How to use Zendesk triggers to add internal notes on certain conditions: 2025 guide

If you’ve been in the support world for a while, you know that some feature updates are more exciting than others. When Zendesk finally let triggers add internal notes, it was a quiet but welcome change for anyone tired of messing with webhooks just for a simple automation.

It was a great step forward. Now, you can build basic reminders right inside Zendesk without any custom code. But there’s a catch: the notes are completely static. They can tell an agent to follow a process, but they can’t give them the specific context they need to actually solve the customer’s problem.

In this guide, I'll walk you through how to set up this native Zendesk feature. Then, we’ll look at how to push past its limits with a little help from AI to create dynamic notes that genuinely help your team move faster.

What you'll need to get started

Before we jump in, let’s make sure you have everything you need. The setup is pretty simple, but you will need:

• A Zendesk Plan: Most Zendesk Suite or Support plans include Triggers, so if you're on Team, Growth, Professional, or Enterprise, you should be good to go.

• Admin Access: You’ll need to be an administrator in your Zendesk account to create and edit triggers.

• A Clear Use Case: It’s helpful to have a specific goal in mind. For example, you might want to automatically add a note to any ticket that mentions the word "outage" or asks for a "refund."

How to use Zendesk triggers to add internal notes: A step-by-step guide

Alright, ready to build your first trigger? Let's use a classic example: adding a reminder note for any ticket about a refund.

Step 1: Head to the triggers menu

First things first, log in to your Zendesk account and go to the Admin Center. You'll find triggers under Objects and rules > Business rules > Triggers.

Step 2: Create and name your new trigger

Once you’re on the Triggers page, click the "Add trigger" button. Give it a name that’s easy to understand later. Something like "Internal Note: Add Refund Process Reminder" works well because it tells you exactly what it does just by reading the title.

Step 3: Set your conditions

Conditions are basically the "if" part of your rule. They tell Zendesk when to run the trigger. For our refund example, we only want it to fire when a brand new ticket contains the word "refund."

Under Meet ALL of the following conditions, you’ll want to add these two rules:

• Condition 1: "Ticket > Is > Created"

• Condition 2: "Ticket > Comment text > Contains the following string > refund"

This setup makes sure the note is only added once at the very beginning and only if that specific word is in the customer's message.

Step 4: Add the action for the internal note

Actions are the "then" part of the rule, what Zendesk actually does when the conditions are met.

Under the Actions section, click "Add action" and find "Ticket > Internal note". A text box will pop up where you can write the message you want to appear on the ticket.

For instance, you could write something like:

"Heads up, this ticket mentions a 'refund'. Please follow the process doc located in our Confluence space."

Step 5: Save and test it out

Once you’re happy with the setup, hit the "Create" button at the bottom. That's it, your trigger is now live.

To make sure everything is working as expected, send a test ticket to your support email from a personal account and make sure to use the word "refund" in the body. You should see your automated internal note appear in the ticket thread almost immediately.

The problem with static notes

This built-in feature is a huge improvement, no doubt. It’s perfect for simple, repetitive reminders that never change.

But the key limitation is right there: the note is static. It's the same pre-written message every single time, which leads to a few headaches:

• No real context: A static note can't tell your agent what the customer is actually asking about. They still have to read the whole ticket to figure out why the person wants a refund or what their order number is. The note acts as a tiny flag but doesn't really save any research time.

• Agent fatigue: If "refund" is a common request, your agents will see the same generic note pop up over and over. Pretty soon, they’ll start ignoring it, and the reminder just becomes background noise.

• It’s a dead end: The note can't pull in useful information from your other tools. It can’t check the customer’s order history in Shopify or see their subscription status in your billing system.

From static reminders to dynamic AI summaries with eesel AI

So, what if an internal note could do more? What if, instead of a generic reminder, it gave your agent a quick summary of the ticket with all the key details they need to get started?

This is where an AI tool like eesel AI comes in. It connects to your helpdesk and takes your automations from basic to genuinely helpful.

Here’s what makes it different:

• It understands the whole conversation: eesel AI doesn't just look for one keyword. It reads the entire ticket and learns from thousands of your team's past successful resolutions. It can tell the difference between a simple question about your refund policy and an angry customer demanding their money back for a specific order.

• It writes dynamic summaries: Instead of a canned response, eesel AI generates a short, relevant summary for the internal note. Think something like: "Customer wants a refund for order #12345 because it was delivered late. They’re a VIP customer with 5 previous orders." Now that’s a note an agent will actually find useful.

• It brings in knowledge from other places: Remember that note telling agents to check the doc in Confluence? eesel AI can connect to your knowledge sources, find the right document, and pull the exact steps into the internal note. It works with tools you already use, like Confluence, Google Docs, and your help center.

• It can take custom actions: Need to know a customer’s shipping status? eesel AI can use custom actions to look up live information from other systems (like Shopify or an internal database) and drop it right into the note. The agent gets everything they need in one spot without having to switch tabs.

Here's a quick comparison of what that looks like in practice:

Common mistakes to avoid

Whether you’re using native triggers or leveling up with AI, there are a few common traps to look out for. Keeping these in mind will save you some headaches down the road.

• Mistake 1: Creating trigger loops. This is a classic rookie mistake. Be careful that the action of one trigger doesn't accidentally set off the conditions of another, creating an endless loop. A simple fix is to have your trigger add a tag (like "internal_note_added") and then add a condition to the trigger: "Tags > Contains none of the following > internal_note_added".

• Mistake 2: Forgetting the "one note per update" rule. Zendesk has a firm rule: only one internal note and one public comment can be added per ticket event. If a ticket meets the conditions for multiple triggers at the same time, only the first one in your trigger list will actually run.

• Mistake 3: Not knowing who the comment is from. Internal notes added by triggers are posted by the "system user," not an actual agent. Public comments, on the other hand, are attributed to whoever is assigned the ticket. This is a small detail, but it can affect reporting and how customers see the conversation.

Automate smarter, not just more

Zendesk's native triggers for internal notes are a great, long-overdue feature for handling simple, rules-based tasks. They’re a fantastic place to start if you’re looking to cut down on repetitive manual work.

But when you're ready to build a truly efficient support operation, the goal isn't just to add more rules, it's to add more intelligence. The future of support is in tools that can understand context, summarize complex issues, and pull in information from all your different systems. When you automate the busywork, you free up your team to focus on solving the problems that really matter.

Curious to see what AI-powered internal notes could do for your team? You can get eesel AI set up in a few minutes and run a simulation on your past Zendesk tickets to see the potential impact, risk-free.