops a canned response into the reply box: "We can provide a refund of $XXX_AMOUNT_XXX since you used the service for XXX_DAYS_USED_XXX."

4. The agent then has to stop, read the text, find the placeholders, calculate the right numbers, and carefully type them in.

This little bit of friction completely undoes the efficiency macros are supposed to give you. For teams handling hundreds of these kinds of requests, those small manual steps quickly add up to hours of lost time every week.

Risks and costs

Relying on your agents to edit text manually isn't just slow; it’s a bit of a gamble.

• Human Error: Manually typing numbers, especially when they involve money, is just asking for costly mistakes. One misplaced decimal point can turn a simple refund into a customer service mess.

• Inconsistent Experience: Agents might word things differently or forget to update one of the placeholders, which can lead to confusing or unprofessional messages for your customers.

• Wasted Time: The time agents spend hunting for placeholders and double-checking their math is time they could be using on trickier issues that actually need their brainpower.

Native Zendesk workarounds

While Zendesk doesn’t offer a direct fix, resourceful teams have certainly tried to find ways around this problem. Unfortunately, these workarounds often end up feeling clunky and only solve part of the issue.

Does dynamic content solve the problem?

Zendesk does have "dynamic content" and placeholders like "{{ticket.requester.first_name}}". These are great for personalizing replies by pulling data that already exists in the ticket, user, or organization fields.

The catch is, they can't be used to capture new information from an agent in the middle of a workflow. They can only reference information Zendesk already knows about, not create it on the spot.

Do Zendesk's advanced AI features help?

Zendesk has been adding a lot to its Advanced AI add-on, with features like "Intelligent Triage" to guess intent, "Suggested Macros," and "Generative AI" to help agents write replies.

A support agent using the reply sugggestion tool from the Zendesk AI Copilot add-on to resolve a customer issue.

These tools are definitely useful for things like summarizing a long ticket history or suggesting a full response based on similar past tickets. But they don't solve our core problem. They offer broad, high-level help, not an interactive, step-by-step process that can prompt an agent for values for a specific task. You're still left without a good way to guide an agent through something structured, like issuing a refund.

Marketplace apps

The Zendesk Marketplace is full of third-party apps trying to fill the gaps in the platform. You can find apps like Macro Suite that add more complex macro abilities, including pop-ups that ask agents for input.

But this route comes with its own headaches. You're adding another paid subscription to your tool stack, which can break up your workflows and create a disjointed feeling for your agents. You also have to rely on a third-party developer for important updates and support, which can be risky. It's a patch, not a solution that feels like it’s part of Zendesk.

The modern solution: AI-powered workflows

Instead of trying to force old tools to do new tricks, the best way forward is to use an integrated AI platform that sees this as a complete workflow, not just a simple macro.

This is where a tool like eesel AI comes in. eesel AI connects right into your Zendesk account and lets you build truly custom workflows with its AI Copilot and AI Agent. The best part is, you don’t have to leave the helpdesk you already know and use every day.

You can actually get started and build these advanced workflows yourself in minutes. There's no need to book a sales demo or wait for a developer to help you out, which is a common roadblock with other AI tools.

Customizable AI actions

The feature that directly solves this whole problem is something eesel AI calls "Custom Actions." You can build a workflow that, when an agent clicks it, opens a simple form or prompt right inside the Zendesk interface.

A screenshot of the customization and action workflow screen in eesel AI.

Example workflow: The interactive refund process

Let's rebuild that messy refund macro as a clean, interactive workflow in eesel AI:

1. The agent opens the ticket and clicks the "Process Prorated Refund" action from the eesel AI panel in the sidebar.

2. A small eesel AI prompt pops up, asking for two things: "Refund Amount ($)" and "Days of Service Used."

3. The agent types in the values and clicks "Confirm."

4. In a second, eesel AI drafts the full, perfectly worded reply with the correct numbers plugged in. At the same time, it can do other things, like add a "refund-processed" tag or set the ticket status to "pending." All the agent has to do is hit send.

What used to be a clunky, manual task full of potential mistakes is now a simple, guided, two-click process.

More use cases for interactive workflows

This kind of interactive workflow is useful for just about any process that needs a unique piece of information from an agent.

• Generating a custom discount code: Prompt the agent for the percentage amount.

• Scheduling a follow-up call: Ask for the date and time to include in the confirmation email.

• Looking up order details: Prompt for an order ID to pull real-time shipping status from Shopify with a custom API action.

• Escalating a bug to engineering: Ask the agent for the steps to reproduce the bug, then automatically create a detailed ticket in Jira Service Management.

Cost comparison: Zendesk AI vs. eesel AI

Adding powerful automation to your support team comes with a cost, but the pricing models out there can be very different and have a big effect on your budget.

Zendesk Advanced AI pricing

According to Zendesk's documentation, the Advanced AI add-on costs $50 per agent, per month.

It’s important to know that this is an add-on cost. It's on top of what you're already paying for your Zendesk Suite plan (Professional or higher), which has its own per-agent fee. For a team of 20 agents, you're looking at an extra $1,000 per month for AI features that still don't solve the interactive prompt problem.

eesel AI's transparent and predictable pricing

eesel AI offers a much clearer, and often more affordable, alternative.

The biggest difference is that eesel AI's plans are based on usage (a monthly number of AI interactions), not how many agents you have. This is a lot more efficient for larger teams where not every single person needs to use advanced AI all the time.

A visual of the eesel AI pricing page, showing clear, public-facing costs.

Even better, eesel AI has no per-resolution fees. Many AI tools will charge you every time the AI helps close a ticket, which can lead to a surprisingly high bill at the end of a busy month. With eesel AI, your costs are predictable, so you can budget without worrying about getting penalized for being successful.

Stop waiting for interactive Zendesk macros

Zendesk macros are great for what they were made for, but they just can't prompt an agent for values. This pushes support teams into using inefficient and mistake-prone manual workarounds that drain time and money.

While Zendesk's own features and marketplace apps try to patch the hole, they don't offer a clean, seamless solution. The real answer is a modern AI platform like eesel AI that gives you fully customizable and interactive workflows that plug right into the helpdesk you already use.

Instead of waiting for Zendesk to release a feature that may never arrive, you can solve this problem today and give your team the tools they actually need.

Tired of fighting with placeholder text? Sign up for eesel AI for free and see how easy it is to build your first interactive action.