The Zendesk Payment Problem
Zendesk is where your support team lives. Tickets, chat, email, phone, every customer conversation flows through it. But Zendesk is not a payment processor, so when a customer needs to pay during one of those conversations, the payment has to happen somewhere else.
Zendesk does help keep card numbers out of its own records: agents on Zendesk Talk can pause and resume call recordings, and Zendesk can automatically redact card numbers in tickets and chats. What it doesn't do is take the payment. So the agent has to leave the conversation, switch to another system, and hope the customer follows through separately.
This is a problem for any team that handles billing queries, collects outstanding balances, processes refunds via new payments, or closes upsells during support conversations. The payment step breaks the flow, increases drop-off, and often pushes the customer into a queue they've already waited to escape.
Shuttle closes this gap by adding PCI-compliant payment capture to Zendesk-based operations: payment links for digital channels (chat, email, tickets), plus secure voice card capture for phone teams.
How Shuttle Adds Payments to Zendesk
Shuttle adds PCI-compliant card capture to your Zendesk payment flows. When the customer is ready to pay, the card is captured through Twilio Pay and passed to Shuttle's PCI DSS Level 1 environment, and the card data never reaches your Zendesk environment or your agents.
The setup is light. It runs on Twilio Pay, so you need to be a Twilio customer, and you build a small integration on your side. Shuttle ships the secure PCI capture, payment links, IVR, and the payment APIs; what it does not ship is an out-of-the-box agent screen, the input UX, or the amount-passing API call wired for Zendesk specifically. So the part you build is small: pass the payment amount to Shuttle through its API (the minimum data we need), connect the secure capture into your Zendesk workflow over Twilio, and add your own agent screen if your workflow needs one. If that fits, book a call and we will scope your exact setup. There is practical detail in the "What to Expect" section further down.
Why Zendesk Teams Need Payment Capture
Support teams aren't just resolving issues. They're often the final step in a payment journey. Common scenarios where agents need to collect a payment mid-conversation:
Failed payment recovery. A subscription payment bounces. The customer raises a ticket. The agent needs to collect an updated card and re-process, right now, not after sending them to a separate portal.
Balance and invoice collection. Outstanding invoices, overdue accounts, partial payments. The customer is already talking to an agent. Capturing payment in the same conversation means it happens while the customer is still there.
Upsells and upgrades. A customer asks about a premium tier or add-on during a support chat. If the agent can send a payment link on the spot, conversion happens. If they have to say "I'll send you an email with a link later," it usually doesn't.
Refund alternatives. Instead of processing a cash refund, the agent can offer a credit, exchange, or replacement, and capture any price difference immediately.
Subscription changes. Plan upgrades, add-ons, pro-rata adjustments. The customer wants it done now, not after navigating a self-service portal.
Without in-conversation payment capture, agents resort to reading card numbers aloud (a PCI nightmare), copying payment links from a separate system, or telling customers to call back on a different line. None of these are good.
How to Add Payments to Zendesk
Shuttle works with Zendesk-based operations through two channels:
1. Payment Links in Digital Conversations
This is the most turnkey path, and it does not require Twilio. Agents generate a branded payment link and send it within a Zendesk ticket, live chat, or email. The customer clicks the link, lands on a secure hosted checkout page, and completes payment on their device. The agent sees the result in real time.
No card data enters Zendesk, so its PCI scope stays minimal. Shuttle provides the link interfaces out of the box.
2. Voice Payments via Twilio Pay
For phone teams that handle payment calls, Shuttle captures the card in a secure, PCI DSS Level 1 call via Twilio Pay. When the agent triggers a payment, the customer enters their card details on their phone keypad, and the digits pass from Twilio Pay to Shuttle's PCI DSS Level 1 environment. They never reach your call recordings, your Zendesk instance, or your agents.
To use voice capture you need to be a Twilio customer, and you build the agent-side trigger for your own workflow against Shuttle's APIs. See the Twilio IVR & Agent Assist payment docs for the technical flow.
Agent experience
In a conversation, the customer gets a payment link and the agent sees the result without ever handling card data. On voice calls, the agent triggers the capture and sees the outcome, again without handling card data. Shuttle ships payment links. It does not ship a pre-built agent screen or input UX for Zendesk, so triggering payment from inside Zendesk is the piece you build against Shuttle's APIs: pass the amount and surface the result where your workflow needs it. There is more in the "What to Expect" section below.
Payment Links in Zendesk Conversations
The payment link flow works across chat, email and ticket channels.
