With pop culture AI icons like HAL 9000 and Skynet, AI is usually seen as a work of fiction, but with rapid advancements in technology, we’re closer to actually having smarter, more usable AI.
While Zendesk’s Advanced AI promises enhanced efficiency and automated support capabilities, customer discussions show that many support leaders struggle with understanding its real costs, what it does and doesn’t bring to the table.
Zendesk’s Advanced AI pricing explained
Navigating Zendesk’s pricing can be a bit confusing as at first glance, as it’s all over the place. The base plans are listed first, followed by all the different add-ons, requiring you to do a bit of math in order to find out exactly what you’d be paying.
Base pricing structure
Zendesk’s Advanced AI add-on comes with a base price of $50 per agent per month, but that’s just the beginning. The add-on is only available for Professional and Enterprise plan users, which means you need to factor in the cost of these higher-tier plans as well. Here’s what you’re looking at for a typical 10-agent setup:
| Component | Monthly Cost per Agent | Annual Cost (10 agents) |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced AI Add-on | $50 | $6,000 |
| Professional Plan (minimum required) | $115 | $13,800 |
| Total | $165 | $19,800 |
Hidden costs
Beyond the advertised pricing, several additional costs often catch organizations off guard:
- Training and onboarding: Your team needs time to learn the system. According to user experiences, expect to spend 2-4 weeks getting teams up to speed.
- Integration requirements: Custom integrations often require developer resources or consultants, adding to the total cost and set up time.
- Data preparation: Time spent organizing and preparing all documents for the knowledge base.
- Pay-per-resolution: In addition to the total cost, you’ll also be charged per-resolution. As there’s no cap to this, unexpected increases in ticket volume may cause enormous bills at the end of the month.
Pro tip: Consider alternatives like eesel AI that offer transparent pricing and faster implementation times (typically 1-2 weeks), with no hidden costs or complex pricing tiers.
Unlike traditional pricing models, newer solutions are emerging with more transparent and predictable costs. For instance, eesel AI offers a straightforward pay-per-interaction model that scales with your actual usage, eliminating surprises and allowing for better budget planning.
Features and value of Advanced AI add-on
Zendesk Advanced AI offers several key features that aim to transform customer support operations. According to Zendesk’s documentation, the core capabilities include:
| Core capabilities | Details |
|---|---|
| Intelligent triage | • Automatically categorizes incoming requests using intent detection and sentiment analysis • Routes tickets to appropriate agents based on skills and workload • Saves about 30-60 seconds per ticket through automated classification |
| Auto assist | • Uses large language models (LLMs) to understand ticket content and suggest solutions • Guides agents through standardized procedures • Can perform approved actions automatically to speed resolution |
| Generative AI tools | • Suggests first responses based on historical data • Creates ticket summaries to help agents quickly understand context • Enhances writing by adjusting tone and expanding responses |
Measurable benefits
Based on implementation data, organizations can expect several measurable improvements due to the integration of AI into their workflows. When pulling the trigger on such an expensive add-on, it’s important to make note of what metrics you should track before and after implementation. This can include things like:
Time savings & quality improvements:
- 40-60% reduction in time spent on routine tickets
- 25-30% faster first response times
- 15-20% improvement in overall resolution times
- More consistent responses across agents
- Reduced errors through standardized procedures
- Better customer satisfaction through faster resolutions
Don’t forget: eesel AI can deliver similar benefits at a fraction of the cost, with features like instant deployment, per-interaction instead of per-agent or per-resolution fees, and training on past tickets.
Zendesk Advanced AI ROI
If you’re wondering if the Advanced AI add-on is worth it, you’re not alone. Many individuals looking for reviews have taken to forums all over the internet to see what others are saying.
To accurately calculate your ROI, focus on these key metrics:
- Agent time savings
- Average time per ticket before and after implementation
- Number of tickets handled per agent per hour
- Reduction in escalations to senior agents
- Quality improvements
- First contact resolution rate changes
- Customer satisfaction score trends
- Reduction in follow-up tickets
ROI calculation guide
Learning how to optimize your capital spent on AI investments will become critical as you learn about more and more AI tools. Being able to put an actual number next to a tool and its features will help when deciding if that tool is right for you.
Use the framework below to calculate your potential ROI. This computation doesn’t take into consideration usage costs or changes in the base plans in order to start using Advanced AI.
| Metric | Formula | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly Cost | (Agents × $50) + Implementation Costs | 10 agents = $500 + setup |
| Time Savings | (Seconds Saved × Tickets) ÷ 3600 = Hours Saved | 30s × 1000 tickets = 8.3 hours |
| Cost Savings | Hours Saved × Hourly Agent Cost | 8.3 hours × $25 = $207.50 |
| Net Monthly ROI | Cost Savings – Monthly Cost | $207.50 – $500 = -$292.50 |
Pro Tip: Many organizations find that eesel AI’s pricing model provides faster ROI since you only pay for actual usage rather than per-agent fees, and implementation costs are significantly lower.
Example setups
Five agents: Just for the Advanced AI add-on, that’ll cost you $250 a month. Implementing this would take roughly 2 to 3 weeks. This means your break even point would be around 3 to 4 months in.
20 agents: just the Advanced AI add-on is $1,000 a month. Implementation time will take about 4 to 6 weeks, meaning your break even point would be in 5 to 6 months.
