How to configure a Zendesk messaging bot to collect return reason and create a ticket

If you’re in e-commerce, you know the returns dance. A customer wants a quick, easy way to send something back, and your support team is tired of manually gathering details like order numbers and return reasons just to create a ticket.

It seems like a perfect job for a chatbot, right? You’d think setting this up in Zendesk would be a walk in the park. But if you’ve tried, you’ve probably hit a wall. What feels like it should be a simple workflow somehow turns into a technical maze that requires custom code or frustrating workarounds.

Trust me, you’re not the only one who's been stuck here. This guide will walk you through the standard Zendesk process for building a returns bot, point out where it all goes wrong, and then show you a much, much simpler way to get it done in a few minutes.

What is a Zendesk messaging bot?

A Zendesk messaging bot, which they also call an AI agent, is the chatbot that comes built into the Zendesk platform. It’s designed to help customers with simple stuff, like answering frequently asked questions by pulling up help center articles or collecting a bit of info before passing the conversation to a human.

You build these bots with a visual tool called "Flow Builder," where you connect different steps to map out a conversation. It works fine for basic questions, like telling a customer your business hours. The trouble starts when you try to build something a little more involved, like a returns process that needs to actually create a ticket at the end. That’s when the limitations really start to show.

The native way to create a return ticket with a Zendesk messaging bot

On paper, using Zendesk’s Flow Builder to handle returns makes perfect sense. But in practice, there’s a massive gap between what you’d expect it to do and what it can actually do without getting a developer involved.

Building the conversation flow

The first part is easy enough. You piece together a few "steps" in the Flow Builder to create the chat. To get a return reason from a customer, your flow would look something like this:

1. Present options: The customer sees a button like "Start a Return" to get the ball rolling.

2. Ask for details: The bot then asks for the order number and the reason for the return. You’d need to have a custom ticket field already set up for this information.

3. Add business hours condition: You could also add a step that checks if your team is online, so the bot can do different things depending on the time of day.

So far, so good. The real problems start when you try to take the information you just collected and turn it into something useful.

The roadblock

This is the part that trips almost everyone up. When a customer has a conversation with the Zendesk bot, it doesn't create a normal ticket that your team can work on. Instead, it creates something Zendesk calls an "AI agent ticket," which is just a read-only transcript of the chat.

This "ticket" is a dead end. It’s not assigned to anyone, it doesn't trigger your automations, and it won't pop up in an agent's queue. For all intents and purposes, it’s invisible to your team's workflow.

A real, actionable ticket, the kind your team uses every day, is only created when the bot uses the Transfer to agent step. This is a huge problem for any team that wants to create tickets for follow-up later without needing a live agent to jump into the chat right away.

The complicated API workaround

Because of that limitation, the only "native" way to create a ticket from a bot without a live handoff is a technical fix that users have pieced together in Zendesk's community forums. It involves using the Make API call step to have your bot essentially talk to Zendesk's own API to force it to create a ticket.

This isn't a simple button-click fix. To pull it off, you (or a developer) need to:

• Dig into your admin settings to generate a Zendesk API token.

• Set up a new API connection with the right authentication details.

• Understand JSON and manually write out the request, mapping the info from the bot (like the return reason) to the correct ticket fields.

Suddenly, what should have been a five-minute task has turned into a mini software project.

Why the native Zendesk approach falls short

Even if you manage to get the API workaround up and running, it's far from an ideal solution. Here’s why:

• It's way too technical. A basic function for a support bot shouldn't require developer skills. Most support managers don't have the time or expertise to mess with APIs and JSON, leaving them stuck.

• It's fragile and time-consuming. The setup is completely manual and easy to break. If a custom field ID ever changes or you make a typo in the API request, the whole thing falls apart.

• It leads to a clunky user experience. Many teams just give up on the API method and tell users to fill out a separate web form for their return. This forces the customer to jump through extra hoops, which is exactly what you were trying to avoid.

