Teams | Collaboration | Customer Service | Project Management

Online and offline retailers are at war. For years, offline retailers have been struggling to stem the tide of shoppers leaving their stores, abandoning them for the convenience of online shopping. But this year, finally, their efforts have seen some positive press. It’s not a matter of if, but when. So here’s the question for both retailers: How does online and offline customer service compare, and does it really make a difference?

Business growth is a sign of success. But for customer service teams, it’s a good thing that comes with complications. As the department brings on more agents and gets a higher number of inquiries, continuing to use the old processes that once worked often falls short. And if a customer service team used to success suddenly finds itself falling behind on goals because of the change, it’s bad for customers and agents alike.

Everyone is online these days. It’s a given that this is how we now live and interact. We would find it extremely difficult to guide our lives without the internet. But with this trend of interacting on a digital plane, it’s sometimes easy to lose track of the human side of our interactions. It’s only too easy to treat online experiences as mere “exchanges” instead of unique stepping stones for developing and understanding relationships.

I’ve written at least 50 headlines for our monthly integrations post, you think you could do better? Let’s just move onto what you’re all here for.

A great customer service team can add wings to a company’s growth, by helping win and retain client loyalty. But should you build your team in-house, or hand it over to a specialist? Customer service BPOs (business processing outsourcers) are companies that specialize in handling customer queries that come in via email, chat, phone, social media, and other channels.

Omnichannel is the new buzzword in the customer service industry, and everyone is trying to get a piece of the action. However, is this hype real, and do you need to become the next expert in it? In layman’s terms, an omnichannel solution integrates all your customer service channels in one place to maintain context and end siloed conversations.

It’s been yet another eventful month, with a number of new and interesting apps making their entry onto the Freshdesk Marketplace. Here’s a quick look at the new additions.

No matter what size your company is, big data can make a significant impact on your customer service. And better customer service leads to happier customers and increased sales. In fact, increasing your customer retention by just 5% can result in a 25% increase1 in profits. But the problem is that even many of the largest businesses around aren’t using their data effectively.

Customer service support is shifting dramatically, from a single channel model to an omnichannel one. Today 90% of customers expect to be able to move seamlessly across service channels, including mobile, chat, and online. But the problem is companies are still struggling to do this well. 61% of customers have not been able to easily switch from one channel to another when interacting with customer service.