Make Decision Trees with Reusable Content with Zingtree Libraries

February 20, 2019 | Categories: Business, For Beginners, How To, Knowledge Management | by Tiffany

zingtree libraries

Have you ever required a way to access and reuse the information in your decision tree nodes in more than one tree? With the Zingtree Libraries functionality, you can easily create a single source of reusable content that can be inserted into as many different of your decision trees as you need.

With a library in place, you’re able to compile a single source of all of your most critical content. When you insert content from your library into a decision tree (or many trees), every edit to that master list is automatically applied to all of the trees where that content appears. It’s the fastest, most seamless way to introduce mass changes from one centralized place, as well as keep your overall content and information up-to-date in the most convenient way possible.

Setting Up Libraries

Libraries are simple: They draw from another tree and a specific node within that tree; the content area of that tree and node can be inserted into any other tree.

Example: Insert this code into the content area of your tree to include content from tree #123456789 node #10:

#‌#library: 123456789,10 ##

More on Libraries:

  • You can only use a library from the same organization as the active tree displaying. This prevents someone else’s content from appearing in your tree.
  • If your tree is displaying as a LIVE version, then the library content will be pulled from the LIVE version of the library tree. If the tree including the library content is a DEVELOPMENT version, then DEVELOPMENT content is displayed instead.

Any questions? Don’t hesitate to reach out. 

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Zingtree: First Updates for 2019

February 18, 2019 | Categories: Product Updates, Zingtree News | by Bill Zing

The new year is always a good time to introspect about what you’ve been doing the previous year, and as a company, we’ve taken this time to enhance the core Zingtree experience and make it better. There are a few new features, some bug fixes, and a lot of performance updates.

Here’s what we’ve been up to since our last updates post in December:

2019-02-16:

  • Update: List boxes can now contain more than 65536 characters
  • Update: Session Detail now can show variable values at each step. Really helpful for debugging logic nodes.
  • Update: Greatly Improved speed of Agent Detail report.
  • Update: All Agent Usage report faster and more accurate, Agent Detail report also sped up.
  • Update: Traffic (Button clicks) report 5x faster, defaults to All Nodes view.
  • Update: Content editor now accepts <picture> tags (Nichol)


2019-02-11:

  • Update: Added scroll_parent_to_top URL parameter (Paul K.)
  • Update: Email node body copy no longer has 64 Kb limit (Cathy M.)
  • Update: API calls for agent sessions now much faster.


2019-02-09:

  • Fix: No longer gets “SSL certificate problem: unable to get local issuer certificate” error in rare webhooks


2019-02-08:

  • Fix: Boolean data returned from webhook no longer causes a failure.
  • New: Improved Math webhook takes expressions now


2019-02-05:

  • Fix: Reduced session timeout from 24 hours to 4 hours to improve security.
  • Fix: Updated iFrame embed code for SSO trees to ensure SSO logins occur, login name is registered as agent variable (Jason L.)


2019-02-04:

  • Fix: JSON export now validates properly – no longer losing last character.


2019-01-31:

  • Fix: API Log now always logs correct call time.
  • Update: API call tree_sessions now faster.


2019-01-26:

  • New: Added “List Variables” tool under More Tools (Shawn M.)


2019-01-15:

  • Fix: Download PDF option fixes a Sarafi issue.


2019-01-23:

  • Fix: Datepicker data entry field now better automatically chooses proper date format based upon user’s browser settings – no more Chinese in some cases (Lasse)
  • Update: Added Danish as a language option.
  • Update: “Add Another” button in repeating form fields is now in the chosen language in Settings.
  • Update: Persistent buttons no longer wrap prematurely. (Lasse)


2019-01-21:

  • Fix: Single quotes in button click variables no longer cause JS errors.
  • Fix: Authors who are allowed access to DEV tree but not LIVE tree can now see Settings on Live tree (Paul K.)
  • Fix: Push Live now asks for SSO change – no longer automatically enables SSO for the organization (Paul K.)


2019-01-19:

  • Update: Can now update text input boxes from hidden fields (single . erases text input boxes)
  • Fix: Duplicate Node now copies all data entry field attributes.
  • Update: Copy node from Overview now shows “this tree” as first option.
  • New: Merge variables can now be sent as query string parameters prefixed by zv_ .


2019-01-16:

  • Update: Event Log for Emails now flags bounced emails, inserts node where the email was sent from.
  • Update: Task manager uses shorter task IDs (Allie & Heather)
  • Update: Added Task ID to completed tasks list.
  • Update: Killed tasks show empty completion date.
  • New: Added direct link option to link nodes to foil pop-up blockers.


2019-01-15:

  • Fix: Reset Dates for All Trees – Stats now keeps last report as default.
  • Fix: Restart no longer deletes radio button values, which caused radio buttons not to work after a restart.
  • Update: API throttling now just tracks CPU intensive calls (find_tree_sessions, find_sessions, find_agent_sessions)
  • Update: Event log for emails now adds an error flag for “invalid” emails.

