Migration Guide for Agencies

Converge Team

• Updated June 20, 2026

How agencies managing multiple clients can migrate from Zendesk Chat to a more cost-effective platform.

Agency Migration from Zendesk Chat

Agencies using Zendesk Chat for multiple clients face a compounding cost problem: per-agent pricing multiplied across multiple client accounts. Whether you manage clients under one Zendesk account with departments or maintain separate accounts per client, the per-seat model makes Zendesk Chat one of the most expensive options for agencies at scale.

Cost at Agency Scale

An agency with 8 agents handling chat for 5 clients on Suite Professional: 8 × $115 = $920/month if using a shared Zendesk account with departments. If each client has a separate Zendesk account with 2-3 agents each, costs multiply further. With a flat-rate platform at $49/month per company account, 5 client accounts cost $245/month total — a 73% reduction from even the shared-account approach. The savings scale linearly: 10 client accounts = $490/month vs $1,150+ on Zendesk.

Shared Account vs Separate Accounts

Zendesk Chat departments let agencies route chats for different clients to different agent groups within one account. This saves on per-agent costs but creates data isolation concerns — agents can potentially see other clients' chat histories. When migrating, setting up each client as a separate company account on your new platform provides complete data isolation. Agents only see conversations for the clients they're assigned to. This is cleaner for client reporting and eliminates accidental cross-client data exposure.

Client-by-Client Migration Strategy

Migrate your smallest or most flexible client first. Set up their new account, install the new chat widget on their website (replace the Zendesk script tag), invite the agents who handle that client, and run both systems for a week. This lets your team learn the new platform on a low-risk account. Once stable, move to the next client. Each subsequent migration gets faster as your team becomes familiar with the setup process. Most agencies complete all client migrations within 2-3 weeks.

Multi-Channel Opportunity

Zendesk Chat limits each client to website chat only. When migrating, you can add WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and other channels for each client — expanding your service offering without additional per-channel costs. This is a revenue opportunity: agencies can offer "omnichannel support management" at a higher price point while their tooling costs actually decrease. A client who previously got web chat only now gets chat + WhatsApp + Instagram for the same flat rate.

What Agencies Lose from Zendesk Chat

The main loss is Zendesk's mature real-time visitor monitoring — the ability to see every visitor browsing your client's site in real-time with their page history. If your agency uses this for proactive chat outreach (initiating conversations with high-value visitors), check if your new platform's widget analytics provides comparable visitor tracking. You also lose access to Zendesk's marketplace apps if you've integrated third-party tools through the Zendesk ecosystem.

Tip: Before migrating, create a spreadsheet of all clients with their current Zendesk setup: widget locations (which website pages), department assignments, chat triggers, shortcuts, and agent rosters. This becomes your migration checklist and ensures nothing is missed during the client-by-client rollout.

Need the full migration guide?

This page covers migration guide for agencies specifically. For the complete step-by-step migration process:

Read the complete Zendesk Chat migration guide

Ready to try Converge?

$49/month flat. Up to 15 agents. 7-day free trial, no credit card required.

Start Free Trial