How to connect Zendesk and Make (Integromat): Complete integration guide

Connecting your customer support platform to your broader tech stack shouldn't require a developer. Make (formerly Integromat) is a visual automation platform that lets you build workflows between Zendesk and thousands of other apps without writing code.

This guide walks you through exactly how to set up the Zendesk Make integration, what you can automate, and how to avoid common pitfalls. Whether you want to sync tickets to a spreadsheet, notify your team in Slack, or trigger complex multi-step workflows, you'll learn how to make it happen.

What you'll need

Before diving in, make sure you have:

• A Zendesk account with admin access (you'll need this to generate API credentials)
• A Make account (the free tier works for testing)
• Your Zendesk subdomain (the part before ".zendesk.com" in your URL)
• About 15-20 minutes for the initial setup

You'll also need to decide between two authentication methods. API tokens are faster to set up and work well for personal use or small teams. OAuth 2.0 takes a bit more configuration but it's more secure and better suited for production environments or team accounts.

Step 1: Get your Zendesk credentials

First, you'll need to give Make permission to access your Zendesk account. The process differs slightly depending on whether you're using an API token or OAuth.

Option A: API token (quicker setup)

1. Log into your Zendesk account and click the Admin Center icon
2. Navigate to Apps and integrations → APIs → Zendesk API
3. Click the "Add API token" button
4. Give it a descriptive name like "Make Integration"
5. Copy the token immediately (Zendesk only shows it once)
6. Store it somewhere secure

Option B: OAuth 2.0 (recommended for teams)

1. In the Admin Center, go to Apps and integrations → APIs → OAuth Clients
2. Click "Add OAuth client"
3. Enter a client name and description
4. For "Unique identifier," use something descriptive like "make-integration"
5. Set "Client Kind" to Confidential
6. For "Redirect URLs," enter: https://www.make.com/oauth/cb/zendesk
7. Click Save
8. Copy both the Unique Identifier and Secret (the secret only appears once)

Step 2: Create the connection in Make

Now that you have your Zendesk credentials, it's time to connect the two platforms.

1. Log into Make and click "Create a new scenario"
2. Search for "Zendesk" and add any module (the connection process is the same regardless of which module you choose)
3. Click "Create a connection"
4. Enter a name for this connection (something like "Zendesk Production")
5. Enter your Zendesk domain (just the subdomain part, like "yourcompany" from "yourcompany.zendesk.com")
6. Choose your authentication type and enter the credentials from Step 1
7. Click Save

Make will test the connection automatically. If everything's correct, you'll see a success message. If not, double-check your subdomain format and credentials.

Step 3: Build your first automation

Let's create a practical example: automatically logging new Zendesk tickets to Google Sheets for reporting.

1. Add a "Watch Tickets" trigger module (this monitors for new tickets)
2. Configure it to watch for tickets created "Since last run" (this ensures you don't duplicate records)
3. Add a Google Sheets "Add a Row" action module
4. Connect your Google account if you haven't already
5. Select your spreadsheet and worksheet
6. Map Zendesk fields to spreadsheet columns:
   • Ticket ID → Column A
   • Subject → Column B
   • Requester email → Column C
   • Created date → Column D
   • Priority → Column E
7. Set the scenario to run every 15 minutes (or more frequently on paid plans)
8. Click "Run once" to test
9. If the test works, activate the scenario

The mapping step is where you connect data between apps. Make lets you drag and drop data from your Zendesk ticket directly into other apps. You can also transform the data using functions (like formatting dates or extracting text) before sending it to the destination.

Popular Zendesk and Make use cases

Once you've got the basics down, here are some practical workflows teams are actually using:

Sync tickets to Google Sheets

Create a running log of all tickets for custom reporting and analysis. This is especially useful if you need to combine Zendesk data with information from other sources or create visualizations that Zendesk's built-in reporting doesn't support.

Send Slack notifications for urgent tickets

Set up instant alerts when high-priority tickets come in or when VIP customers submit requests. You can route different types of tickets to different Slack channels based on tags, requester domain, or custom fields.

Create tickets from form submissions

Connect Typeform, Google Forms, or JotForm to Zendesk so submissions automatically become tickets. Map form fields to ticket fields so everything is properly categorized from the start.

