Whether it’s answering a ticket, responding to live chats, picking up the phone, writing a knowledge base article, or telling customers about a new feature… communicating is what support teams do. We live and breath communication, and the stronger we communicate, the better we do our job. A big part of communication in customer support is knowing when and how to follow-up with customers.

This round-up of Marketplace apps features apps that in addition to making your work-life simpler also help in garnering customer loyalty and retention in equal measure. There’s an app that can blast thousands of text messages to your customers and help you earn their loyalty for life through your quick responses. There’s also a chatbot building app that redefines AI and helps in gathering customer data with hardly any human intervention.

Customers today are more demanding than ever. They are more inclined to share their dissatisfaction with others in the form of reviews on social media platforms. 39% of consumers actively provide feedback to organizations online while 31% make pre-sales enquiries. This can have a far-reaching impact on a business.

In 2019, customer support is no longer about simply monitoring and responding to messages from your customers through channels you choose. Even if those channels are Twitter, Facebook, and live chat, it’s no longer enough. More and more people are turning to social media to complain and ask for solutions, outside of direct messages to the actual companies.

There’s no doubt about it — the expectation and demand for personalized customer service is growing every day. In fact, our survey found that 42% of consumers would rather wait for an agent with the right knowledge than get a fast answer. But what does personalized service actually mean, and how can you deliver it? Let’s dive in.

Not that long ago people used to call customer support whenever they had a question about a product. However, now that they have access to the Internet, they often try to find an answer themselves before submitting a ticket or picking up the phone. After all, no one wants to make themselves look silly by asking a question that is already answered on the company’s website.

If you’re a business that wants to up your customer experience strategy through AI, chatbots are definitely the answer you’re searching for. As customers’ expectations continue to evolve and the need for speed grows, chatbots pave way for quick-fix answers to customer queries. The more questions you receive from customers, the more cost-effective of a solution chatbots can be for your company.

Goal setting is a crucial activity for any successful team, and many today are leveraging Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as part of the process. Before jumping on the bandwagon, keep in mind that when done poorly, KPIs can do more harm than good. Managers can become mired in numbers that don’t matter. Individuals can be incentivized to focus on things that undermine long-term success. And amidst all the noise, teams can lose sight of their real goals.

Research by American Express suggests that consumers are willing to spend 17% more on a company that has outstanding customer service. It’s no secret: first-rate customer service is the key to business success. But to excel, businesses should have a customer care plan and ensure that stakeholders have a positive experience at every touchpoint.

In the year 2020, nearly 80% of businesses will use a chatbot in one form or another. Chatbots have become an important part of business growth and the need for these AI-powered bots is only going to increase in the future.

Your customers expect you to understand what they want. Not only this, they expect you to know when they want and how they want it. Today, the modern company has no reason for not being able to deliver on these demands. The reason? Data. Data is everywhere, and businesses are well placed to utilize this to improve the customer experience and smash their KPIs. Over 40% of marketers plan to expand their data-driven budgets, and that’s why it’s essential to adopt a data-driven strategy.

While one minute doesn’t seem like a lot, when it comes to solving problems – conversations with support agents can feel long and drawn out. This can be particularly frustrating when the issues are trivial in nature. There are many situations where customers spend 5-10 minutes on the phone just to find out basic information, such as learning a product’s return policy.

It’s well known that if someone is an excellent fit for a support role, they are empathetic and kind to those around them. As empathetic people, support employees tend to take on the emotions of all of the customers1 that they talk to. Not only that, but as people trained in detecting and responding effectively to emotions, support people may even be prone to their own feelings being deeper and more intensified2.