Zendesk: How to Create a Macro

Zendesk has a variety of features to expedite and streamline your customer service. One of these features is called macros. These ready-made responses can be added to your tickets to help your staff solve problems more quickly. However, how exactly do you set up a macro?

In this entry, we’ll provide a comprehensive guide to creating macros in Zendesk.

How to Create a Macro in Zendesk

One of the most impressive features of Zendesk is its versatility. Unlike other apps, creating macros doesn’t have to be something restricted to admins. Other users (agents) of your organizations can come up with tickets of their own, reducing your involvement.

Best of all, creating these personal tickets only takes a few clicks.

1. Open Zendesk and head to your “Admin Center.”
   
2. Navigate to your sidebar and choose the “Workspaces” button.
   
3. Go to “Agent tools,” followed by “Macros.”
   
4. Tap the prompt that lets you select all your shared macros.
5. Choose “Personal macros.”
6. Click “Add macro.”
   
7. Type in the name of your macro and specify the action it’ll perform.
   
   
8. Pick “Create,” and you’re good to go.
   

The ability to create personal macros is universal. In other words, any agent in your team can create macros for faster customer service. That said, some features are only available to admins. One of these features is the ability to create shared macros.

The name is pretty self-explanatory – shared macros are macros multiple members can use. They further facilitate customer service by eliminating the need for individual agents to set up the same or similar template and waste time. They can simply access a pre-built macro when dealing with a ticket and handle client inquiries faster.

Like personal macros, shared macros take minimal skill to set up.

1. Start your app and access your “Admin center.”
   
2. Press the “Workspaces” button and choose your “Agent tools.”
   
3. Head to “Macros” followed by “Add macro.”
   
4. Figure out the best name and description for your macro. You don’t have to describe a macro, but it makes it easier for agents to retrieve it and determine its purpose.
   
5. Determine who can access your macro. Some of your options include agents in a certain group, all agents, and only you (the creator).
   
6. Click the “Add action” prompt and choose your action.
   
7. Fill in the next field. If you want to use a comment or description action for your macro with different formats, several features can enhance your macros. For instance, you can add images, attachments, and other content to make macros more relevant and easier to understand.
   
8. If necessary, press “Add action” again if you wish to incorporate another action into your macro.
   
9. Wrap it up by clicking the “Create” button, and your shared macro will be up and firing.
   

How to Add a Macro to a Ticket

Even though your macro is ready, don’t put your feet up just yet. After all, you didn’t create your macro just for the sake of it, right? You want to put them to actual use, and the way to do so is to apply your macros to your tickets. The process is straightforward.

1. Open the ticket to which you wish you apply your macro.
   
2. Head to the lower part of the display.
3. Tap the “Apply macro” button.
   
4. Select the macro you want to add to the ticket. In general, you’ll see the most frequently used macros from the last seven days. If you need a different macro, browse the list or employ the convenient search option to retrieve your item within seconds.
   
5. If necessary, click the “Apply macro” button once again to pick another macro. You’ll ordinarily need multiple macros in a single ticket if your ticket has multiple questions. Two or more macros can provide specific answers, allowing you to address problems more easily.

Integrating your macro into a ticket is simple, but is there a faster way to do it? There is – all you need to do is use your keyboard shortcuts. The first thing you have to do is turn on your Agent Workspace.

1. Navigate to the ever-helpful “Admin Center” and press “Workspaces.”
   
2. Select your “Agent tools” and tap “Agent Workspace.”
   
3. Strike the button that lets you activate your Agent Workspace.
4. Hit “Save.” Any agents that use the account at the moment should now see a notification that encourages them to try their new Agent Workspace. This tells them to complete any pending calls or tickets before choosing the “Switch workspace” button.

Now that all the preparations have been made, move on to applying your macros using a shortcut.

1. Bring up the ticket where the macro will be incorporated.
   
2. Go to one of the comments and enter a slash.
3. You’ll now see a menu that shows both macro and shortcut features. Choose a macro by selecting it from the list or entering it in your message box. This will implement any actions described in your macro.
4. Type in another slash in your comment if you want to include an additional macro.

How to Create a Macro from an Existing Ticket in Zendesk

The above steps explain how to create your macros from scratch. Such macros need not be part of your existing tickets, meaning you can transfer them to any other ticket and respond to customer demands.

But what if you wanted to set up a macro from a ticket you already have? Thankfully, Zendesk supports this option. Here’s how to use it.

1. Launch Zendesk and navigate to your ticket.
   
2. Navigate to the top-right corner of the screen, and click the 3 horizontal dots.
   
3. Choose your “Ticket” menu and press the prompt that lets you create a ticket as a macro. This should be the “Create as macro” button, but the wording may vary, depending on your version.
   
4. Come up with a name and, if necessary, change some of the prompts of your ticket. For example, you may want to delete the original description and write a new one. This can be done for several purposes, such as being more specific and removing irrelevant content.
   
5. Once you’ve modified your ticket, choose the “Create Macro” button to finalize the process.
   

Like with standard macros, you can determine who can access your macros from existing tickets. This can include you, agents from different groups, and all team members. However, if you don’t want others editing your macros, consider creating personal ones only.

How to Preview Your Macros Before Applying Them to Tickets

The preview feature is one of the most useful functions in any customer support software, not just Zendesk. In this program specifically, it’s especially convenient because it allows you to preview your macros before incorporating them into your ticket. This way, you can make any necessary tweaks to ensure your macro works well.

You shouldn’t have a hard time previewing macros in Zendesk.

1. Access the ticket where you’ll add your macro.
   
2. Go to the lower section of the interface and choose the “Apply macro” button.
   
3. Select your macro.
   
4. Tap the icon that lets you preview your macro. It should look like a square with an eye within. Another way to do this is to hover over your macro, which should bring up the description bar. From there, access the preview menu by tapping the Shift + Enter key combination.
   

In addition to the description, the review should also contain any items you can change before the application. The list includes attachments, fields, placeholders, and replies. If everything looks fine, you can go ahead and click the “Apply Macro” function. Otherwise, tap the “Cancel” button to go back to your ticket menu or “Open in Settings” to reach your macro’s settings.

How to Edit a Macro in Zendesk

It might be difficult to get a perfect macro on your first go. Likewise, customer issues may change, requiring you to adapt the macro. Either way, the macro edit menu will come in handy.

1. Go to your “Macros” page.
   
2. Browse the list and select your macro.
   
3. Hover over your macro and tap the three vertical dots.
   
4. Choose “Edit” and modify individual parts.
   
5. Tap “Save.”
   

Stay on Top of Customer Inquiries

If there were an all-powerful Zendesk tool, it would be macros. Their applications are endless when it comes to solving customer problems, and they’re easy to set up. As a result, you don’t have to be tech-savvy to make the most of them.

Do you know any other way to create macros in Zendesk? Are macros making a difference in terms of customer support for you? Share your experiences in the comments section below.