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Zendesk

Connect support data to product decisions. The Zendesk integration lets your support agents capture feedback directly from tickets and enriches feedback posts with customer context -- so you can see who is asking for what and why.

Overview

The Zendesk integration provides:

  • Capture feedback -- turn Zendesk tickets into feedback posts directly from the agent interface using the sidebar app
  • Link tickets to posts -- connect Zendesk tickets to existing feedback posts so you can track how many support conversations relate to a feature request
  • AI suggestions -- automatically surface relevant existing posts based on the ticket subject
  • Customer context -- enrich feedback with Zendesk user data like organization, tags, and role
  • Vote on behalf -- let agents upvote posts on behalf of the ticket requester when creating or linking

Zendesk is an enrichment integration. It pulls user and organization data into Quackback and provides a sidebar app for agents to capture feedback. It does not create tickets or send notifications to Zendesk.

Prerequisites

  • Admin access to your Quackback workspace
  • A Zendesk account with admin access
  • A Zendesk OAuth application (created in Zendesk Admin Center)
  • Your Zendesk subdomain (the your-company part of your-company.zendesk.com)
  • A Quackback API key (for the sidebar app)

Setup

There are two parts to setting up the Zendesk integration: connecting your Zendesk account via OAuth, and installing the sidebar app for your support agents.

Part 1: Connect Zendesk to Quackback

1. Create a Zendesk OAuth Application

  1. Go to Zendesk Admin Center > Apps and Integrations > APIs > OAuth Clients
  2. Create a new OAuth client
  3. Copy the Client ID and Client Secret
  4. Add your Quackback OAuth callback URL as a redirect URI: 
    https://your-quackback-instance.com/oauth/zendesk/callback

2. Configure Platform Credentials

  1. Go to Admin → Settings → Integrations → Zendesk in Quackback
  2. Click Configure credentials
  3. Enter the following:
    • Client ID from your Zendesk OAuth client
    • Client Secret from your Zendesk OAuth client

3. Enter Your Subdomain

You'll be prompted to enter your Zendesk subdomain. This is the subdomain part of your Zendesk URL:

https://your-company.zendesk.com
         ^^^^^^^^^^^^
         This is your subdomain

The subdomain must be lowercase alphanumeric characters and hyphens only (e.g., acme-corp).

4. Connect Your Account

  1. Click Connect to Zendesk
  2. You'll be redirected to your Zendesk instance to authorize the application
  3. Review the permissions and click Allow

The app requests these OAuth scopes:

ScopePurpose
readSearch users and read organization data
writeRequired for full API access

5. Verify the Connection

Once connected, Quackback stores your Zendesk subdomain and account name. Verify the integration shows as active in the settings.

Part 2: Install the Sidebar App

The sidebar app lets your Zendesk agents search, link, and create feedback posts without leaving the ticket view.

1. Generate an API Key

  1. Go to Admin → Settings → API Keys in Quackback
  2. Create a new API key
  3. Copy the key immediately -- it starts with qb_ and is only shown once

Store this API key securely. It grants access to create and manage feedback posts in your workspace. If compromised, revoke it and create a new one.

2. Download the Zendesk App

Download the Quackback Zendesk app package from your Quackback instance. The app is a private Zendesk app that embeds a sidebar in the ticket view.

3. Upload the App to Zendesk

  1. Go to Zendesk Admin Center > Apps and Integrations > Apps > Zendesk Support Apps
  2. Click Upload private app
  3. Upload the Quackback app package
  4. Configure the app settings:
    • Quackback URL -- your Quackback instance URL (e.g., https://feedback.yourcompany.com)
    • API Key -- the API key you generated in step 1 (starts with qb_)
  5. Click Install

4. Enable the App

Once installed, the Quackback sidebar appears in the ticket view for all agents. You can restrict access to specific agent groups in the Zendesk app settings if needed.

How It Works

When an agent opens a ticket in Zendesk, the Quackback sidebar loads automatically and shows:

Suggested Matches

The sidebar uses the ticket subject to find relevant existing posts using AI-powered similarity matching. Up to 5 suggestions are shown, ranked by relevance. Agents can link a suggestion to the current ticket with one click.

Linked Posts

Any posts already linked to the current ticket are shown at the top of the sidebar. Each linked post shows its title, board, and vote count. Agents can unlink a post if it was linked by mistake.