• It’s a pain to maintain. As your returns process changes, you'll have to dive back into that complex setup to make updates. It’s just not built to scale.

Understanding Zendesk AI agent pricing

To even attempt this workflow, you need to be on the right Zendesk plan. Access to Flow Builder and the API isn't available on every tier.

But paying for a more expensive plan only gets you access to the tools, it doesn't make them any less complicated to use. You still have to do all the technical work yourself.

Here’s a quick look at the plans and the features you would need:

Feature	Suite Team ($55/agent/mo)	Suite Professional ($115/agent/mo)	Suite Enterprise ($169/agent/mo)
Messaging & Live Chat	✔️	✔️	✔️
AI Agents (Essential)	✔️	✔️	✔️
Business Hours	Single	Multiple	Multiple
API Access	Standard Rate Limits	Higher Rate Limits	Highest Rate Limits
Conditional Ticket Fields	❌	✔️	✔️
Advanced AI Agents Add-on	Add-on	Add-on	Add-on

A better way to create a return ticket with a Zendesk bot

Instead of wrestling with code and clunky workarounds, what if you could just plug in a tool that makes the Zendesk you already have smarter? This is where an AI-first platform can make a world of difference by making automation simple and accessible for your whole team.

Why an integrated AI approach works better

Platforms like eesel AI are built to work with your helpdesk, not against it. Instead of forcing you to deal with the limitations of a built-in tool, eesel AI connects directly to Zendesk to give you the functionality you’ve been for, without all the friction. The goal is to get you up and running in minutes, not months, and without writing a single line of code.

How eesel AI builds a return bot in minutes

Let's compare that complex Zendesk method to how you'd set up the exact same returns process with eesel AI.

• You can set it up yourself. Getting started is as easy as it sounds. You connect eesel AI to your Zendesk account with one click. No sales calls, no mandatory demos, no digging around for API keys. You can have a working AI agent running in just a few minutes, all on your own.

• "Create a ticket" is a simple action. In the eesel AI workflow builder, creating a ticket isn't a technical workaround, it's just a standard, pre-built action. You can drag and drop it into your returns flow and tell it to map the "return reason" from the user to the right Zendesk ticket field. No JSON, no API calls, just a couple of clicks.

• It learns from your past tickets. This is where it gets really good. eesel AI doesn't just blindly follow rules. It actually learns from your team's past support conversations. It can automatically understand the context of your returns, your brand's tone of voice, and common questions, making your AI agent smart from day one without you needing to manually plan for every single scenario.

Beyond returns: Triage, drafting, and risk-free testing

Creating the ticket is just the start. A good AI platform should help you across the entire support lifecycle. With eesel AI, you can also:

• Automate triage. Use AI Triage to automatically route and tag the new return tickets, making sure they go to the right team without anyone having to touch them.

• Help your agents. If a return ticket does need a human to look at it, the AI Copilot can help your agents write faster, more consistent replies by learning from how similar issues were handled before.

• Test everything with confidence. This is a huge plus. eesel AI has a simulation mode that lets you test your entire returns workflow on thousands of your actual past tickets. You can see exactly how the AI would have responded and how many tickets it would have automated before it ever talks to a real customer. This lets you launch new automations knowing they’ll work perfectly.

What's next?

While Zendesk is a great helpdesk, its native bot builder can turn simple automation tasks, like handling returns, into a surprisingly technical and frustrating experience. What should be easy for any support team can quickly become a project that needs a developer and a bunch of fragile workarounds.

Modern, integrated platforms like eesel AI offer a faster, smarter, and more powerful alternative. They’re designed for support teams to build and manage their own automation without ever needing to ask a developer for help.

If you’re tired of fighting with complex setups, you don’t have to anymore. You can connect your helpdesk and build your first AI workflow with eesel AI for free, and see for yourself how simple support automation can actually be.