 

2019-01-12:

  • Update: Receipts show an invoice number (Tom)
  • Update: LIVE versions can now view options from Settings tool. (Paul K.)
  • Update: Doc node PDF/HTML files no longer have doc node title in output (Nick M.)
  • Update: Restart button now erases form fields (Matt W.)
  • Update: Email node form can now handle variable substitutions for subject, send-to .
  • Update: Zendesk agent scripting app now includes zd_ticket_id as a variable (if shared with Zingtree) (Al V.)
  • Update: Database is allocated more memory to increase performance.

 

2019-01-09:

  • Update: Missing multiple required fields just shows one message for all.
  • Fix: Missing required email field now highlighted properly.
  • Fix: Email nodes now also can use #agent# as agent name in sent email. (Jason L.)
  • Update: Agent Feedback form asks for email if a response is requested (Carolyn W.)

 

2019-01-06:

  • New: All Trees – Session and Form Data report.
  • New: Reports page separates organization-based and tree-based reports.
  • Update: Consolidated browser/OS/country reports into a  single Demographics report.
  • Fix: quotes in page titles no longer make #taglist# or #pagelist# inserts fail when clicked upon (Matt W.).

 

2019-01-01:

  • Fix: Newlines in form data no longer cause errors in task manager (Nicolas B.)

 

2018-12-21:

  • Update: Added “copy History to Clipboard” button to History area (Dr. William)

 

2018-12-20:

  • Fix: Copy to clipboard option in nodes now retains line breaks from formatting (Jason L.)

 

2018-12-19:

  • New: Download HTML File option for document nodes (Caesar)
  • Update: Document nodes now allow variables for comparison (Kelsye)

 

2018-12-18:

  • Fix: Document nodes now use custom CSS in output for PDFs (Jennifer C.)
  • Fix: Document nodes in subtrees now pull proper nodes from the subtree, not the main tree (Kelsye)

 

2018-12-17:

  • Fix: Returning to the previous tree no longer fails when live copy got pushed (Jason L.)

 

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How to Do Math Calculations in Decision Trees

February 10, 2019 | Categories: How To, Product Updates | by Bill Zing

Updated Feb. 10, 2019

If you’re using Data Entry Fields or Merge Variables to bring data into your decision tree session, you may want to perform math calculations on these variables. Zingtree offers a “Math Webhook” option that lets you assign a new variable to the results of an equation. Here’s how to set it up:

  1. Edit the node where you want the new variable (the result of the math operation) to be calculated.
  2. Click on the Apps/Webhooks tab.
  3. Under Call App or Webhook, choose Webhook: Zingtree Math.

     

  4. In the Message Data, you enter the equation. You can insert variables (enclosed with # characters), and assign a result to a new variable (no enclosing # characters). In the above example from our Zingtree Math Demo tree, we are assigning the variable area to be equal to the variables width times height. 
    area=#width#*#height#

 

Example Calculations

Here are some examples:

result=(#a#+#b#)*3
Set variable result to a plus b, times 3.

area=round (100 * (#radius#^2)*pi)/100
Set the variable area to pi times the radius squared. Then multiply it by 100, round it to an integer, and divide by 100 to make two decimal places only. (“pi” is a built-in constant).

Reference

These Operations are supported:

Operation Details Example
+ Addition 2+3 = 5
– Subtraction 5-3 = 2
* Multiplication 5*3 = 15
/ Division 15/3 = 4
^ Power 5^2 = 25
( ) parenthesis (2 + 3) * 5 = 25

You can also use these Functions

Function Details Example
exp e raised to the power of x exp(1) = 2.718281828
log natural logarithm log(2.718281828) = 1
sqrt square toot sqrt(25) = 5
round round to nearest integer round(3.14) = 3
floor round down floor (3.14) = 3
ceil round up ceil (3.14) = 4
abs absolute value abs(-2) = 2
sgn sign: -1 if < 0, 1 if > 0 sgn(-20) = -1

Trigonometric functions are also available (sin, cos, tan, etc.)

You can also use the constants pi and e .

Tip

If you are using single letter variables, then you don’t need to enclose them with # characters. For example, if w and h are the width and height of a rectangle, you can calculate the area with this equation:

area = w*h

Demo

The Zingtree Demo gallery has an example. You can try it and examine it.

View Demo

 

 

Original Deprecated Math Webhooks (still active, but no longer recommended):

If you’re using Data Entry Fields or Merge Variables to bring data into your decision tree session, you may want to perform basic math operations on these variables. Zingtree offers a stock webhook option that lets you assign a new variable to the results of an addition, subtraction, multiplication or division operation. Here’s how to set it up:

  1. Edit the node where you want the new variable (the result of the math operation) to be calculated.
  2. Click on the Apps/Webhooks tab.
  3. Under Call App or Webhook, choose Webhook: Zingtree Math.

