Teams | Collaboration | Customer Service | Project Management

A guide to customer service reports

The customer service requests your agents field have something valuable to tell you about your customers, product, and business. More than that, the cumulative data produced by your customer service tickets can reveal key insights. But for your business to learn from the information included within all those requests, you need a good method for tracking and analyzing them.

How to be customer obsessed

We’ve all heard the stories of companies going above and beyond to provide their customers with incredible support: Some of these stories are heart-warming. Some are inspiring. And some garnered good PR and attention on social media. One thing they all have in common, though: None of them is scalable. No restaurant could afford to deliver an airport steak to its entire customer base. And while giraffe bread hit the mark, it wouldn't be advisable for companies to take every branding suggestion.

Customer facing roles 101: everything you need to know

Any type of career a person chooses will require developing a relevant skill set. Sometimes it’s largely a matter of gaining a pertinent body of knowledge—doctors need to learn as much about the health and medical fields as possible, for instance. People who choose to work in customer-facing roles have to learn a set of skills that are as much about honing personality traits as learning facts. Working with customers can be immensely rewarding for people who enjoy helping others.

Why customer courtesy matters (and 8 tips on how to nail it)

When someone tells you they spent hours on the phone with customer service, it’s usually a horror story. We all know the tropes of the genre—torturously long waits, endless transfers, inescapable hold music... But at Zendesk, some of our support agents take pride in their longest customer calls.

What omnichannel really means

High performing customer experience teams are more than twice as likely as underperforming teams to be taking an omnichannel approach, according to Zendesk’s Customer Experience Trends Report, 2020. Yet Zendesk findings also revealed that only 35 percent of Benchmark companies have an omnichannel strategy in place. This gap represents a sweet spot where businesses can rise above their competition and differentiate on the basis of customer experience.

The contact center and customer service

A contact center and a call center are essentially the same thing, right? Well, yes and no. Call centers only field phone calls, whereas a contact center offers a variety of other ways for customers to reach out for support: email, chat, self-service, messaging apps, and social media. Why is it important to understand the difference? While a call center might work for your business, chances are your customers will be better served via a contact center.

Everything you need to know about customer value

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase customer value? You might think about money—giving customers a good price for a quality product. And 20 years ago, you’d have been right. But today, customer value encompasses much more. Today’s buyers don’t just care about a product’s price or even its quality. They also prioritize brand experiences.

How to anticipate your customer needs and solve them

People don’t generally open their wallets to spend money without getting something in return. Even when making a donation, there’s an incentive like feeling good or connecting to a cause. To be successful, businesses need to tap into unmet customer needs and offer solutions. Sounds simple — but how do you actually find out what’s on your customers’ minds?

Why Cloud 100 startups are investing in CX

This year we’ve seen an unexpected acceleration of cloud and software companies, driven by the sudden shift to remote work. In particular, business-to-business (B2B) software is “having a moment,” and the trend seems likely to continue. In this context, the announcement of this year’s Forbes Cloud 100 List takes on a new significance.