In one fell swoop, we embarked on what was at once fascinating and essential. To comply with accessibility standards, we decided to revamp the end user portal in its entirety. The word “revamp” is always fascinating. It allows us to add new and improved forms, structures, or appearances with a plethora of choices. We designed the new portal with accessibility in mind.

Over the past decade, all public services have faced digital transformation challenges and developed associated programs. Most of these initiatives have had to be driven by money – the need for efficiency, productivity, and income generation, in response to increased financial pressures and a decade of austerity.

Meeting customer expectations is just the bare minimum. To stand out in today’s competitive market and drive long-term growth, your business needs to go the extra mile to delight customers. Even after a lead finally converts, your job is far from over. You need to continue exceeding their expectations or you risk losing them to your competitors. So how can you provide more engaging and delightful experiences to your customers? And what tools are available that can help?

Customer service is the way you assist customers before, during, and after the sale. Some companies have teams devoted to customer service, others have whole departments, or some even require every employee to participate. So, defining an organization-wide customer service philosophy is essential to attract and retain long-term customers. Customer service is a key factor in customers choosing which businesses to buy from, so it’s critical to get right.

SaaS is a sparkle in the technology world today, and a host of companies including Freshworks is riding the wave. While it is given that we’re being aided by a technological shift, it’s no mean feat to remain on the cusp of the wave—to maintain the trajectory and keep hitting milestones charted out many moons ago. Among the factors that have helped us in this journey, one of the significant contributors is what we’ve built with our people: our culture.

Not all goals are revenue-focused when you’re in the business of fulfilling customer expectations. Yes, revenue is important, but how you build it depends on your values. When you listen and engage with your customers, you create a sense of trust and belonging with your brand. In turn, a strong connection means increased loyalty, and loyal customers bring in more business. Online communities are the perfect place to nurture these relationships.

The purpose of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is to improve your relationships with clients and acquire new customers faster. While CRM software is essential for managing sales leads, you also need a good CRM strategy as a foundation for your efforts. We talked to Freshworks salesperson Stephanie Taiwo, as Head of UKI Business Development, to get her seven top tips for managing leads and driving conversions.

Have you ever interacted with a customer service rep at a Home Depot store? Or with a customer support agent online at Zappos? If you have, then you most probably fondly recall how the rep helped you find a product or solution that perfectly matched your needs. These employees create memorable experiences by putting in dedication and effort to meet all your requirements. And they do this for every customer they interact with.

In the past, virtual events were an exclusive or niche occurrence, hosted by organizations with the resources and the tech to coordinate them well. Today, digital events have become more normal than convening physically. For over a year now, the coronavirus pandemic has completely shifted the events landscape, and companies have had to get creative about making virtual events worthwhile and engaging for their customers.

What do you get when you combine the power of superior customer and employee engagement software with the world’s largest cloud platform? Yes, you got it right: more choice for millions of businesses small and large to buy modern, agile cloud solutions that delight customers and employees. With the added availability of Freshworks products via AWS Marketplace’s curated digital catalog, customers can now easily find, test, buy, and deploy Freshworks solutions with simplified controls.

Your application should always be ready to serve the requests received. The measure of the degree to which your application is available to serve all incoming requests within an acceptable amount of time is the topic we are going to focus on: availability. Obviously, achieving a 100% availability sounds too good to be true. There are various problems that may occur. This is why your application should define a Service Level Agreement (SLA) for availability and work to meet the SLA.

You want to provide customers with a great customer service experience. But what does that mean exactly? Let’s say a customer has a complaint about a recent purchase. Will all of your support agents handle it the same way? Maybe one agent feels that the situation warrants a refund while another doesn’t believe it requires follow-up at all. It’s important not to leave “good customer service” open to the interpretation of individual employees.

One of the key areas to business growth is understanding your customers and delivering against their needs. Many businesses are now using behavioural based personas to design better customer journeys. Behavioural personas are based on research about how your customers interact with your organisation. They can provide you with insights on why customers do what they do. They help you identify the motivations behind customer’s decisions and the experiences they expect from your business.

We live in an increasingly connected age where you can get real-time updates on practically any topic and have packages delivered to your door the next day at the click of a button. The result of this connectivity is that customer expectations are changing rapidly. One area, in particular, is customer service. When consumers have questions or problems, they want answers right away. Fail to meet those expectations and you risk customers switching to other alternatives.

Prior to the pandemic, I often heard tales of people talking about how their busy days were full of back to back meetings. On hearing these stories, I often wondered how they ever got any work done. Over the last year, with people working remotely, this situation seems to have become exacerbated. I now hear tales of many people working longer and longer hours filled with back to back meetings using videoconferencing software like Zoom, Google Hangouts, Microsoft Teams…you name it.

Customers find it most memorable when they’re treated as unique individuals. This is especially true when it comes to shopping customer care, where personalization goes a long way. Your customers want to feel special and feel like they are part of a community. They miss the days of knowing other people in the store and getting that personal attention from clerks and shop employees.

I was recently asked about the status of Information Security as a salient feature of the product roadmap. I paused. The question by itself seemed to hold up a mirror. It showed how security is viewed in today’s digital-first, app-centric, customer-focussed world. It may seem innocuous but under it lies the silent struggle many corporations face today. It also carries an unarticulated question: how should one align security with business imperatives?

The global pandemic has changed the face of e-commerce and customer journeys. As expectations shifted overnight, customer teams found themselves rapidly re-evaluating their customer care process. BrewDog, the best-selling craft beer brewery in the UK, found itself in this situation.

We often hear that Artificial Intelligence is the future. The truth is that it’s already here, and if you’re not already using AI for customer service, you’re missing out. Integrating AI into customer service can drastically improve CX. It helps identify customer pain points, automates processes, speeds up decision-making, and optimises service delivery.