Imagine having a support team that never sleeps, never takes a break, and answers customer questions instantly. That’s what AI agents can do, as they can automate everything from simple FAQs to complex issues so your team can focus on what matters most. Instead of waiting for your agents to read and process a ticket, tag and sort the ticket, find documentation to solve it, and then draft, edit, and send a response – the AI agent can do it all in seconds.
Zendesk offers two types of AI:
- Zendesk AI, included in Suite plans
- Zendesk Advanced AI, a premium add-on.
Zendesk AI covers the basics, like autoreplies and generative responses while Zendesk Advanced AI hold the more advanced features like intelligent triage. Most AI agent features are part of the Advanced AI add-on so if you’re looking for in-depth AI automation, like autoreplies and AI assisted suggestions, you will likely end up paying a premium.
Zendesk’s Advanced AI is a $50 per month premium add-on for the Suite Professional plan which is priced at $115 per-agent-per-month in an annual billing cycle. Although it includes tools like intelligent triage and ticket summaries for smarter automation, you will have to pay $165 per agent per month – at a minimum.
With that in mind, Zendesk’s Advanced AI can be a difficult option to include in your budget. As your team grows, the per-agent fee of Zendesk will cost more than you bargain for. Moreover, having the Advanced AI usage fees would be a runaway cost that your business won’t be able to afford in the long run.
If you’re wondering, “How do I set this up? Can it tag tickets? What’s the cost? How can I save on cost?” you’re not alone. That’s where eesel AI comes in. It works with Zendesk but offers more flexibility, easier testing, and better control—without the hefty price tag.
Different ways of setting up Zendesk AI agents
Native Zendesk AI
Zendesk AI helps support teams to work smarter by automating repetitive tasks, speeding up ticket resolution, and improving customer satisfaction. It comes with built-in tools for quick wins like suggesting articles or generating responses. But for businesses that need more advanced features, Zendesk offers its Advanced AI add-on—at an additional cost (ouch).
Here are some of the main features.
Autoreplies
Zendesk scans your help center content to suggest relevant articles when customers ask common questions. You can build intent triggers for queries through different support channels that will trigger an autoreply with these suggestions. Customers get directed straight to the appropriate help center content and your agents will have less repetitive questions in their queue. You can enable autoreplies and check out how they work through your Admin Center. Customers can request more help if the suggested article doesn’t answer their question completely.
Generative replies and auto assist
Generative replies refers to AI responses based on the content of your help center – not just suggesting an article to customers. It’s limited to what’s in your Zendesk help center but will provide more descriptive and in depth responses with bot personas to reflect your brand.
If your agents want to verify AI responses before they reach customers, they can use the auto assist feature. Zendesk’s agents can suggest responses for your human agents to use or adjust as needed. AI can draft responses using help center articles, saving agents time and ensuring consistent replies.
Your agents can find info faster, or skip the tickets entirely by allowing generative AI to do all the hard lifting.
Intelligent triage (Advanced AI)
Intelligent triage is a feature that involves automatically detecting what a ticket involves, the language, and what kind of tone the customer has. AI agents analyze tickets as they come in and automatically categorizes them based on:
- Intent: What the customer is asking for.
- Sentiment: Is the message positive, negative, or neutral
- Language: What language the customer is using. This helps tickets reach the right agent faster—no manual sorting required.
By using intelligent triage, you can help organize your tickets and make sure the right agents are working with the right queries.
Suggested macros and intents
Macros help streamline your support processes. With AI, Zendesk is able to suggest new macros that can be added to your existing macros. This is based on an analysis of your previous macro usage, and comparing with the subject and content of the ticket. This is an optional feature that can be turned off, or limited to macros with only a certain threshold of data.
Intents can be suggested or you can use out-of-the-box intents to help improve the AI’s responses. This intent detection and suggestions will help categorize your tickets accurately and pass the right tickets to the right agents.
Some other features include:
- Article and ticket summaries for quick reviews of tickets and knowledge.
- Similar tickets for finding out how they’ve been previously answered.
- Expand ticket comment, and expand help center articles, to use AI to elaborate on your writing.
- Call summaries and transcripts for Zendesk Talk.
How much does Zendesk AI cost?
Zendesk AI is available across the Suite plans, with monthly and annual options:
| Plan | Monthly Billing | Annual Billing | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Suite Team | $69 per agent/month | $55 per agent/month | Includes autoreplies and generative replies. |
| Suite Professional | $149 per agent/month | $115 per agent/month | Adds advanced workflows, analytics, and tools like skills-based routing. |
| Advanced AI Add-On | – | $50 per agent/month | Unlocks intelligent triage, macro insights, and advanced AI tools like generative AI for knowledge and agent support. |
What’s the catch?