  4. In the Message Data, you’ll need to provide the operation, the two variables or values to calculate, and a variable name for the result. In the example above, we’re assigning a variable named result to the sum of variables a and b. Variables must be enclosed in # characters.

Example Calculations

Here are some message examples:

&op=plus&a=5&b=3&result=c
Sets variable c to 5+3

&op=minus&a=#gross#&b=#expenses#&result=net
Sets variable net to the difference of variables gross and expenses.

&op=times&a=#weeks#&b=7&result=days
Sets variable days = weeks * 7.

&op=div&a=#days#&b=7&result=weeks
Sets variable weeks = days / 7.

 

Operations Reference

You can use the following in the op= parameter:

  • plus
  • minus
  • times
  • div

 

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5 Ways to Get More Out of Zingtree in the New Year

January 28, 2019 | Categories: Business, Customer Support, Customization, For Beginners, How To, Sales & Marketing, Use Cases | by Tiffany

A new year is always a new chance to look at things with fresh eyes and do things better. We’re uncovering some of the great ways to improve your experience with Zingtree decision trees, making the process of building decision trees easier, more dynamic, and more time-saving.

Here are 5 of the most unique and valuable ways to get more out of Zingtree this year…

1. Explore new methods of customizing.

We made it part of our mission to make creating decision trees fast, easy, and accessible; another big part of that is making them flexible enough to fit any business’ possible needs, branding, and more. How do we do it? Through our ever-growing roster of decision tree customizations. Along with the basic choices like selecting panels vs. buttons for users to click through, we’ve built out support for other custom adjustments like:

You can see other decision tree customizations right here.

2. Set your decision trees to support multiple languages.

How many of your current or potential customers can’t properly access your decision trees? It’s not just about being able to view and click through, it’s about being able to really understand what’s going on in their native language. When you set your decision trees to support multiple languages, you’re opening yourself up for better satisfaction, faster resolution, and increased customer loyalty for putting in the effort to really speak to them.

You can include a Google Translate option in your decision trees which allows them to automatically support foreign languages – just use &google_translate=* to support ALL language translations that Google offers! You can find the complete list of languages here, and take a look at another way to translate decision trees here.

3. Utilize Advanced Logic Nodes to automatically branch with more complex rules.

Logic rules and decision trees are a true match made in heaven. With all of the power of your decision trees already in place, you can use simple logic to automatically branch to a node in your tree based upon data entered or choices made earlier in the session..

With more advanced logic set up, you can create a set of more complex rules and operations to accomplish even more. For instance, by building expressions out as shown below, you can create a decision tree system that sends users to get specific advice based on their age and state.

4. Connect Zingtree with Zapier (and other amazing applications).

Decision trees are powerful on their own, but their value increases tenfold when you can share data with other applications. Using Zingtree with Zapier allows your business to send data collected during each decision tree session to over 1000+ applications currently supported by Zapier. This means more simple data exchange to do things like:

  • Save new customer information in a Google Sheets or Excel row for more streamlined tracking.
  • Send info collected in a tree session to Salesforce, Zoho, or any other CRM for faster customer management.
  • Add an email address entered into a tree into Mailchimp automatically for improved list growth.

There are so many possibilities depending on the tools you currently use. Get in touch with us to chat about how our integrations can make your life easier.

5. Look for areas of improvement.

With your decision trees already in circulation within your company or helping out your customers online, one of the biggest things you can do is check back in to see how they can be improved. Because our decision tree platform allows you to collect key information and data instantaneously, it’s easy to see where adjustments can be made for the better.

With Zingtree reports and analytics, you can see exactly how your trees are performing in a number of ways and use that information to make improvements to those decision trees that make them even better. With better trees come better results! A few areas of improvement to consider could be:

  • If users are leaving the tree too early, try condensing or reducing the overall number of nodes.
  • If you’re getting feedback that your decision tree messaging isn’t clear enough, try integrating more visuals and graphics.
  • If call center agents aren’t receiving the best ratings for their service, try adjusting the script until you see positive changes.

We’re always working on improving our decision tree platform and making it exactly what our customers want. Have an idea for a new feature or a suggestion for how we can do better? Get in touch with us.

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7 Big Call Center Predictions for 2019

January 16, 2019 | Categories: Business, Call Centers | by Tiffany

Image via Call Centre Helper

Call centers are constantly changing and adapting to fit the growing needs of customers, and – surprise – those changing demands and expectations are more dynamic than ever. When we’re looking at the overall landscape of call centers and support teams putting in the time with these customers, it’s always important to identify trends and patterns that help us shape our strategies.

Call Center Predictions from the Pros

In a recent Call Centre Helper article, their panel of experts has published their call center predictions for 2019, ultimately defining how they believe the industry will evolve this year. Among 23 fantastic pieces of insight for any size of call center or support team, we pulled out 7 of our favorites.

