Zendesk Handoffs
Overview
Ada integrates with Zendesk in several ways to support live agent and ticket-based handoffs across different channels. Whether your team operates in real-time or prefers asynchronous support, there’s a handoff method to match your customer service model.
The following guide introduces each integration and helps you choose the best fit for your needs. It’s also a good starting point before exploring setup steps and in-depth guides.
Selecting the right handoff method depends on how your support experience is designed, the channels you support, and how you route customers to agents. The table below outlines available Zendesk-based handoff options and highlights key considerations to keep in mind.
Most of these methods can be combined within the same Ada instance. However, combining Zendesk Messaging and Zendesk Support requires following specific guidelines.
Before configuring any Zendesk Handoff integration except Zendesk Chat, connect your Zendesk account to Ada.
To connect your Zendesk account:
Your connected subdomain appears in the Zendesk app modal.
If you accidentally click Deny, you can retry the connection with the same subdomain.
Once connected, the subdomain is available across all Zendesk Handoff integrations. You do not need to repeat this step for each integration.
If your Zendesk account hosts multiple brands, see Multi-brand accounts for additional setup steps.
If your organization uses multiple Zendesk subdomains, each one must be authorized separately. You can connect up to 3 subdomains. Once a subdomain is connected, it is shared across all Ada integrations that use it.
If your Zendesk account hosts multiple brands and your AI Agent is associated with a brand-specific subdomain that differs from the primary account subdomain, use the Multi-brand toggle to connect. Brand subdomains cannot be used directly for OAuth authorization — you must authorize through the primary account subdomain.
To connect a multi-brand subdomain:
The connection is stored under the brand subdomain, so Handoff integrations that reference it (such as Zendesk Ticketing or Zendesk Support) find the correct credentials. Each brand counts as one subdomain toward the 3-subdomain limit.
Zendesk Chat lets you hand off customers to live agents for real-time conversations. As soon as the handoff happens, the customer is connected with an agent right away — perfect for teams that are actively online and ready to help.
Use this if you want quick, back-and-forth chat sessions during your business hours.
Zendesk Messaging allows customers to chat with your team through web and mobile chat experiences. These are asynchronous conversations — meaning customers can come and go, and agents can respond when they’re available.
Use this if you want to offer flexible, message-based support without needing agents to reply right away.
Zendesk Support creates or updates tickets from within Ada. It’s great when an agent doesn’t need to reply immediately — for example, if you want to collect customer questions and follow up later by email.
Use this if your team works mostly through email or ticket queues, or if agents aren’t always online.
Zendesk Ticketing automatically creates a Zendesk ticket without sending the customer to an agent. It’s a simple way to capture info and send it to your support team behind the scenes.
Use this if you just need to record the issue for follow-up — no live chat needed.
Zendesk Messaging has specific limitations when used alongside other Zendesk Handoff integrations within the same AI Agent—but there are important exceptions based on how channels are configured.
These two integrations can only be used together under strict conditions:
This separation ensures that both integrations function correctly without conflicting within the same Ada instance.
Zendesk Messaging is fully compatible with Zendesk Ticketing. In this configuration:
This setup is ideal when you want to support real-time conversations but still allow seamless escalation into ticket-based resolution when necessary.
Zendesk Messaging is not compatible with other live chat or messaging handoff integrations, such as Salesforce Chat.
In addition to handoffs, Ada also supports Zendesk as a knowledge source.