While Zendesk AI sounds great on paper, it comes with a few challenges:
1.Testing is limited
Zendesk doesn’t give you much control to test AI workflows before going live. This can mean bots responding inaccurately or misrouting tickets.
2. Customization is basic
While Zendesk offers preset tones like Professional or Friendly, there’s little room to fine-tune how the AI sounds or behaves.
3. Costs add up quickly
Advanced features are part of the Advanced AI add-on, which costs $50 per agent/month (billed annually). On top of that, you pay per automated resolution:
- $2 per resolution (pay-as-you-go).
- $1.50 per resolution if you commit to a set volume.For teams handling a high number of tickets, these costs can grow quickly.
4. Training on past tickets
While Zendesk AI offers a strong foundation for customer support automation, it may fall short for teams seeking more flexibility, smarter workflows, and predictable costs. That’s where third-party solutions like eesel AI come in.
An alternative: eesel AI
eesel AI is designed to address the limitations of native tools like Zendesk AI by providing smarter automation, more robust customization, and better cost control. Rather than relying solely on Zendesk’s tools, eesel AI integrates seamlessly with the platform to enhance your workflows without requiring additional platform changes.
Key differences between Zendesk AI and eesel AI:
1.Pricing
With eesel AI, you gain more flexibility at a significantly lower cost. Instead of paying per agent and accumulating expensive resolution-based fees like Zendesk’s Advanced AI add-on (starting at $50 per agent/month), eesel AI follows an interaction-based pricing model.
2. Testing
Teams can also test workflows easily before going live, something Zendesk’s AI struggles to offer. You can test out AI actions, simulate past tickets to find deflection rates and gaps in knowledge, all from within the dashboard. When you’re ready, gradually roll out to specific agents.
3. Training on past tickets and customization
Beyond testing, eesel AI provides smarter, more customizable automation. It allows you to train bots on multiple knowledge sources such as past tickets, FAQs, and SOPs not just help center articles. This results in more context-rich, accurate responses.
Lastly, customization is another area where eesel AI excels. You can fine-tune the bot’s tone to align perfectly with your brand voice, whether it’s friendly, professional, or conversational.
4. Automation
Additionally, eesel AI shines when it comes to advanced automation. Beyond basic routing, it can perform actions like:
- Escalating tickets when specific conditions are met (e.g., urgent or high-priority requests).
- Tagging tickets automatically based on keywords, intent, or sentiment.
- Triggering API-driven workflows, such as issuing refunds, updating user accounts, or checking order statuses.
This level of control makes eesel AI a flexible solution for teams looking to streamline operations and automate repetitive tasks without restrictions.
5. Scalability
As mentioned previously, eesel AI costs way less than Zendesk AI. It’s not subjected to per-agent-per-month but it’s priced per interaction, making it incredibly cost-effective. This pay-as-you-go model ensures you only pay for the AI assistance you actually use, allowing you to scale your usage up or down as needed without incurring unnecessary expenses.
How to get set up
Setting up an AI agent doesn’t need to be complicated, but your experience will depend on the tool you choose.
Zendesk’s AI
- Activate Zendesk AI tools: Enable AI features in your Zendesk Admin settings. Advanced AI tools—like intelligent triage—require purchasing the Advanced AI add-on.
- Connect your knowledge base: Link your help center to Zendesk AI.
- Configure (if applicable): Set up intelligent triage and create macros.
- Deploy and monitor: Start using AI and track its performance.
eesel AI
- Connect your Zendesk account: Integrates seamlessly with Zendesk, simple setup without requiring data migrations.
- Add knowledge sources: Train the bot using multiple sources—such as help center articles, past tickets, FAQs, SOPs, and even external platforms like Google Drive or Confluence.
- Set up escalations and actions: Configure eesel AI to respond and engage with customers differently or take actions.
- Fine-tune tone and responses: Customize the bot’s tone to match your brand voice.
Testing before going live
Launching a new AI workflow can feel risky without proper testing, especially when errors can lead to misrouted tickets or inaccurate responses. Testing ensures your AI behaves as intended before it interacts with customers, but the ability to test effectively depends on the tool you choose.