1. Organisations Will Realise That Mobile Is the Channel of Choice

The lowest hanging fruit for self-service for 2019 planning is to make sure that you’ve optimised your mobile app, and mobile-friendly website, for quick responses to common customer questions and issues. – Chris Bauserman at NICE inContact

Related: Clever Ways to Make Customer Service Less Annoying

2. Customer Feedback Will Be Used More to Improve Experiences

By capturing what customers want to achieve, smart VoC initiatives can inform customer experience re-engineering to address 100% of customer needs, whether they’re engaging digitally or through the contact centre.

Related: 7 Ways to Ensure You Get More Customer Feedback

3. A Greater Effort Will Be Put Into Training Advisors

Next year, contact centres should focus on training advisors and providing them with great tools so they can, in return, look after customers. – Stephanie Liais at RingCentral

Related: Simple Software: How to Start a Training Program with Decision Trees

4. Technology Choices Will Be Made in Light of the Overall Experience

Customers will become increasingly frustrated with the lack of human interaction and a fractured customer journey as businesses struggle to tie channels together. Customers expect to seamlessly switch from self-service options on web and mobile to chat, email or phone. – Kris McKenzie at Calabrio

Related: Balancing the Digital & Human Experience in Customer Support

5. Channels Will Increasingly Be Joined Together

In 2019 contact centres will be offering more to meet consumer expectations by joining up multiple channels – from voice to website to messaging app. We’ll be joining up systems and working smarter to provide faster, user-friendly services that engage with customers better. – Ken Reid at Rostrvm Solutions

Related: Create More Powerful Decision Trees with Integrations

6. Contact Centres Will Extend Digital Transformations to the Back Office

There will be a new focus on constructing an organisational core where automation, reporting, analytics, workflow, real-time analysis and integration with other systems will change the way work gets completed. – Nick Emblem at Business Systems

Related: Decision Trees for Business Processes – The Zingtree Task Manager Tool

7. Identifying and Retaining Unhappy Customers Will Become a Priority

Of course, there will be cases when an unhappy customer becomes frustrated that an organisation has been unable to resolve their issue. But through predictive behavioural routing, unhappy customers can be routed to the employee or channel best equipped to handle their personality style, resulting in more productive and positive outcomes. – Ed Creasey at NICE

Related: How Call Center Scripting Software is Giving New Life to Old Customer Service

Read the rest of the article to see all 23 of their expert call center predictions! 

How to Set up Your Call Center or Support Team for Success

This year, it’s more important than ever to stay on top of what customers expect from their customer service interactions and support engagements. For the vast majority of consumers, how these interactions are handled can improve or diminish how your customer service efforts are perceived.

Zingtree decision trees are one such tool that was specifically designed to improve the customer experience, reduce support tickets, and enhance agent-to-customer communications. It’s a fully interactive, completely customized, mobile-friendly decision trees to guide customers through a setup process, troubleshooting, returns, and more. Zingtree helps bridge the gap between what customers want from a personalized support experience and what businesses can easily provide with limited resources. In short: decision trees help build better call centers and support efforts!

Want to see more about how Zingtree helps call centers and support teams around the world to keep up with (and stay ahead of) trends in customer service? Contact us to learn more or get started today!

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The Most Simple Ways to Build an Interactive Decision Tree

January 3, 2019 | Categories: For Beginners, How To | by Bill Zing

Zingtree’s decision tree platform makes it easy to offer your end-users an interactive way to find answers, optimize workflows, and a whole lot more. Below, we’ll walk you through how to make a basic decision tree using our most popular methods of creation in order to help you get a closer, step-by-step look at how it’s all done.

How to Use the Wizard

The Wizard is our most-used creation tool, offering simple prompts to build your tree, question by question (and answer by answer). It’s one of the easiest ways to work through an accurate flow for your customers or users.

1. Log in to your Zingtree account, go to My Trees and select Create New Tree. Choose the option to fill out forms with the Zingtree Wizard.

2. After naming your decision tree, choosing your ideal display style and providing a description, just click the Create Tree button to move on to the next step.

3. Once you start the Wizard, you’ll see an entry screen that will prompt your first question and answer options, along with some main body content to give users context.

You’ll also be able to see a live preview of what the decision tree will look like, off to the right:

When you’re finished setting up your first question, click Save and Continue.

4. You’ll next be asked to fill out an unfinished part of your decision tree. Click to Offer a Solution, and fill out the form presented to you. Since this is a solution node, you won’t need to ask any other questions.

Click Save and Continue again when you’re finished.

5. Next, you’ll continue to fill out more questions and answers to reach the end paths of your decision tree. For a greater selection, try providing more answer choices.

6, Next, you’ll see a page with an overview of the sequence you’re building. In this case, choose to Offer a Solution. This will be the end of one of the paths in your decision tree for your end-user.

