Vouchwell: setup and user guide

What Vouchwell does

Vouchwell hands out unique codes from Zendesk. You load voucher, coupon, discount, gift card or license codes into pools; agents put the next unused code into a reply from the ticket sidebar or through a macro. Each code goes to one ticket only, even when several agents click at the same moment, and Vouchwell records who gave which code to which ticket.

Requirements

Plan: Zendesk Suite (Team, Growth, Professional, Enterprise or Enterprise Plus) or Support Enterprise. Vouchwell stores everything in one custom object, "Vouchwell code", and custom objects are only available on those plans. Suite Team allows 3 custom objects, Growth 5, Professional and Support Enterprise 30, Enterprise 50; Vouchwell uses 1.
Records: each pool, code and hand-out is one record (a few hundred bytes; Zendesk's limit is 32 KB per record). Zendesk caps custom object records per account (at most 50 million) and counts them toward your account's data storage (Suite Team: 10 GB plus 50 MB per agent). The Vouchwell page shows your account's current record count and limit, read from Zendesk.
Agent Workspace turned on (a custom objects requirement).
Permissions: on Team, Growth and Professional, admins and agents can view, add, edit and delete custom object records out of the box. On Enterprise, give each custom role that hands out codes view, add, edit and delete on the Vouchwell code object (Admin Center > Objects and rules > Custom objects > Vouchwell code > Permissions). Light agents and contributors have no access to new custom objects until an admin grants it there.

Install

In the Zendesk Marketplace, open Vouchwell and choose Install, then the Standard plan ($199 a month per Zendesk account). The 14-day trial starts and Zendesk asks for a card; billing starts when the trial ends unless you uninstall.
Zendesk creates the "Vouchwell code" custom object during the install. Enterprise plans: set the permissions above.
Recommended: on the object's Permissions tab, set Object list and search to Only admins, so agents get codes through Vouchwell instead of browsing the code list. This does not change what the app can do.
Optional: restrict the app to roles or groups (Admin Center > Apps and integrations > Zendesk Support apps > Vouchwell > Role restrictions).

Settings

Fill macro placeholders automatically (off): when a macro puts [vouchwell:pool-key] in the reply, fill it with a code right away. Off, agents click Fill codes in the sidebar.
Stop a save with an unfilled placeholder (on): agents cannot submit a reply that still holds a placeholder.
Minutes an agent can release a code (60): how long an agent can give back a code they inserted by mistake. Admins can always release.

Create a pool

Open Vouchwell in the left navigation bar (admins see Pools and Load codes) and click New pool:

Name and Key: the key (for example late) goes into macros as [vouchwell:late] and into the ticket tag. It cannot change later.
Note for agents: shown under the pool in the sidebar, for example "Orders more than 5 days late".
Text put in the reply: {{code}} is the code, {{expires}} its expiry date and {{pool}} the pool name. If you leave {{code}} out, the code is added at the end.
Low-stock warning at: when this many usable codes or fewer are left, the sidebar and the admin page warn, and the ticket that crosses the level gets the vouchwell_low_stock tag. Make a trigger on that tag to email whoever reorders codes.
Codes per ticket (default 1, 0 for no limit) and Warn if the customer got one in the last N days (0 for off).
Expiry for codes loaded without one and Tag added to the ticket (default vouchwell_<key>).
Who can hand out these codes: tick groups (and, on Enterprise, custom roles). Nothing ticked means every agent. Admins can always hand out codes.
Untick Agents can hand out codes from this pool to pause a pool.

Load codes

Load codes tab: choose the pool, then paste the codes or choose a .txt or .csv file. The file is read in your browser; only the codes are saved, in your Zendesk account.

One code per line. Optional second column: expiry date as YYYY-MM-DD, separated by a comma, semicolon or tab. A header row such as "code" is skipped. Quotes are fine.
Before loading you see how many codes will be loaded and which lines are repeated, already expired or unreadable.
Codes already in the pool are skipped. Up to 10,000 codes per load; load larger files in parts. Loading 10,000 codes takes a few minutes, because Zendesk creates them in batches of 100.

Hand out a code (agents)

Open a ticket. The Vouchwell sidebar lists the pools you can use with the number of codes left.

Click Insert code. Vouchwell reserves the next code and puts the pool's text at your cursor in the reply (or at the end, if the editor cannot insert at the cursor). The pool tag is added to the ticket.
If the ticket already has a code from that pool, the per-ticket limit says so. If the customer got a code from that pool on another ticket recently, you see where and can still insert one.
Codes on this ticket lists the codes handed out on the ticket. Release gives one back (only if the customer never received it, for example you discarded the reply). Remove it from the reply too.

Codes handed out on a new ticket (before it has a number) are linked to the ticket the first time you open it after saving.

Macros

Put [vouchwell:pool-key] anywhere in a macro's comment text, for example "Sorry for the wait. Here is 15% off: [vouchwell:late]". After applying the macro, click Fill codes in the sidebar (or let Vouchwell fill it automatically). Each placeholder gets its own code. While a placeholder is still in the reply, Zendesk will not save it, so customers never see it.

Admin tools

Pools: stock per pool with a low-stock banner, and the settings above.
Find a code: type an exact code to see its pool, status, expiry, and who gave it, when and on which ticket. Admins can void an unused code (leaked or wrong) so nobody hands it out, restore it, or release a used code that never reached the customer.
Handed out: every code given, newest first, by pool, ticket number or "only mine". It is shown in the app only; Vouchwell has no export or download.

How Vouchwell keeps codes unique

Every hand-out first creates a hand-out record tied to that one code, then waits a moment and checks that it holds the code before marking the code used. If two agents reach for the same code, only one keeps it and the other gets the next code automatically. Admin voids use the same check. This works whether the agents are in the same office or not, and it never needs a Great Work server.

Please do not edit or delete records in the Vouchwell code object by hand (Admin Center or the Custom object records page): use Vouchwell, which keeps the code and its hand-out in step.

Uninstall

Uninstalling stops billing. Zendesk keeps the "Vouchwell code" object and its records, so a reinstall picks up your pools, codes and history. To remove them for good, delete the object in Admin Center > Objects and rules > Custom objects > Vouchwell code. Tags on tickets stay.

Troubleshooting

"Your Zendesk role cannot read or change Vouchwell code records": Enterprise plans, give the role view, add, edit and delete on the Vouchwell code object (see Requirements).
"Custom object not found": the account has no custom objects (Support Team or Professional), or the install did not finish. Check your plan and reinstall.
The count of codes left looks one or two off: Zendesk's search can take a few seconds to include the newest changes. Click Refresh. Hand-outs themselves never rely on that count.
"No codes left": load more codes into the pool, or check that the remaining codes have not passed their expiry date (Find a code shows a code's status).
The placeholder stayed in the reply: the key after vouchwell: must match an active pool's key exactly (Pools tab).

Support

Email hello@greatwork.company. We reply within one business day. Please do not send codes, customer data or passwords.