How it works:
The agent determines the amount to collect and generates a payment link through Shuttle. This can be triggered from your own sidebar app, a macro, or an API call integrated into your Zendesk workflow.
The link is pasted into the conversation. It's a short, branded URL that the customer can tap or click.
The customer opens the link on their device. They see a branded checkout page with the amount, description, and standard card input fields. No app download. No account creation.
The customer completes payment. Card data goes directly to the payment gateway via Shuttle's PCI-certified infrastructure. It never touches Zendesk, your network, or any agent-facing system.
A webhook or polling mechanism in your integration updates the ticket with payment status.
Why this works well for Zendesk:
Agents don't need payment training or PCI awareness beyond basic operational procedures
Payment links work across chat, email and ticket channels
Checkout pages carry your logo, message and custom domain
Links can be pre-configured with amounts, references, and metadata for consistency
Payment links are available at /platforms/links-checkout/.
Voice Payments via Twilio Pay
Phone payments are where collection gets complicated. A customer reads a card number to an agent, and suddenly your entire telephony environment is in PCI scope: recordings, agent workstations, network infrastructure, the lot.
Shuttle's Voice Checkout avoids this by capturing the card in a secure Twilio Pay call, so card data stays out of your environment entirely. To use it you need to be a Twilio customer.
The agent-assisted flow:
The agent triggers a payment session from your workflow. This starts a secure Twilio Pay capture on the call.
The agent tells the customer: "I'm going to ask you to enter your card details on your keypad now."
The customer keys in their card number, expiry date, and CVV using their phone's keypad. Each digit is captured through Twilio Pay and passed to Shuttle's PCI DSS Level 1 environment.
The digits never reach your call recordings, your Zendesk instance, or your agents.
Shuttle processes the payment through the configured gateway and returns the result to the agent in real time.
The agent confirms success (or handles a decline) without ever having accessed card data.
What this means for compliance:
The agent never sees the card number on screen
Call recordings are clean, with no cardholder data to redact or encrypt
Card numbers never reach your agents
Your PCI scope is limited: merchants complete SAQ-A and platforms complete SAQ-D
Voice Checkout details at /platforms/voice-checkout/.
Multi-PSP Support
Different parts of your business may use different payment gateways. Your UK operation might run through Worldpay. Your US team might use Stripe. An enterprise client might require Adyen.
Shuttle connects to 40+ payment service providers and routes transactions to the correct gateway based on your configuration. This means your agents don't need to know which gateway processes a given payment, because Shuttle handles the routing.
Supported gateways include Stripe, Adyen, Worldpay, Checkout.com, Braintree, Authorize.Net, and many others. Switching processors later is configuration, not a re-integration, though saved cards stay with the gateway that stored them. One caveat for voice specifically: a small number of gateways (for example Braintree) don't permit raw card data to be passed to them, so they don't work for voice capture, though they do work for payment links.
For businesses migrating between PSPs or running multi-gateway configurations, this eliminates a layer of operational complexity that would otherwise sit with the support team.
PCI Compliance
PCI DSS compliance is not optional for any organisation that processes card payments. The question is how much of your environment falls in scope.
With payment links: Card data never enters your systems. The customer's browser communicates directly with Shuttle's PCI Level 1 certified infrastructure. Card data stays out of your Zendesk environment, network and agents, which limits your PCI scope. This is the simplest path: merchants complete SAQ-A, the lightest PCI self-assessment, and platforms complete SAQ-D.
With voice payments: Card data is captured in the secure Twilio Pay call, so it never reaches your telephony, recordings, or agent workstations. That limits your PCI scope. Again, merchants complete SAQ-A and platforms complete SAQ-D.
Without Shuttle: If agents take card details verbally or via chat, your entire Zendesk environment is in PCI scope. That means SAQ-D, 300+ requirements covering network segmentation, encryption, access controls, monitoring, and vulnerability management.
Shuttle is a PCI DSS Level 1 certified Service Provider. This is the highest level of certification, validated by an independent Qualified Security Assessor (QSA).
For Solution Providers and Zendesk Implementation Partners
If your team deploys Zendesk for clients, as a partner or a system integrator, Shuttle is the payment layer you deliver alongside the rest of the implementation. Each client keeps their own merchant account and their own gateway, and your side integrates once, so payments are not rebuilt for every engagement and client money never lands in yours.