7. Continue to complete the rest of the forms that the Wizard prompts. When you’re all done with the interactive building process, the Overview page will appear to show you every node and path in an easy-to-digest way.

Watch our tutorial video for more information about the Zingtree Wizard. 

How to Use the Designer

The Designer tool is another great way to create decision trees in a more visual way. Presented in a whiteboard-style screen, you can easily build out every node, connection, and pathway while being able to see a high-level overview the whole time.

1. Log in to your Zingtree account, go to My Trees and select Create New Tree. Choose the option to visually draw out your decision tree with the Zingtree Designer.

2. Once you start Designer, you’ll see the white board-style screen like the one shown below. Click on the green box for Node #1. This will be your starting node – the very first page your end-users will see.

2. Next, you’ll see an edit window appear on the right-hand side. Change the Title, Question and Content areas to fit your tree needs.

Next, add another question by dragging a New Question node into the drawing area. Click the green box for the new question node, and edit it like the first time.

3. Drag a Final Answer node answer node into the drawing area, and edit it.

After adding your first questions and a Final Answer node, the Designer area will show everything like this:

You can drag as many question and Final Answer nodes into the Designer drawing area as it makes sense for your needs, and label them respectively.

5. After adding the question and answer nodes to your decision tree, it’s time to link them together. Hover over node #1 until you see a large dot appear, then drag it over to its connecting node.

After finishing linking all of your nodes correctly, it’ll look something like this:

6. The next step is to create the buttons your end-users will click, by editing the connecting arrows. Click the connector – in our example, titled “Check the Weather” – and an edit form will appear. Change it to look like the form below:

After you connect the rest of the choices in your tree, and relabel the connecting arrows, your decision tree will look something like this one:

Watch our tutorial video for more information about the Zingtree Designer. 

No matter the route you take to get there, you’ll end up with the same stunning, super-powerful decision tree. Click through our demo trees within the Gallery to check out even more.

How to Import from Spreadsheets

You can also use Google Sheets or Excel to begin building your decision tree in a spreadsheet format, then importing it into your Zingtree account to customize, clean up, and publish. You’ll need to first learn more about the specific rules in place for starting the formation of your decision tree in a spreadsheet. 

Here’s how our example tree used in the tutorials appears in Google Sheets:

Here’s how our example tree used in the tutorials appears in Excel:

Once your decision tree content is looking and feeling well fleshed-out, you can easily import the file from Google Sheets or Excel into Zingtree to refine further before making it live. Here’s how it’s done:

  1. In your spreadsheet, select the entire range of cells for your tree, and copy to the clipboard (Ctrl+C or Cmd+C).
  2. In Zingtree, go to the Import via Copy and Paste tool

  3. Choose Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets as the source, depending on what you used to set up.
  4. Enter a name for your decision tree.
  5. Paste the data copied from step 1 into the data area. (Use Ctrl+V or Cmd+V).
  6. Click Import and Create Tree.

Have any questions about getting started with Zingtree decision trees? We’d love to speak with you anytime!

This article was originally published on September 14, 2016, and has been updated to include new creation methods. 

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Top 7 Decision Tree Examples for Streamlining Your Business

December 19, 2018 | Categories: Business, For Beginners, Use Cases | by Tiffany

Decision Tree Examples

Decision trees are incredibly versatile and powerful tools for call centers, support teams, eCommerce sites, and so much more. With a vast range of use cases and dynamic features, a well-built decision tree can streamline everyday processes, improve communications, and reduce support tickets, just to name a few!

Because these tools can be used in so many different ways, it can often be difficult to think of a specific use case that makes sense for your needs – that’s where our decision tree examples come into play. With a complete menu of decision trees that have been adapted, customized, and put to the test in real-world scenarios, it’s the best place to take a look at how they can function for any type of business.

Let’s take a look at just a few of our many decision tree examples that you can clone, adjust, and put live for yourself. Want to jump to our full gallery of decision tree examples for just about every industry? Head down to the bottom of this post…

1. How to help customers help themselves with interactive troubleshooters.

Decision Tree Examples

In this decision tree example, you will get the most basic sense of how a decision tree can be used to facilitate better customer support. With a guided format that breaks questions down into easy pieces, customers will be much more comfortable searching for answers.

 

2. How to integrate decision tree tech and data into your favorite CRM tool.

Decision Tree Examples

In this decision tree example, you’ll see how a decision tree can be set up to help showcase certain features or functionalities. With our functional Zendesk Chat demo, you can view exactly how the integration between decision trees and CRMs works.

 

3. How to gather all the right information with a guided customer conversation. 

Decision Tree Examples

In this decision tree example, you will be able to take a close look at how decision trees are used to build fully customized call scripts for sales, customer support, and a variety of other needs, in order to help improve the customer experience.

