Zendesk Live Tutorial — Demo Deck · Matt Jones, LLC
Zendesk Live TutorialMatt Jones, LLC
Basic
Intermediate
Advanced
—

Zendesk,
Twelve Demos Deep

A guided tour of how a support desk really works — from your first ticket to a fully connected system. Use the arrows, or your keyboard.

Support Solutions — No Matter the Problem
5Basic · Support View
4Intermediate · Admin
3Advanced · APIs
BasicDemo 01 / 12 · Support View

Working a ticket

The ticket is the heartbeat of Zendesk. Everything starts with reading one, replying, and resolving it.

  1. Open a ticket from your queue.
  2. Check the required fields: status, priority, type, assignee.
  3. Write a public reply to the customer — or an internal note for your team.
  4. Apply a macro to drop in a consistent answer.
  5. Set the status and submit.
LS Luke SkywalkerRebel Alliance Public reply Macro
What you'll see: a live ticket in the agent workspace
BasicDemo 02 / 12 · Support View

Assigning & creating tickets

Every ticket needs an owner — and sometimes you create one yourself, like logging a phone call.

  1. Set the assignee (who owns it) and group (which team).
  2. Reassign by choosing a different agent.
  3. To log a new request, click + Add → Ticket.
  4. Pick the requester, add a subject and description.
  5. Submit — it joins the queue like any other.
TICKET #10042 ASSIGNEE M Matt GROUP Support + New ticket
What you'll see: owner set, and a brand-new ticket created
BasicDemo 03 / 12 · Support View

Users & organizations

People are records. Companies are records. They're linked — a relational database hiding in plain sight.

  1. Open an end user's profile.
  2. Click their organization to see everyone linked to it.
  3. Notice the parent → child link: org to users.
  4. Add a new user or organization from People.
  5. Use that context to resolve faster.
ORGANIZATION ServiceTrade U1 U2 U3
What you'll see: one organization, many linked users
BasicDemo 04 / 12 · Support View

Tags

Small labels that quietly run the show — driving routing, follow-up, and automation.

  1. Open a ticket.
  2. Add a tag — vip, escalation, follow-up.
  3. See it land on the ticket.
  4. Tags can be added by hand or by a rule.
  5. Other rules watch for tags and act on them.
TICKET #10042 TAGS vip escalation follow-up automation
What you'll see: tags feeding the rules that act on them
BasicDemo 05 / 12 · Support View

Handling escalations

Not a button — a judgment call. Get the urgent issue to the right person, fast, and keep everyone in the loop.

  1. Raise the priority (e.g., to Urgent).
  2. Reassign to a senior agent or group.
  3. Add a CC / follower to loop people in.
  4. Add an escalation tag.
  5. Leave an internal note explaining the handoff.
PRIORITY URGENT ↑ SENIOR GROUP Escalations CC / FOLLOWERS M A Z escalation
What you'll see: priority up, routed to the right team, CCs added
IntermediateDemo 06 / 12 · Admin View

Creating macros

Build a reusable response once; apply it forever. The biggest single lever for speed and consistency.

  1. Go to Admin Center → Workspaces → Macros.
  2. Click Add macro.
  3. Name it and write the comment.
  4. Add actions — set status, add a tag, set priority.
  5. Save, then apply it on any ticket.
New macro NAME Greeting & acknowledge receipt ACTIONS Set status → Open Add tag → greeting Add comment (canned text) Save
What you'll see: a macro built from name + actions
IntermediateDemo 07 / 12 · Admin View

Triggers & SLAs

Automate "when this happens, do that" — and let Zendesk track the promises you make to customers.

  1. Go to Admin Center → Business rules → Triggers.
  2. Set conditions — when a VIP ticket is created.
  3. Set actions — then set priority High, add a tag.
  4. Add an SLA policy with a first-reply target.
  5. Zendesk enforces it automatically.
WHEN Ticket created Org = VIP THEN Priority → High Add tag → vip SLA · first reply ≤ 1h
What you'll see: an event-driven rule, plus an SLA clock
IntermediateDemo 08 / 12 · Admin View

Views

Saved, filtered lists — the lens each agent looks through. Good views are the difference between calm and chaos.

  1. Go to Views in the sidebar (or Admin Center).
  2. Click Add view.
  3. Set filters — Status = Open and Priority = Urgent.
  4. Choose columns and grouping.
  5. Save — it becomes a shared work queue.
Status: Open Priority: Urgent IDREQUESTERPRIORITYSTATUS 10042Luke S. UrgentOpen 10043Leia O. UrgentOpen 10044Han S. UrgentOpen 3 tickets match this view
What you'll see: a filtered queue agents can work from
IntermediateDemo 09 / 12 · Admin View

Bulk import by CSV

The relational database at scale: load hundreds of records in two files instead of hundreds of forms.

  1. Go to Admin Center → Tools → Data importer.
  2. Import organizations first.
  3. Then import users — they link to those orgs.
  4. Map the fields and start the import.
  5. Find your new roster in People.
CSV 1 · orgs 2 · users import Zendesk
What you'll see: two CSVs becoming a full org + user roster
AdvancedDemo 10 / 12 · APIs & Integrations

An AI chatbot on the website

A front door that answers the easy questions and opens a ticket — with full context — for the rest.

  1. Go to Admin Center → Channels → Messaging.
  2. Turn on the Web Widget and configure the bot.
  3. Add the answers and flows it should handle.
  4. Embed the snippet on your website.
  5. When it can't help, it opens a ticket automatically.
matt-jones.org Hi! How can I help? I need support AI
What you'll see: a bot on your site that escalates into Zendesk
AdvancedDemo 11 / 12 · APIs & Integrations

Gmail into Zendesk

Turn every support email into a tracked ticket — and meet OAuth, the secure handshake between apps.

  1. Go to Admin Center → Channels → Email.
  2. Add your address and connect Gmail with Google sign-in (OAuth).
  3. Send a test email.
  4. Watch it become a ticket in about a minute.
  5. Reply from Zendesk — the whole thread is tracked.
email OAuth TICKET
What you'll see: an email arrive as a ticket, no passwords shared
AdvancedDemo 12 / 12 · APIs & Integrations

APIs, webhooks & Zapier

No software is an island. One event in Zendesk can fan out to every other tool you use.

  1. Pick an event — a ticket tagged urgent.
  2. A webhook / Zap fires automatically.
  3. It posts an alert to Slack.
  4. It logs a row in Google Sheets.
  5. One event, many tools — all through their APIs.
Zendesk event Slack Sheets Gmail
What you'll see: one ticket event triggering Slack, Sheets & more

You just ran the desk.

From a single ticket to a connected system — Gmail, Slack, Sheets, and a website bot, all talking through APIs. That's support as an operation, not just an inbox.

Matt Jones, LLC · Support Solutions — No Matter the Problem
12demos covered
3tiers, one system
∞integrations possible