Auto-categorize with AI

Use Make's OpenAI integration to analyze incoming ticket content and automatically assign tags, priority levels, or route to specific agents based on the detected topic or sentiment. This requires an OpenAI API key and some prompt engineering, but it can significantly reduce manual triage work.

For teams looking for AI-powered automation without the complexity of building custom workflows, we offer native AI automation for Zendesk that handles categorization, routing, and even draft responses without leaving the Zendesk interface.

Customer follow-up automation

Identify customers who've submitted multiple tickets in a short timeframe and automatically send personalized follow-up emails. This helps catch at-risk customers before they churn.

Available Zendesk modules in Make

Make offers extensive coverage of Zendesk's API. Here's what's available:

Triggers (start your workflow):

• Watch Tickets (new or updated)
• Watch Users (new or updated)
• Watch Organizations
• Watch Articles (help center content)
• Watch Ticket Comments

Actions (do something in Zendesk):

• Create/Update/Delete tickets
• Create/Update/Delete users and organizations
• Add ticket comments (public or internal notes)
• Upload attachments
• Create side conversations
• Update custom ticket fields

Searches (find data):

• Search Tickets (with Zendesk's search syntax)
• Search Users
• Search Organizations
• Search Anything (universal search across all object types)

Advanced:

• Make an API Call (for anything not covered by standard modules)
• Merge Tickets
• Soft or permanent ticket deletion

This module library covers most common automation needs. If you need something more specific, the "Make an API Call" module lets you access any endpoint in the Zendesk API directly.

Troubleshooting common issues

Even with clear instructions, things sometimes go wrong. Here are the most common problems and how to fix them:

Connection errors

If Make can't connect to Zendesk, check:

• Your subdomain format (just "company" not "company.zendesk.com")
• That your API token hasn't expired or been revoked
• That your Zendesk account has API access enabled (some plans restrict this)

OAuth redirect errors

If OAuth setup fails:

• Verify the redirect URL matches exactly what's in your Zendesk OAuth client (including https://)
• Check that your OAuth client is set to "Confidential" not "Public"
• Ensure you copied the Secret correctly (it's easy to grab the Client ID by mistake)

Rate limiting

Zendesk limits API requests to 700 per minute. If you hit this limit:

• Add error handling in Make to retry with exponential backoff
• Reduce scenario frequency (check every 5 minutes instead of every minute)
• Use filters to reduce unnecessary API calls

Data mapping problems

If your scenario runs but data doesn't appear correctly:

• Check that required fields in Zendesk are being populated
• Verify field types match (dates need to be formatted correctly, dropdowns need valid values)
• Use Make's execution log to see exactly what data is being sent

Make pricing for Zendesk integrations

Make uses a credit-based pricing model where each action module execution costs one credit.

What counts as a credit? Every action module execution. If your scenario has 5 modules and runs 100 times, that's 500 credits. Triggers (the "Watch" modules) typically don't count as credits unless they're scheduled rather than webhook-based.

For most Zendesk automations, the Core plan ($9/month) is sufficient. You'd need to run a 5-module scenario 2,000 times per month to hit the 10,000 credit limit.

Source: Make Pricing

Alternative: Native AI automation with eesel AI

Make excels at connecting Zendesk to other tools, but it's not the only option for automation. If your primary goal is AI-powered ticket handling (categorization, routing, draft responses), building custom Make scenarios with OpenAI modules adds complexity you might not need.

We built eesel AI specifically for this use case. It integrates directly with Zendesk and handles:

• Automatic ticket categorization and tagging
• Smart routing based on content analysis
• AI-generated draft responses trained on your help center
• Escalation recommendations

Unlike Make workflows that require ongoing maintenance and scenario tweaking, eesel AI learns from your existing tickets and help center articles automatically. There's no visual workflow builder to manage, and everything happens within Zendesk's interface.

For teams already using Make for cross-platform workflows, the two approaches can complement each other. Use Make for data sync and notifications, and native AI for ticket handling.

Start automating your Zendesk workflows

The Zendesk Make integration opens up thousands of automation possibilities without requiring developer resources. Start small (maybe just syncing tickets to a spreadsheet), then expand as you get comfortable with how scenarios work.

The key is identifying repetitive manual work that happens around your support process. Every time you copy data between Zendesk and another tool, or send a notification about a ticket, that's a candidate for automation.

If you're looking for AI-powered automation specifically, check out how eesel AI works with Zendesk to handle categorization, routing, and responses natively within your help desk.