 

4. How to easily schedule appointments with all of the correct specifications.

Decision Tree Examples

In this decision tree example, you can view exactly how decision trees are used to help make the process of scheduling appointments less of a hassle. You’re able to gather important info and route that customer where they need to go, all through an interactive platform embedded right on your site.

 

5. How to collect and verify important, personal customer data during a call. 

Decision Tree Examples

In this decision tree example, you’ll see how a basic call script works within a guided decision tree format. With Zingtree, you can easily collect and verify customer data like phone number, email, and USPS address to cut down on resources.

 

6. How to generate a full PDF document and send it as an email in just a couple of clicks.

Decision Tree Examples

In this decision tree example, you can get a functional look at how decision tree technology allows you to generate a custom PDF document based on the information gathered, then sending it off via email in one fell swoop.

 

7. How to help your customers find the perfect pair of sunglasses (or any other product for sale).

Decision Tree Examples

In this decision tree example, you can see how a product finder decision tree enables online retail, eCommerce, and other businesses operating online to help customers find exactly what they need in an interactive environment.

 

Want more examples? 

See decision tree examples for customer support.

See decision tree examples for call centers.

See decision tree examples for business processes.

See decision tree examples for retail and eCommerce.

See decision tree examples for sales.

See decision tree examples for medical.

See decision tree examples for insurance.

See decision tree examples for training.

See decision tree examples with logic.

See decision tree examples for generating documents.

See decision tree examples for Zendesk.

See decision tree examples for live chat.

To see all of our decision tree examples in action, visit our complete gallery of trees right here.

Any questions? Please reach out!

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Fall 2018 Updates: What’s New & Improved with Zingtree Decision Trees

December 17, 2018 | Categories: Product Updates, Zingtree News | by Bill Zing

As always, we prioritize the needs of our customers first. This Fall’s updates include some enhancements to the Agent Portal, new apps for Freshdesk and Salesforce, enhancements to the Task Manager, and more complex expressions in Logic Nodes (Advanced Logic Nodes).

Here’s a complete list of new features we’ve added this Fall:

New Stuff

  • Advanced Logic Nodes
  • Custom Validation Data Entry Field
  • tree_sessions API call now includes duration, last_click_time (Devon V.)
  • Added Webhook, Salesforce App calls to the Event Log (Lasse)
  • Added data variable option in Settings for container_url  (for Jaco P.)
  • New Freshdesk “new ticket” app
  • New Agent Portal options for standard/concise view, show/hide “start again with customer” option (Mathieu)
  • Added Change Password link to Agent Portal.
  • Added Change Password page for Agents in Agent Portal.
  • Added “Reset password on first login” option for adding agents in bulk.
  • Exit Nodes report (Mathieu)
  • Can start Task Manager tasks remotely. (Doug S.)
  • Task Manager – added “Return Later” button (Doug S.)
  • Task Manager remote-start webhook option can now send variables into a task session. (Allie & Heather)
  • Added Salesforce Updater app to Zingtree.
  • Added Google Translate URL parameter option. (Phoebe Y.)
  • If agent logged in via SSO (Single Sign-on) and no source is set, uses SSO login as agent name. (Jay L.)

Updates

  • Opera – double quotes in button text now save properly.
  • Emails to multiple recipients now send as one. (Christian)
  • Email server delivery issues (bounce, reject, spam, etc.) now appear in Event Log at a later date.
  • Document node titles with spaces turn into underscores in PDF file name. (Ryan C.)
  • Added password reset link to agent login.
  • Auto-send email now makes proper newlines from multiline input forms. (Thorsten W.)
  • Spreadsheet import now supports advanced logic nodes.
  • Error messages for SSO not enabled are now better. (Jay L)
  • Added CSV option to Node Popularity, Exit Nodes Report report. (Shay)
  • Exit nodes report now has the option to show exits from the starting tree, even if a subtree was launched.
  • Added an Info button to Agent Portal History to show more details – including data collected. (Tommy G.)
  • Task manager now has a “Task Complete -Return to Tasks” button. (Doug S)
  • Can now include app message as object type to update custom SF objects.
  • Max document nodes increased from 100 to 300. (David M)
  • Document nodes now have a default title if none specified. Blank titles were causing PDF generation to do unpredictable things.
  • google_translate option now includes specifier for specific languages (i.e. &google_translate=fr,es,it,de ).
  • Limits API calls to 6000/day per customer, then throttles.
  • Results report has All Trees option. (Leslie R)
  • Passing session_id in containing URL now reloads state properly for pause & resume. (Tatiane)
  • Emailed Q&A transcripts now use black text (in case of email reader stripping). (Lisa R)
  • Webhook event log now includes tree ID. (Lasse)
  • Event log includes session IDs for webhooks, Emails. (Lasse)
  • Cleaned up error message accessing agent portal options.
  • For embedded trees, container page can send a session ID or merge variables to the tree by adding &session_id= &variables= &values= to the containing page’s URL. (Tatiane)
  • Added Show Session IDs option to session list report.
  • Clean up of Popularity report, Session Details page.
  • Improved Agent Portal Options interface.
  • Document node editor now allows for inserting content from nodes with links in or out. (David M.)
  • Tooltip for agent feedback button now won’t trigger scrollbar. (Katie P.)
  • Inline option for radio buttons.
  • Now substitutes #session# in Slack, other notifications. (Jakob FP)