Shuttle's voice capture runs on Twilio Pay, where Shuttle is Twilio's chosen provider to enable Twilio Pay for many payment gateways. Shuttle is not a pre-packaged Zendesk plugin, so your team builds a small integration between Zendesk and Shuttle, and voice deployments need a Twilio account. For partnership conversations, book a discovery call.
Use Cases
Subscription Recovery
A SaaS customer's payment fails. They open a Zendesk ticket. The agent verifies the account, generates a payment link for the outstanding amount, and sends it in the ticket reply. The customer pays immediately. The subscription is reinstated without the customer needing to navigate billing settings.
Insurance Premium Collection
A policyholder calls to renew or make a payment. The agent triggers a Twilio Pay capture session. The customer enters card details via keypad, the digits never reach the agent or your systems, the premium is collected on the call, and the agent confirms renewal without a transfer to a separate payment line.
B2B Invoice Settlement
An accounts receivable team uses Zendesk to manage billing queries. When a customer confirms they're ready to pay an outstanding invoice, the agent sends a payment link pre-populated with the invoice amount and reference. Payment is collected against the invoice reference.
Upsell Conversion
During a support chat, a customer expresses interest in an upgrade. The agent sends a payment link for the pro-rata difference. The customer pays within the chat session. The upgrade is activated immediately.
What to Expect
Shuttle is a payment layer you connect to your stack, not a pre-packaged Zendesk plugin. Here is the honest detail so there are no surprises on the call:
It runs on Twilio Pay today. Shuttle's voice capture uses Twilio Pay, where Shuttle is Twilio's chosen provider to enable Twilio Pay for many payment gateways, so you need to be a Twilio customer. Shuttle works with Twilio today, and any carrier coming soon.
You build a small integration, not a payment system. Shuttle ships the secure PCI capture, IVR, payment links, and payment APIs. What it does not ship is an out-of-the-box agent screen, the input UX, or the amount-passing API call for Zendesk specifically. So you build that minimal glue: pass the amount to Shuttle via its API (the minimum data we need), connect the capture into your Zendesk workflow over Twilio, and add your own agent screen if your workflow needs one. It is light.
Point-of-payment capture is what is live. Securely capturing the card at the moment of payment works today. Shuttle staying present across the entire conversation is not available today, and Shuttle does not ship call hand-back after payment out of the box. What happens to the caller after payment is part of the call flow you build in Twilio. Works with Twilio today, and any carrier coming soon.
Payment links are the most turnkey path and need the least build. Many teams start there and add voice capture later.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Shuttle have a native Zendesk integration? Not today. Shuttle's voice capture runs on Twilio Pay, and you invoke that setup rather than installing a Shuttle app in Zendesk. For voice you'll need to be a Twilio customer and to build the agent-side trigger for your workflow against Shuttle's APIs. Payment links require no Twilio relationship. Shuttle works with Twilio today, and any carrier coming soon.
Does this require Twilio? For voice capture, yes, today. The secure card capture runs via Twilio Pay, where Shuttle is Twilio's chosen provider to enable Twilio Pay for many payment gateways. Payment links do not require Twilio. Shuttle works with Twilio today, and any carrier coming soon.
Can agents see payment status within Zendesk? Yes. Your integration can use Shuttle webhooks to update tickets with payment status, transaction IDs, and amounts.
What happens if a payment link expires or the customer doesn't complete payment? Links can be configured with expiry times. If a customer doesn't complete payment, the agent can resend or generate a new link.
How much does it cost? Voice payments cost $49 per live instance per month, plus from $0.20 per transaction, falling with volume, billed through your Twilio account, with no per-seat fees. See pricing.
Can we use different payment gateways for different teams or regions? Yes, where each team or region is set up as its own business entity on its own gateway. Shuttle supports 30+ gateways. Your integration can map different Zendesk groups or brands to different business entities without agents needing to manage this manually. Switching a gateway later is configuration, not a re-integration, though saved cards stay with the gateway that stored them.
Related Reading
PCI-Compliant Payments for Contact Centres, comprehensive guide to secure payment capture in contact centre environments
Voice Payments: The Complete Guide, everything about DTMF, IVR, and agent-assisted voice payment capture
Multi-Channel Payment Collection, collecting payments across chat, email, SMS, and voice
Twilio Pay Connectors, how Shuttle connects to Twilio's payment infrastructure
Voice Checkout, Shuttle's voice payment product for phone-based transactions
Get Started
If you are a merchant taking payments on Zendesk rather than building for clients, talk to us about your deployment, or see how Voice Checkout works.