Most companies understand the importance of implementing omnichannel support—however, despite efforts to provide customers with a seamless experience, 85% of organizations still have fragmented channels. This is especially problematic for businesses since a cultural shift is underway, driven by millennials who have little desire to get support over the phone, instead preferring text or messaging channels.
As a company grows in size and complexity, so does the nature of its customers’ issues. As a result, modern enterprises need to constantly evaluate and update the tools, processes, and systems it uses to solve customer problems.
Some customer problems need to be solved in person. A broken washing machine, a stalled car, or a leaky sink – these problems cannot always be fixed over a video call by an agent, with a manual in hand. Our customers asked us some time back if field service could be made easier. Some were using Freshdesk integrated with other tools to solve problems onsite for customers. But they wanted their workflows to be simpler. They wanted to know if the experiences could be made better.
Businesses specialized in development, deployment, and maintenance of software products are currently experiencing a commendable market boom. It is undoubtedly the prime of the industry. In this age of technological advancement, the software is the soul of every computing device you can think of, and it is the core of any emerging technology from artificial intelligence to internet of things and robotics. We can only conclude that the outlook on the industry’s growth is on the positive side.
Creating more personalized and modernized customer experiences means first understanding the customer experience—that means bringing customer data together from a variety of different sources. It’s a great idea in theory, but it’s also a complicated one. Support professionals understand the need to bring all that data in, but the technical elements are often too costly and complicated to prioritize.
It’s no secret that when it comes to volume, text has given way to visual content on social media platforms. Primarily visual social networks such as Instagram and YouTube continue to acquire more daily users1. These users are collectively uploading billions of visual content every day. Moreover, social networks with algorithmic feeds, such as Facebook and Twitter, have been prioritizing visual content over text-only content, which in turn earns image-based posts higher engagement.
In the business world, knowledge is power. A team of bad ass, knowledgeable employees will impress even the most difficult customers. However, finding the right people to build a team like this isn’t easy and can take a lot of time. In many companies, knowledge is acquired through direct experience. A senior employee that has been working on a product for a long time will know it inside and out. But, as a result of everything they know, they can often feel overburdened or overworked.
Since his days serving treats at Dairy Queen, to cashiering at Shopko—which, fun fact, is how he met his wife—to supporting Zendesk customers as a Tier 1 support agent, Brett Bowser is a customer-service natural. After more than three years answering customer queries as a front-line advocate, Brett is now a Community Engagement Specialist in Zendesk’s Madison, Wis. office, where he applies years of hands-on customer-service skills to a different kind of support experience.
Customers are growing increasingly savvy and as they do, their needs are changing. What you provide your customer with will obviously have to account for this change, and evolve accordingly. In fact, if you don’t make changes, your customers may end up leaving, especially considering your competitors do make changes to their support strategy to address the changing tides. Some of these factors are fairly small and make use of existing tools.