Fixes

  • Email node editor no longer mislabels next nodes when these were also Email nodes.
  • Adding new elements to Repeating forms no longer shows the same number of elements in ensuing forms on other nodes. (Ryan C)
  • Videos in nodes stop playing when a button is clicked to go to another node. (Matt W.)
  • Tree names with single quotes now are able to be clicked from tree search results.
  • Event log now adds messages with single quotes, sanitizes data. (Mike H.)
  • Undefined variables in advanced logic nodes now evaluate to FALSE, continue to next rule.
  • Advanced Logic nodes load much faster in the node editor.
  • PDF generated document nodes now properly include ##Library: ## inserts. (David M.)
  • If the last node is “Done with customer” in Agent portal, then we no longer save it as the last node visited. (Mathieu)
  • Spreadsheet import now properly saves A/B test nodes.
  • All Tree Stats report properly makes CSV. (Shay C.)
  • Custom logo link now works properly in host.php. (Tyler)
  • Pause & Resume after a search now works properly. (Karen R.)
  • Doc node variable collector goes two levels deep – had too many variables for Ted B.
  • Search form for trees no longer matches titles of non-content nodes. (Lasse)
  • Variables passed from task manager, remote start now get properly set up in Task Manager view. (Doug S)
  • Empty reply-to in auto email sends now properly delivers email. (Cem G)
  • Reordering nodes in Simple Overview when root has changed now works properly. (Nikki H.)
  • Document nodes using nodes with buttons now render properly. (David M.)
  • Logic node comparison strings now remove leading and trailing spaces.
  • Remotely starting tasks now properly sends over merge variables. (Doug S )
  • Updating SF Transcript now better locates Zingtree_Transcript field. (Simon M.)
  • Document node editor now shows variables from all linked trees. (David M.)
  • Salesforce app won’t show an error message if there are no data fields to update. (Simon M.)
  • SSO login page (/sso) with no org_id now goes to the standard login page.
  • Renumber and copy now works when display order has overlaps. (Tyler W)
  • Using process trees no longer kills Zendesk app history.
  • Stock webhooks now appear as an option in Logic Nodes.
  • Logic node editor showed unassigned logic nodes (introduced with advanced logic nodes).
  • Search results now only look in content nodes. (Lasse)
  • Tree Comparison tool with just designer layout changes now gives better results message.
  • All Sessions Report 10x faster, also added session ID column option. (Jay H.)
  • Pop-up overlays no longer always have buttons one per line.
  • Create new Tree showing Buttons style preview now shows two lines of buttons instead of one-per-line.
  • Advanced embedding options gave incorrect JS file for browser-back functionality. (h/t Sofie)
  • Removed feedback button tooltip for Kustomer integration. (Katie P.)
  • Zendesk App brand tag matching doesn’t include unwanted trees.
  • Pause & resume, then going back to the beginning now works as expected.
  • Link node variable substitutions now use form data variables before merge variables. (John K.)
  • Updating root node in designer now properly updates node display.
  • Now retries Mandrill email sends 3x in case of Mandrill 502 gateway or other server errors. (Lasse)
  • Instant Preview in Edit Node no longer makes ugly layout for action buttons, other data entry fields.
  • Edit root node no longer sends it down in Simple Overview display order.
  • Zendesk app was sending variables that started with a digit. Renderer now looks for this, and adds a _ to the variable name if so. (Linda H.)
  • Reloading state with just one node that went to a subtree now works properly.
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The Ultimate Online Decision Tree Maker for Any Need

December 11, 2018 | Categories: For Beginners, Use Cases | by Bill Zing

A decision tree maker is the best tool for simplifying complicated processes, including those frequently faced in customer support, technical troubleshooting, sales optimization, training, program enrollment, and communications, to name a few. Presented in a customized, standardized, and completely interactive environment, decision trees have the potential to make a huge impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of any business or organization.

Zingtree is an online decision tree maker that allows you to quickly build, customize and publish interactive decision trees online, and comes fully-loaded with real-time analytics and reports.

How to Use Zingtree’s Decision Tree Maker

Our powerful decision tree maker toolkit allows you to create trees in a few unique ways:

1. Start from Spreadsheets

Easily draft and import any Google Sheets or Excel document into Zingtree and turn it into a decision tree. Once imported, you can enhance using powerful editing tools that offer more decision tree-related functionality than spreadsheets alone.