Zendesk AI
Zendesk AI’s testing options are limited. While you can configure workflows and monitor performance after launch, there’s no way to fully test your AI workflows in a controlled environment before they go live. This means bots could respond inaccurately or escalate issues unnecessarily, leading to confusion for agents and customers alike.
Once live, you can track performance using Zendesk’s analytics tools and refine workflows over time. However, the lack of robust testing options means your first few days of deployment might involve trial and error.
Testing with eesel AI
Testing ensures your AI behaves as intended before it interacts with customers. Here’s how eesel AI simplifies this step:
- Controlled Testing with Defined Conditions:
With eesel AI, you can limit deployment to a small group of agents or specific tickets. For example, test the bot only on certain ticket types, such as password resets or refund requests, or restrict deployment to specific times or agents. This ensures the bot engages only under approved scenarios, allowing you to observe its performance in real but controlled interactions.
- Browser extension:
eesel AI’s browser extension provides another layer of testing flexibility. Teams can simulate customer interactions and fine-tune workflows, responses, and tone before going live.
- Iterative improvements:
By observing how the bot performs in a controlled environment, you can tweak its training data, improve its responses, and configure workflows for better accuracy without exposing customers to potential errors.
Unlike Zendesk AI, which demands immediate deployment, eesel AI empowers users to conduct thorough, controlled testing before widespread implementation. This proactive approach, facilitated by triggers and browser tools, minimizes issues and ensures a smoother, more efficient rollout.
Best practices and tips for setting up your AI agent
When it comes to AI agents, the tools are only as good as the strategies you use to implement them. Whether you’re using Zendesk AI or eesel AI, following these best practices can help you get the most out of your setup.
1. Customize how your AI agent sounds
A well-designed AI agent should reflect your brand’s personality—whether that’s professional, friendly, or casual. This helps customers feel like they’re engaging with an extension of your team, not just a robot.
- Zendesk AI: While Zendesk offers preset tones like “Professional” or “Friendly,” these options are basic and don’t allow for much fine-tuning. If you need a bot that feels highly personalized, this can be a limitation.
- eesel AI: With eesel AI, you can fine-tune the bot’s tone to perfectly align with your brand voice. Whether you need empathetic replies for customer complaints or conversational responses for casual inquiries, eesel AI lets you define the tone and even tweak responses for specific use cases.
2. Build a strong knowledge base
Your AI agent is only as good as the knowledge it’s trained on. A poorly maintained or incomplete knowledge base can result in inaccurate or unhelpful responses, leaving customers frustrated.
- Zendesk AI: Training is primarily limited to your help center articles, so it’s essential to keep these updated, well-organized, and comprehensive.
- eesel AI: With eesel AI, you can train bots on multiple knowledge sources, including past tickets, FAQs, SOPs, and even external platforms like Google Drive or Confluence. This broader training scope enables your AI to provide context-rich, accurate answers that go beyond just article recommendations.
3. Avoid common pitfalls
When setting up an AI agent, a few mistakes can undermine its performance. Here’s what to watch out for:
- Neglecting testing: Deploying without testing workflows can lead to poor customer experiences. With eesel AI, take advantage of pre-launch testing to refine workflows before going live.
- Inconsistent tone: A bot that doesn’t align with your brand voice can feel out of place and impersonal.
- Failing to plan for escalation: Your AI agent won’t handle everything. Ensure there’s a clear path for escalating complex issues to human agents.
Which AI agent is right for you?
Choosing the right AI agent depends on your team’s needs, budget, and goals. Zendesk AI is a great starting point for teams seeking basic automation and integrated tools within the Zendesk ecosystem. However, its limited customization, lack of robust testing, and escalating costs—especially with the Advanced AI add-on can pose challenges for growing or resource-conscious teams. You can find some more info about other Zendesk features by browsing our guidebook blog for Zendesk, or just flicking through our other Zendesk blogs.
eesel AI stands out as the better alternative for those seeking flexibility, smarter automation, and predictable costs. By integrating with Zendesk, eesel AI enhances your help desk workflows while offering predictable pricing and advanced automation features. Its advanced testing capabilities, multi-source training, and customizable workflows make it an adaptable solution for teams that want to scale effectively without breaking the bank. If cost control, smarter workflows, and advanced features are top priorities for your business, eesel AI delivers on all fronts.
Sign up for an eesel AI free trial here to experience smarter, more efficient automation first-hand, or contact hi@eesel.app for tailored insights on how eesel AI can transform your customer support workflows—your perfect AI partner awaits!
