Overview
Zendesk Community (Gather) is an integrated customer support platform that enables businesses to foster peer-to-peer support conversations on a branded platform while strengthening customer relationships and reducing support ticket volume.
Core Features
Community Forum Architecture
- Branded discussion spaces organized by product, customer segment, or support level
- Customers can sort, follow, and subscribe to posts
- WYSIWYG editor for post/comment formatting
- Automatic content deduplication (suggests similar existing discussions)
- Support for text, audio, video, polls, and surveys
Design & Branding
- Full control over community design and appearance
- Custom domain names
- Logo, color, and font customization
- Custom HTML and JavaScript implementation
- Authentic brand extension (not third-party)
Integration with Zendesk Support
- Direct ticketing system integration
- Posts escalate to support tickets
- Support agents view customer profiles and community history when responding
- Unified customer context across channels
- Knowledge base built into community platform
Knowledge Base Connection
- Seamless integration between self-service articles and community discussions
- Leverage user-generated content alongside formal KB
- Single source of truth for support resources
Support Workflow Features
Multi-Level Support Model
- Community managers moderate discussions
- Support agents can respond directly within posts
- Enables both professional support and peer-to-peer assistance
- Mixed support strategies per community needs
Content Organization
- Organized by topic, product, or customer type
- Posts automatically categorized and tagged
- Search and discovery optimized
Analytics & Insights
Community Intelligence
- Performance dashboards tracking engagement metrics
- Post and comment activity monitoring
- Customer satisfaction measurement
- Activity pattern analysis
- Community health indicators
- Decision-making data for CX improvement
Business Value
Self-Service Support
- 69% of customers prefer self-service resolution
- Reduces support ticket volume
- Evergreen content reduces agent workload
- Customer expertise leveraged for peer support
Customer Insights
- Real-time visibility into customer friction points
- Emerging issues detected early
- Product feedback and improvement suggestions
- Competitive intelligence
- Behavior pattern analysis
Brand Loyalty & Advocacy
- Creates spaces where customers feel valued
- Builds brand advocates
- Increases customer lifetime value
- Reduces churn through community belonging
- Social proof and testimonials
Pricing & Availability
Product: Zendesk Gather (dedicated community solution)
Availability: Suite Professional, Enterprise, and Enterprise Plus tiers
Integration: Works within broader Zendesk ecosystem
Strengths
- Integrated ticketing: Posts escalate directly to support tickets
- Unified customer context: Agent view of all community activity
- Self-service emphasis: Reduces support burden effectively
- Brand control: Full customization and white-label options
- Knowledge base integration: Connects user-generated and official content
- Omnichannel foundation: Fits into broader Zendesk support ecosystem
- AI-ready: Foundation for AI agent assistance
Limitations
- Limited standalone: Works best with Zendesk support suite
- Integration dependency: Benefits decrease without ticketing system
- Complexity: Requires Zendesk expertise
- Cost: Enterprise pricing model
Ideal Use Cases
- SaaS companies with existing Zendesk infrastructure
- High-volume support needs where self-service helps
- Enterprise customers needing integrated support
- Product-centric communities with multiple customer segments
- Organizations wanting unified customer view
- Knowledge-heavy products benefiting from peer support
Customer Support Workflow
- Customer encounters issue
- Searches community for similar discussions
- Finds peer solution or escalates to support
- Support agent views full community context
- Agent responds in community + creates ticket if needed
- Solution added to knowledge base
- Future customers self-serve using KB/community
Key Metrics
- Self-service deflection rate
- Peer-to-peer resolution rate
- Average time to resolution
- Customer satisfaction by channel
- Community engagement metrics
- Support ticket reduction
- Knowledge base article usage
- Brand sentiment trends
Getting Started
- Ensure Zendesk Suite subscription (Professional+)
- Enable Zendesk Gather/Community
- Design community structure (by product/segment)
- Set up moderation guidelines
- Customize branding and domain
- Integrate with support ticketing
- Onboard power users as moderators
- Promote community to customer base
- Monitor analytics and iterate
Integration Potential
- CRM integration (Salesforce, HubSpot)
- Knowledge base APIs
- AI agent integration for auto-responses
- Omnichannel ticketing
- Analytics and reporting tools