2. Draw It out With Designer

Designer lets you easily “draw” a decision tree. On a single display, you’ll be able to view and create the nodes and pathways for your decision tree and see exactly how it’ll flow.

Watch the Designer tutorial video here.

3. Quickly Create Using Wizard

Wizard builds a tree through prompts, using a form-based approach. The tool walks you through how to make a decision tree, while you input the questions and answers.

Watch the Wizard tutorial video here.

4. Build From Scratch With Overview

Overview is a form-based option for creating trees node-by-node. The editor has tools for refining to perfection and is ideal for content-rich decision trees.

Watch the Overview tutorial video here.

No matter the method, here’s an example of how your decision tree will look:



 

Tips for Great Decision Trees

Basic decision trees can always get the job done, but with a little bit of added effort, you can gather amazing data, as well as really blend into your company brand or personality.

Need more help getting started? Have a question? Want more tips? We’re always here for you. 

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7 Tips for an Effective, Interactive Knowledge Base

December 6, 2018 | Categories: CRM, Customer Support, For Beginners | by Bill Zing

Interactive Knowledge Base

These days, there are quite a few solutions for improving customer service and support in completely digital ways. Customer-friendly knowledge bases are one tried-and-true way to present every bit of important information, tutorials, and how-to’s in a completely categorized display. Your typical, traditional website knowledge base can’t compare to the power and effectiveness of a fully interactive knowledge base, however.

Armed with guided instructions that are compacted into smaller, more digestible pieces, interactive knowledge bases allow customers to quickly troubleshoot, find answers, and solve complex issues, all without calling your business up on the phone. Zingtree enables organizations and businesses of all sizes to create and integrate a customized, easy-to-use, interactive knowledge base into their support system, so every customer gets the answers they need. In fact, we host our own Zingtree FAQ on the Zingtree platform itself!

Here are just a few of our best tips for building the best interactive knowledge base you can.

1. Nail down your categories and main topics first.

Start with an outline of the topics you want to cover, as well as the categories of topics that they belong to. Having this thoroughly laid out before you set in will help you visualize your completed knowledge base, as well as make sure that you’re not missing any key topics, tutorials, or FAQs.

Here’s an example of how we have our own interactive knowledge base set up:

2. Always add a search bar.

The key to having a fully automated, interactive knowledge base is to make it as easy as possible for customers to direct themselves to the correct article or tutorial. Adding a search bar to the top of your knowledge base will prompt any unsure customers to see if they can quickly pull up the answers or information they need. It’s a simple tip, but one that your customers will absolutely appreciate!

3. Start with your favorite tool.

It’s important to work with the decision tree-building tool that works best for you, personally. We offer up a few different ways to get started:

  • Overview: Build your trees from scratch, piece by piece (or rather, node by node).
  • Visual Designer: Draw out every node, connection, and final result in one visual space.
  • Wizard: Quickly create by answering a series of questions and answers that ultimately build the final tree.
  • Spreadsheets: Start creating in Excel or Google Sheets and import for refinement.

4. Word everything carefully and concisely.

Beyond the general advice to keep wording (especially complex wording) to a minimum, it’s important to carefully craft each question, how-to, or other information to be perfectly clear, and never use phrasing that could steer customers down the wrong path. Keeping the decision tree questions and information presented in your interactive knowledge base as simple as possible and structuring them in an easy-to-absorb way is the best way to help customers get the help they need.

5. Use videos and animated GIFs strategically.

Visuals are proven to aid in information retention, plus they are fun to look at and are easy for customers to save to their respective desktops for future use! An interactive knowledge base built with decision trees allow for businesses to embed documentation and/or visual media to help convey information better. Using photos, graphics, and GIFs, and adding relevant videos to your questions is a hugely productive way to communicate instructions within limited space.

Here’s an example GIF that clearly shows how to connect nodes in our Visual Designer:

6. Link to more in-depth information where it’s needed.

There’s a lot to be said about going with a more streamlined, bite-sized approach to your support articles – something that our decision trees help a lot of businesses with. When in doubt, it’s always better to keep things short and to the point while linking out to further information or details when needed. Our decision trees allow you to use what we call “link nodes” to easily open up into a new window.

7. Integrate with CRM systems and other platforms.

One of our best tips for building a great interactive knowledge base is to make sure that it’s all linked up to CRM. Zingtree decision trees integrate directly with Freshdesk, Salesforce, Zendesk, and just about every other CRM out there to make the sharing of information fast and easy. With these integrations in place, support staff will have a much better look at where customers are getting held up, and can quickly send a full decision tree transcript over to their CRM for fast access.

Head over to the Zingtree FAQ to see how we set up our own interactive knowledge base with decision trees, or check out the Gallery to get inspiration for your trees!

Anything else? We’re always here to help you get started, offer advice, and answer any questions. 

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