It’s important to remember that these examples just factor in the Advanced AI add-on costs, this doesn’t even factor in the per agent base subscription costs or the usage fees that come with AI replies.
Remember to factor in hidden costs like:
- Training time for agents
- Integration setup fees
- Ongoing maintenance and updates
- Potential need for additional features
- Sudden increases in ticket volume resulting in a higher end of month bill due to the pay-per-resolution model
Advanced AI setup challenges and costs
Implementing Zendesk’s Advanced AI involves more than just the monthly subscription fee. Let’s break down the key challenges and associated costs you need to consider before making any changes.
Setup requirements
The technical setup of Zendesk’s Advanced AI requires careful planning and resources:
- Data/Knowledge base preparation: Your historical ticket data needs cleaning and organizing before training the AI, which can take 2-3 weeks for large datasets.
- Integration configuration: Setting up connections with existing systems requires technical expertise and testing time.
- Agent training: Comprehensive training programs needed for agents to effectively use AI features.
Long-term expenses
We’ve found that some Zendesk users are keen to try out Zendesk Advanced AI but don’t realize the ongoing difficulty of working with a product that feels incomplete and with little transparency about usage pricing. Beyond initial setup, consider these ongoing costs:
| Cost Category | Description | Typical Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Training | New agent onboarding & updates | $1,000-2,000/quarter |
| Maintenance | Regular updates & optimization | 5-10 hours/month |
| Integration | API maintenance & updates | $500-1,000/month |
| Support | Technical support needs | Varies by plan |
| Usage costs | Expenses per resolution | $1.50 per resolution |
Want to get setup much sooner? With eesel AI get built-in training simulation and dedicated setup support, typically completing full deployment in 1-2 weeks.
Deploying Advanced AI
In order to successfully deploy Zendesk’s Advanced AI you have to follow a couple of guidelines, as well as, avoiding some common pitfalls.
A typical deployment follows this sequence:
- Initial setup (Week 1-2)
- System configuration
- Data import and cleaning
- Basic integration testing
- Training period (Week 3-4)
- Agent training sessions
- Workflow documentation
- Performance baseline establishment
- Full deployment (Week 5-6)
- Gradual feature rollout
- Performance monitoring
- Feedback collection and adjustments
Common issues
Based on real customer experiences according to Zendesk documentation comments, these challenges frequently arise:
- Integration complexities
- API connection failures: These occur when there are errors in the request, communication/server/network issues.
- Data sync issues: These are caused by network issues, outdated apps, server problems, conflicting data types, or sync protocols.
- Custom field mapping problems: Issues may be caused by incompatible data types, missing or deleted custom fields, formatting issues, or server integration issues related to the API.
- Training challenges
- Long training/retraining time for new processes: Initial training time or retraining of agents may take up large amounts of time depending on how different the new process is.
- Inconsistent usage patterns: Having multiple users following different processes on the same AI may lead to issues with the AI’s behavior. Ensuring the same process is followed by all agents is critical to maintaining consistent and accurate AI replies.
- Knowledge gaps in advanced features: Ensuring your knowledge base is up to date and accurate is another critical component of being successful with AI. Having a dedicated employee to manage this helps alleviate this challenge.
- Performance optimization
- Response accuracy issues: These issues arise when outdated information is left in the knowledge base.
- Speed and latency problems: Issues with the API or a heavy loaded server will cause your AI to lag and reply much slower than usual.
- Workflow bottlenecks: This issue is caused when something like approvals has to occur, if said employee is backed up by other work and cannot approve something like knowledge base updates, then it causes a negative chain reaction.
For faster deployment and fewer integration headaches, consider platforms like eesel AI that offer pre-built connectors and simulation capabilities to test responses before going live.
AI support tool comparison
When evaluating Zendesk Advanced AI against alternatives like eesel AI, it’s crucial to consider both feature sets and implementation requirements. Let’s break down the key differences:
| Cost Category | Description | Typical Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Training | New agent onboarding & updates | $1,000-2,000/quarter |
| Maintenance | Regular updates & optimization | 5-10 hours/month |
| Integration | API maintenance & updates | $500-1,000/month |
| Support | Technical support needs | Varies by plan |
| Usage costs | Expenses per resolution | $1.50 per resolution |
The total cost extends past the base pricing. According to a recent analysis, Zendesk’s per-agent model can become costly as teams scale, especially when factoring in implementation and training costs.
In contrast, eesel AI’s pay-per-interaction model offers more predictable scaling. The platform’s faster implementation time (typically 1-2 weeks) also means quicker time-to-value for support teams.
Weighing it up: budget, resources, and support needs
When deciding on an AI tool, consider your current tools, budget, team size, and time constraints. You’ll have to decide what’s important to you and take those into consideration while searching for options.
Once you’ve made your choice, follow this implementation checklist:
- Assess current setup
- Define success metrics
- Choose implementation timeline
- Allocate resources
- Train team
- Monitor and optimize
Once you’ve gone over those things and narrowed down your options, make sure you ask for a call or some sort of demo to make sure the tool is what you think it is. In the case of Zendesk’s Advanced AI add-on, you’ll get a more detailed breakdown of its features and more of an insight as to why it’s priced the way it is.
If you decide to go for a more budget friendly approach that allows for growth among different business sizes, check out eesel AI. We offer a 7 day free trial with no payment information required or if you’d like to get in contact with us directly, hit us up at hi@eesel.app, we can send you information or schedule a call so you can get a hands on experience with our app.
