Zendesk Side Conversations
A way to ask a third party something without leaving the ticket or looping the customer in. Genuinely useful, and easy to overuse.
What they are for
A side conversation is a separate thread attached to a ticket: an email to a supplier, a message to another team, a Slack thread, kept alongside the customer conversation rather than inside it.
The customer never sees it. The context stays attached to the ticket instead of disappearing into somebody personal mailbox, which is the entire point.
Side conversation, child ticket or forward?
The failure mode
A ticket that is waiting on a side conversation looks like a ticket that is being worked, so it ages quietly while everyone assumes it is in hand.
Set a status that means "waiting on a third party", report on those separately, and chase the side conversation rather than the customer. Otherwise you get the worst outcome: an aged ticket, an unaware customer, and a supplier who never replied.
Frequently asked questions
Can the customer see a side conversation?+
No. It is a separate thread with its own recipients.
Side conversation or child ticket?+
Side conversation for an answer you need. Child ticket when another team owns real work with its own tracking.
Keep the ticket count honest
Side conversations keep context in one place. Merging keeps one request in one ticket.
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