Agents can search for posts by typing in the search bar. Results update as you type (with a 300ms debounce). If no results match, agents can create a new post directly from the search query.

Create New Post

Agents can create a new feedback post directly from the sidebar:

  1. Click + Create new post (or use the search-to-create flow)
  2. Select a board from the dropdown (lists all public boards)
  3. Enter a title (required, max 200 characters)
  4. Add an optional description (max 10,000 characters)
  5. Link to ticket -- checked by default, links the new post to the current Zendesk ticket
  6. Vote on behalf of requester -- checked by default, casts an upvote attributed to the ticket requester's email

The "vote on behalf" feature is powerful for tracking demand. When multiple agents create or link posts for different tickets, you can see exactly how many customers requested a feature -- not just how many tickets mentioned it.

Customer Context

When you view a feedback post in Quackback, the integration can look up the author's email in Zendesk and display:

  • Name -- the user's full name
  • Email -- the user's email address
  • Role -- the user's Zendesk role (end-user, agent, admin)
  • Organization -- the associated organization name and ID
  • Tags -- all tags applied to the user in Zendesk

Tags in Zendesk are often used to segment customers by plan, region, or priority level. This data appears alongside feedback posts to help you prioritize by customer segment.

Organization Enrichment

When a Zendesk user has an associated organization, Quackback automatically fetches the organization details. This lets you see which company a requester belongs to, even if the feedback was submitted with a personal email.

Ticket Linking

Linking a Zendesk ticket to a feedback post creates a bidirectional reference:

  • In Quackback, the post shows how many support tickets are linked to it
  • Linked tickets are tracked by integration type and external ID, so the same ticket cannot be linked to the same post twice

No Token Expiration

Zendesk OAuth tokens do not expire. Once connected, the integration stays active without requiring token refreshes.

Manage the Integration

Pause

Temporarily stop the integration:

  1. Go to Admin → Settings → Integrations → Zendesk
  2. Toggle Enabled off
  3. User lookups pause, but the connection remains
  4. The sidebar app continues to work independently (it uses its own API key)

Reconnect

If you see connection errors:

  1. Click Reconnect
  2. Re-enter your subdomain if prompted
  3. Re-authorize in Zendesk

Disconnect

To fully remove the integration:

  1. Go to Admin → Settings → Integrations → Zendesk
  2. Click Disconnect
  3. Confirm the action

Disconnecting revokes the OAuth token with Zendesk and removes the stored credentials from Quackback. The sidebar app will continue to function for linking and creating posts as long as its API key is valid. To fully disable the sidebar, uninstall the app from Zendesk or revoke the API key.

Troubleshooting

  1. Check the Quackback URL -- verify the URL in the Zendesk app settings matches your Quackback instance (no trailing slash)
  2. Check the API key -- ensure the API key starts with qb_ and has not been revoked
  3. Check browser console -- look for CORS or network errors in the browser developer tools
  4. Verify the app is installed -- confirm the Quackback app appears in Zendesk Admin Center

No Suggestions Showing

  1. Check the ticket subject -- suggestions are based on the ticket subject line. Very short or generic subjects may not produce matches
  2. Verify posts exist -- the workspace needs existing feedback posts for suggestions to work
  3. Check the API key permissions -- the API key must belong to an admin account

User Not Found

  1. Check the email -- the lookup matches by searching for the email address
  2. Verify the user exists -- confirm the user is in your Zendesk instance
  3. Check permissions -- the connected Zendesk account must have access to search users

Organization Data Missing

  1. Check user association -- the user must be associated with an organization in Zendesk
  2. Verify organization exists -- confirm the organization has not been deleted

"Subdomain Not Configured" Error

The Zendesk subdomain is stored during the initial connection. If it is missing:

  1. Disconnect the integration
  2. Reconnect and enter your subdomain when prompted

"Authentication Failed" Error

  1. Verify your Client ID and Client Secret are correct
  2. Click Reconnect and re-authorize the app
  3. Check that the OAuth client has not been revoked in Zendesk Admin Center

"Quackback URL Not Configured" in Sidebar

This means the Zendesk app settings are missing the Quackback URL:

  1. Go to Zendesk Admin Center > Apps > Manage
  2. Find the Quackback app and click the gear icon
  3. Enter your Quackback instance URL in the Quackback URL field

Next Steps