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Gainsight Inc.

Zendesk: Integration FAQs

IMPORTANT NOTE: Gainsight is upgrading Connectors 2.0 with Horizon Experience. This article applies to tenants which are yet to be upgraded to the Horizon Experience of Connectors 2.0. If you are using Connectors 2.0 with Horizon Experience, you can find the documentation here.

Important: There is a per month cost to access both the Gainsight widget in Zendesk and the data sync into MDA. You will need to purchase licenses from Gainsight for your support staff in Zendesk. If you are interested in this integration, please contact your CSM or sales rep for more information.

What are the use cases that the Zendesk Integration solves?

  • Keeps the Support team current on Customer Success information
  • Keeps the Customer Success team in the loop on Support Activity
  • Allows the two team to better collaborate through shared data and CTAs

How do I set it up?

A customer must have existing Zendesk and Gainsight subscriptions. The setup is twofold: install the App from the Zendesk Marketplace and associate it with your Gainsight Instance. See the Zendesk Integration Support Article for detailed steps.

What can I do in Zendesk?

From the Gainsight widget in Zendesk, you can:

  • View the C360 Summary section for the Customer associated with that Zendesk Org
  • View the Company Attributes section for the Customer associated with that Zendesk Org
  • View the Usage data section added as Layout from th e Adoption Explorer for the Customer associated with that Zendesk Org (can view one measure at a time)
  • Create a CTA in Gainsight that is associated with that Customer
    In the CTA, you can assign:
    • Subject
    • Owner
    • Reason
    • Due Date
    • Additional Comments (A hyperlink to the ticket in Zendesk is automatically added)
  • Link to an existing any CTA in Gainsight that is associated with that Customer
    1. You can search for existing open CTAs by Subject
    2. When linked, a hyperlink to the ticket in Zendesk is automatically added to the Comments

What can I do in Gainsight?

  1. You can sync ticket history into Gainsight: The ticket history will be synced into a new Gainsight object named ‘Zendesk Tickets’
  2. Once the ticket data is synced, you can use the full range of Gainsight capabilities with that data (i.e., Reporting, Rules Engine, Scorecards, etc.)

What are the common use cases for Zendesk data in Gainsight?

  • Ticket escalation and management: Support creates a CTA in Zendesk for an escalated ticket to be picked up by the Customer Success Team
  • Risk Management Framework: Ticket trending data is incorporated into the Scorecard and CTAs to support the Risk Management Framework
  • Track trends in ticket data: Ticket counts by severity and type and also average ticket resolution time can be mapped into Usage Data and displayed on the C360 Usage Graph
  • Incorporate Support into Customer Success Management: Reports on ticket data and trends are incorporated into the C360 and existing Management Dashboards

Can I delete a CTA from Zendesk?

No, you can only delete CTAs from Gainsight.

Which Zendesk fields are synced into Gainsight?

  • All standard Zendesk Custom fields can be brought through the Zendesk connector.
  • A new field that contains a URL to the Zendesk ticket is added to every record in Gainsight.
  • A new field that contains the ticket created month is added to every record in Gainsight.

Can I map multiple Zendesk Orgs to one Salesforce Account?

Yes, you can. For more information, refer to Bulk Mapping of Zendesk Organizations to Accounts.

How many tickets can I associate to one CTA?

You can associate multiple - additional hyperlinks will be appended to the Comments for each new Ticket.

How many CTAs can I associate to one Ticket?

You can only associate one CTA to one Ticket.

How often is Zendesk data synced to Gainsight?

It is synced daily, at the time specified during the Integration Setup.

What is the recommended time to set the daily sync?

It is recommended to set the sync to run outside of business hours (typically overnight) so the users can expect to see fresh data at the start of each day.

Is there a recommended period of history of ticket data to sync into Gainsight?

Up to one year of history is recommended.

Can I control the layout of the CTA as it appears in the Zendesk Widget?

Yes, the layout of the CTA in Zendesk is comprised of the standard CTA fields (Subject, Customer, Owner, Reason, and Due Date) and any editable fields that have been added to the Risk CTA Layout.

How does the Zendesk to Gainsight sync differ from the Zendesk to Salesforce Sync?

1. Data Sync Location

  • Salesforce: If you choose to sync Zendesk data into Salesforce, it is synced into a Zendesk managed object in Salesforce
  • Gainsight: The data is synced into Gainsight, external to your Salesforce environment and does not impact your Salesforce Storage


2. Data History

  • Salesforce: Will sync tickets from the time the integration is enabled onward (no historical data can be brought in)
  • Gainsight: You can select the desired time period of data to be synced, including historical data

3. Zendesk Org to Salesforce Account Mapping

  • Salesforce: Automatically maps Zendesk Orgs to Salesforce Accounts based on a match between Org and Account name. Can only map one Org to one Account

  • Gainsight: Manually map Zendesk Orgs to Gainsight Company records via the Gainsight widget in Zendesk. The widget will suggest a Gainsight Company to map to the Zendesk Org based on name match but you can choose to override this.

4. Gainsight specific functionality

  • All of the functionality contained in the widget in Zendesk is unique to the Zendesk/Gainsight integration

If I already have the Zendesk to Salesforce Sync, how does this impact the Zendesk to Gainsight Sync?

The Zendesk to Gainsight sync operates completely independently from the Zendesk to Salesforce Sync. All of the mappings and data history that are synced will be unique to Gainsight and will not affect any mappings and data history contained in the Zendesk to Salesforce Sync.

Will I get a notification if the sync fails for some reason?

No, this is not available.

Can I automatically or bulk upload mappings between Zendesk Orgs and Salesforce Accounts?

Yes, it is possible to setup automated or bulk mapping via a Gainsight Services Package. It is a requirement that you are able to provide the mapping between a Zendesk Organization ID and a Salesforce AcccountID into your Salesforce Environment or into Gainisght's MDA. Please contact your CSM for pricing.

Can I associate Zendesk Orgs to Gainsight Relationships?

No, this is not available.

Is the Assignee field available for reporting?

Not currently. No Gainsight custom fields are available for integration at this time.

Why is my ticket data in Gainsight, but it's not tied to any accounts?

Confirm that the url for the installed app on the Zendesk side is: https://app.gainsight.com/v1.0/api and ensure the correct mapping is performed from Zendesk Organization to Gainsight Company.

How come I can't see the sign in option after I turn on the Zendesk connector?

When turning on the Zendesk connector, a browser-pop up blocker can prevent the “sign in” page from loading.

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