Zendesk offers two robust customer support solutions: the Web Widget Classic and the new Messaging Widget. This guide is designed to help you grasp the distinctions between the two tools, especially for those preparing to migrate from Web Widget Classic to the new Messaging Widget.
By understanding their differences, you'll be able to make an informed decision on how you will proceed with your widget use. Below we dissect these widgets, providing you with additional notes and workarounds on how to achieves certain features if you are migrating from Web Widget Classic to the new Messaging Widget.
| Capability | Web Widget (Classic) | Messaging | Impact Assessment | Additional Notes | Workaround |
| Create tickets from interactions | Y | Y | No Impact | ||
| Business hours | Y | Y | No Impact |
We can utilise business hours inside the general Messaging settings or inside each Answer flow. |
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| Custom fields in ticket forms | Y | Y | No Impact |
We can utilise individual ticket fields within Messaging workflows, unlike the Classic widget where the entire ticket form can be used. |
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| Authentication | Y | Y | No Impact | ||
| Contact forms | Y | N (simple data capture available) | Major Impact |
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You can utilise the 'Send a Message' answer flow to add buttons with links that direct customers to a ticket form on the Help Center for them to fill out. |
| Banning visitors | Y | N (coming soon) | Major Impact |
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There's a workaround available here; one limitation is that it won't prevent someone from creating new accounts using a different email. Nevertheless, it is effective.
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| Multiple brands | Y (one per brand) | Y (one per brand) | No Impact | ||
| Out of office trigger | Y | Y | No Impact | ||
| Adding tags from specific pages | Y | N | Minor Impact | ||
| Advanced customisation | Y (Via API) | N | Minor Impact |
The customisation options for the messaging widget are limited to what's available in the Zendesk Admin UI. |
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| Sandbox access | Y | Y | No Impact | ||
| Request callback | Y | N | Minor Impact | ||
| Make a call | Y | N | Minor Impact | ||
| Live conversations | Y | N (similar functionality) | Minor Impact |
Agents will require training on the new Messaging product, including basic instruction on its usage and functionality. |
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| Proactive chat | Y | N | Minor Impact | You will no longer be able to proactively initiate contact with a customer who is on a specific page, such as the checkout page. | |
| Automatic text translation | Y | Y | No Impact | If an end-user messages in a language other than English, it will be translated for the agent on the Zendesk agent side. The agent can then reply in English, and the response will be translated back to the user in their language. | |
| Satisfaction Survey (CSAT) | Y | Y | No Impact | ||
| Conversation persistence | N | Y | No Impact | New for Messaging | |
| Skills Based Routing | Y | N | Minor Impact | Not available in Messaging. | There is Omni-channel and other types of standard trigger routing available. |
| Conversational bot | N | Y | No Impact | New for Messaging | |
| AI Agent (Bot builder) | N | Y | No Impact | New for Messaging | |
| Multiple users in conversation | Multi users (agent or end user) | Multi-agent only | No Impact | ||
| Social messaging channel switching | N | Y | No Impact |
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| Continuous conversations | N | Y | No Impact | New for Messaging | |
| Auto replies with articles / Article recommendations | Y | Y | No Impact | ||
| Auto replies / Article suggestions | N | Y | No Impact | New for Messaging | |
| Contextual help / search | Y | N | No Impact | This feature has been replaced with the feature noted in the row above - Auto replies / Article suggestions | |
| Access to restricted help centre content | Y | Y | No Impact | This feature was recently added to Messaging. See here: Announcing restricted content support for Zendesk bots article recommendations and generative replies | |
| Explore Reporting | Y | Y | No Impact | ||
| Widget customisation: Automated text/conversations | N | Y | No Impact | ||
| Widget customisation: Appearance | Y | Y | No Impact | ||
| Conversation extensions | N | Y | No Impact | New for messaging. See here: Announcing Conversation Extensions in Messaging |
We also thought it was worth noting the following Messaging limitations below which may cause minor impact to your Zendesk if you are utilising certain features:
| Description | Additional Notes | ||
| Tickets: You cannot create follow-up tickets for Messaging conversations. | |||
| Routing: Administrators can manage routing settings for Messaging tickets from the Chat dashboard. |
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| Problem / Incident workflow: Incidents can link to problem tickets, but when the problem ticket is solved, public comments are sent via email only if the user has an email address in their user profile. | |||
| Reporting: All ticket-based reporting works except for metrics such as Unreplied tickets, % One-touch, Two-touch solves, Comments (all user types), and Agent updates. These metrics only consider email replies on the ticket. | |||
| Sunshine Conversations: Sunshine Conversations channels do not receive events from WhatsApp if the business number is blocked by an end user. In this case, the events log will not show the delivery status of an agent message sent to the end user. | |||
| Tickets: To create a clickable link in a messaging conversation in Agent Workspace, you must use a complete URL. Hyperlinks are not active. | E.G Hyperlinks in macros won't work on messaging tickets. It needs to be the full URL i.e https://www.google.com | ||