How to send a carousel or list in a Zendesk messaging conversation

To send a carousel in Zendesk messaging as an agent, install Replywell and paste a Conversations API key into its settings, then build a Carousel template with up to 10 cards. In a messaging ticket, pick the template in the Replywell sidebar, check the preview for the customer's channel, click Insert into reply and press Send. Carousels need Zendesk Suite Professional or above for the API key.

Step 1: create a Conversations API key

1. In Admin Center, click Apps and integrations, then APIs > Conversations API. The page needs Suite Professional or above and the Agent Workspace.
2. Click Create API key, enter a name such as "Replywell", and click Next.
3. Copy the app id, the key id (it starts with app_) and the secret key.
4. In Admin Center > Apps and integrations > Zendesk Support apps > Replywell > Settings, paste Conversations API app id, Conversations API key id and Conversations API key secret. Set Conversations API region to us, or eu if your account keeps messaging data in the EU.
5. Open Replywell in the left navigation bar and click Test connection.

The key secret is a secure setting: agents never see it. Zendesk lets you store up to 10 Conversations API keys; its steps are in Using Conversations API keys.

Step 2: build the carousel

1. Click New template, give it a Name, an Id and a Note for agents, and set Type to Carousel.
2. Add 1 to 10 cards. Each card has a Title, a Description, an Image link (https) and 1 to 3 buttons.
3. Give each button a Label and a Link. Links must start with https:// and have no spaces or brackets.
4. Use placeholders where they help, such as {{ticket.id}} in a link to a tracking page. Values inside links are encoded for the link.
5. Save. Replywell refuses a carousel with no cards, more than 10, or a card with more than 3 buttons.

A List works the same way: up to 10 rows like a carousel, plus buttons under the list. It also needs the API key.

Step 3: send it

1. Open a messaging ticket. The sidebar reads the customer's channel from their latest message and badges the template.
2. Pick the carousel and check the preview. Switch Preview on channel to see another channel.
3. Click Insert into reply, then Insert. The message goes into your reply as a short code; leave it as it is.
4. Press Send. Replywell logs the message in an internal note with its cards and links, and tags the ticket replywell_sent and replywell_<template id>.

How carousels and lists show on each channel

Where a channel shows text, Replywell sends its own text version by default, with one line per card and plain links. Write your own under Own text version (optional), or choose Send it anyway and let Zendesk convert it. Zendesk decides how each channel displays a message and may change it.

Send a draft the same day

To send a carousel, Replywell creates a message template named replywell_... in your Conversations API app and deletes the ones it made after a day. Clean up on the Replywell page does it on demand. A reply drafted with a carousel and sent more than a day later may arrive as a code; insert it again.

What it costs

Replywell is $99 a month per Zendesk account on the Team plan, for up to 14 agents and admins, or $7 per agent per month on the Scale plan for 15 or more. Both plans have every feature, carousels included, and a 14-day free trial; Zendesk asks for a card at install and bills monthly. The full reference is in the Replywell documentation.