Teams | Collaboration | Customer Service | Project Management

May 2020

We use self service to decrease ticket volume, and you can too

The Customer Advocacy team at Zendesk noticed a spike in ticket volume in the summer of 2019. There’s no way we could have known that less than a year later we’d be in the midst of a global pandemic that has resulted in a surge in ticket volumes across a wide range of industries. As the situation continues to unfold, self service is emerging as a practical solution for customers and businesses alike.

What is a mobile help desk?

Hiring skilled customer service agents is the most important part of providing an exceptional customer service experience. But once you have the right people, in order for them to realize their potential, you need to equip them with the right tools. Now that 96% of people use cell phones, part of supplying agents with what they need is giving them a way to do their job from a mobile device.

Answer Bot is here to help: Better comprehension, more languages, less effort

Some have been slow to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning as part of their customer service strategy, but as organizations face resource and staffing constraints due to the pandemic, automation is not just nice to have—it can really help. Customers still need support, and AI-powered tools like Answer Bot, our self-service bot, can help meet the demand without requiring hands-on help from an agent.

5 of the best knowledge management examples

Studies of customer feedback already tell us that the majority of customers prefer to solve their problems on their own over contacting a support agent. It makes sense—self-service puts the customer in the driver’s seat, empowering them to be autonomous and find the right answers with speed. But self-service is also better for businesses. It enables them to do more with less and frees their support teams’ time up for higher-stakes issues that require a human touch.

How Fintech startup Novo is using CX to disrupt a traditional industry

Fintech has been steadily rising over the past few years, and many ambitious startups are tapping into that growth with new and advanced financial products. Legacy financial institutions are now looking warily at their new competitors, as Fintech firms are approaching the old financial framework from a different angle that is more customer-centric. See how Fintech startup Novo, a mobile business bank account created with the modern entrepreneur and founder in mind, is disrupting the industry by leveraging customer experience at the forefront of its growth.

Zendesk is FedRAMP authorized

Zendesk takes security very seriously—just ask the Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies that trust us with their data. We use a combination of enterprise-class security features and comprehensive audits of our applications, systems, and networks to ensure that your data is always protected, which means every customer can rest easy—our own included.

Text support: get it right the first time

Smartphones have become a common part of everyday life. Pew research reports that 96% of people in the United States use cell phones. And with their ubiquity, text messaging has become one of the most common forms of communication in modern life. Recent research from Text Request found that 97% of smartphone users had texted in the past week. For businesses, that makes text messaging an important channel to include in your customer support strategy.

Call center 101: What makes a successful call center?

In today’s omnichannel world of live chat, social media, email, and more, it can be easy to overlook the critical role that phone support still plays for many customers. In fact, phone is still the most common way that customers prefer to contact customer service at a company, according to Benchmark data.

1-Stop Connections keeps ports functioning by embracing the customer experience

At any moment, there are more than 20 million containers at sea, transporting everything from raw materials like oil, steel, and wood, to consumer products like TVs, toys, and textiles. That makes operating ports complicated business, which is why companies like 1-Stop Connections, which provides SaaS solutions to keep those ports working efficiently, are so vital.

What's a BPO call center, what does it do?

Not every company has the staff, tools, and skills required to meet their customers’ expectations of call center service. For example, 51% of consumers expect a response in under five minutes when they call a company, according to The Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2020. But for a small eCommerce team, meeting this expectation may not always be possible. That’s where a BPO call center comes in.

6 call center training tips for building an exceptional team of agents

More often than not, shoppers’ impressions of companies are based on interactions with support agents. After all, customers rarely interact directly with businesses outside of support calls—especially if the company is online-based. Your agents need the proper training and tools to handle those calls in a way that makes the customer feel heard and appreciated. Below are six call center training tips to ensure your agents can deliver a positive, helpful customer experience.

How to calculate your customer retention rate

Loyal customers are the bedrock of any booming business. After all, loyal customers are repeat customers; they’re generally the most likely to promote a business on social media; they tend to report the highest levels of customer satisfaction; they have the lowest churn rate; and they can boost a company’s net promoter score. Customer retention is critical. But keeping customers happy and loyal for the long haul is easier said than done.

The keys to excellent internal help desk management

Businesses are laser-focused on customer experience and customer service today. And as work transitions from in-person to remote, customers are heavily relying on digital channels for help. This is no different for your employees — they need digital internal help desk solutions now more than ever. Companies are leaning even more heavily on technology to keep their customers and employees connected while the world is in survival mode.

How to navigate the lasting impacts of COVID-19 on customer support

Forget what you think you know about customer support, for now. In just a few short months, COVID-19 has transformed the way businesses and customers interact. As customers, we’ve heard from just about every company we’ve ever done business with. Remember that hair salon you went to in college? How about that time you bought dad new grill equipment from an online supplier? One after another, subject lines read like concerned emails from friends.

6 essential skills for successful change management

Managing change isn’t just a normal part of business, it’s a normal part of life. Yet learning how to manage change well doesn’t come naturally, it’s a skill that has to be developed and honed. That’s especially true for organizational change, which often involves a lot of moving parts, including different people, systems, technologies, and goals. For your desired changes to take root, your organization needs people that possess change management skills.

8 strategies for designing a thriving knowledge base

Increasingly, customers are expressing their strong, independent selves by helping themselves and solving problems on their own. In fact, high performing customer experience teams are 76% more likely to offer self-service for just this reason, according to Zendesk’s Customer Experience Trends Report, 2020. However, simply offering a standard knowledge base portal isn’t enough—the design of your help center affects your customers’ experience with your brand.

Organizational change management: 8 proven models to help navigate change

With how fast industries move, technologies advance, and current events shift, organizational change is now a normal part of doing business. But change is rarely easy. And the bigger and more complex a business is, the more challenging it is to implement change effectively. Yet the ability to incorporate necessary changes into how you do business plays a direct role in long-term success.

Inbound vs. outbound call centers: What's the difference?

In a world of chatbots and email, you might guess that shoppers today rarely call businesses. The opposite is true; according to The Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2020, the phone is still the most common tool customers use to resolve issues with a company. That’s true even for millennials and Gen Z. An analysis of 45,000 companies shows that more than 50% of their millennial and Gen Z customers call businesses.