How to increase customer satisfaction? - 8 tools for online customer service

Would you like to improve customer service standards, but don't know where to start? Modern technologies come to meet your needs, which will automate this process and increase customer satisfaction. Thanks to them, you will shorten the response time to consumer questions, standardize the response process, and increase communication efficiency. All this is to reassure consumers that they can always rely on your support.

In light of research, over 70% of customers will discontinue cooperation with you if they negatively assess the level of service in your company. Today, develop standards for customer contact that will help you understand the needs of your consumers and give you a chance to build a long-term relationship.

We know that the choice of online customer service tools is wide, and the multitude of applications and platforms does not help in making decisions. That's why we have prepared a list of solutions to start your adventure with new technologies to improve customer service.

Tools for multichannel customer service

Multichannel communication with customers aims to provide consistent support regardless of the contact form chosen by the user. Omnichannel involves creating the best customer experience in each communication channel by building a unique relationship. In integrated customer service, you will be assisted by helpdesk systems available on the market or custom-built software developed by AI and software development firms such as Aloa , which will streamline and organize the communication process with the customer by providing them with appropriate support.

Zendesk vs Intercom

Both platforms provide comprehensive customer support through chat and email. These are helpdesk solutions that aggregate the most important information about customers in one place, making them particularly useful both in the sales process and in after-sales service.

Zendesk helps aggregate messages from customers from the channels that interest you, such as contact forms, chat, or email, but also from external platforms, e.g., Facebook. Based on customer data, such as communication history, the system directs the inquiry to your employee who is most competent in a given area. The tool also allows for telephone communication with the company, and each call is recorded in the system. So if you forget to address an important issue during the conversation, you can come back to it later and answer the customer's intriguing question.

www.zendesk.com/demo

On the other hand, Zendesk Chat is a messenger that allows for quick response, using ready-made response templates, but with the possibility of personalization. Moreover, it allows real-time analysis of traffic on your website, actions taken by users, and visited subpages. With this data, you can start a conversation with the customer yourself - thus anticipating their needs and improving the shopping experience. Other features include Zendesk Guide and Explore, which facilitate the creation of a knowledge base and generate analytical reports based on collected information. This is the perfect solution if you are thinking about providing a consistent customer experience on every communication channel.

Intercom is also great for online customer contact, Intercom, whose main advantage is an extensive chat. However, this is not its only usefulness, and the tool is also worth using for sending mailings or newsletters. In addition, Intercom performs well in creating a well-organized knowledge base that helps customers find solutions on their own. Another task that this system can handle is automatically sending messages to users currently visiting your website. The chat window opens with a default message, which can be any content, from "Hi, how can I help?" to "Be sure to read this article...". Email sequences can also be sent to customers, depending on which stage of the purchase process they are in: after registering on the website, using the trial period, or abandoning the shopping cart.

Both tools are reliable for customer support in the form of inquiries and knowledge bases. However, let's see which one wins in each category:

• basic settings - Intercom is certainly easier to configure, but remember that it also offers fewer solutions. Zendesk guarantees more features, so learning this tool will naturally take some time.
• tool intuitiveness - here, too, Intercom triumphs - just take a quick look at the interface of each panel to see that Zendesk still needs to learn a lesson in transparency and system simplicity.
• customer support - although both tools have the ability to create a knowledge base, the one offered by Zendesk is easier to navigate. Another point goes to Zendesk for the ability to contact customer support 24/7, while Intercom support is only available live during business hours.
• unique features - in this category, the duel is even, Zendesk surpasses the competition in terms of sales capabilities, while Intercom offers a wider range of communication scenarios.

Measuring customer service satisfaction

Opinie customers are one of the most valuable indicators that you should follow when running your business. They are signposts that determine the direction of your company's development. If you are facing the challenge of mierzenia level of customer satisfaction, rely on proven and attractive methods that will encourage customers to share their experiences. 

If you value feedback, reach for SurveyMonkey, that is used to create functional questionnaires. The application should be integrated with your email to be able to use ready-made templates or create your own surveys from scratch. There are many ways to share questionnaires, including through email, chat, and social media. After sending, you can also analyze your results and use advanced features to analyze the collected data. 

www.surveymonkey.com/market-research/get-a-demo/

If you don't want customers to deal with filling out satisfaction surveys, Hively. comes to the rescue. This is a simple way for customers to leave feedback on the services or products we offer. We have 3 smileys to choose from: red, yellow, and green, as well as a field where we justify our indication. You can even attach the survey to the email footer, reminding customers that feedback is of great importance in improving their satysfakcji from completed transactions. 

www.teamhively.com

Knowledge base 

Today, customers are looking for immediate answers to their questions, so make sure that before they contact the company, they will want to solve the problem themselves. Ensure that they quickly obtain information from a reliable source. This can be achieved through knowledge bases on official websites or FAQs on social and consumer portals. This type of self-service will work well in solving less complex problems, allowing you to focus on more complicated inquiries.

Although tips have already been given regarding the choice of a tool that will handle the knowledge base for customers. However, since there are many solutions on the market dedicated only to this issue, let's also look at a tool designed for sharing our know-how with customers.  

Help Scout

In addition to features typical of other helpdesks, Help Scout facilitates the creation of a unique knowledge base. It provides support in the process of publishing and organizing content for you, and helps customers find the information they need. The software has a practical content management system, such as a feature that facilitates displaying answers in popular search engines like Google. Why is this so important? Because some customers will seek help not only in the knowledge base but also from the browser. Other advantages include categorizing and segmenting content into logical sections, making navigation easy for everyone. Help Scout also generates reports that will show you what people are looking for and what they are not, providing ideas for future posts. The reports can also indicate whether your articles fill the information gap and whether the answers are satisfactory to customers. And most importantly, you don't need a team of programmers to update and expand the knowledge base on an ongoing basis - every employee will surely be able to handle this task. 

Groove  

Just like Help Scout, Groove is useful in several areas of customer service, we will focus only on its ability to build a knowledge base. Its uniqueness lies in optimizing the base for SEO and adapting it to mobile devices. By introducing its own CMS system, the creators have provided a range of innovations for administrators - browsing articles by status (published, unpublished, drafts), indicating the most popular searches, or automatically saving changes so that you never have to worry about losing your work. With Groove, your online library will have the right structure and an attractive design, and above all, it will reduce the effort for customers to find answers.

CRM tools 

CRM systems are business software designed to manage a company's interactions with its current and potential customers. It is our command center where we store all the data related to our contacts to facilitate workflow in the company and automate the customer service process.

HubSpot 

This is a customer relationship management platform that allows you to monitor interactions with users through multiple channels, including social media, email, and hotlines. HubSpot CRM is useful at every stage of the customer's buying journey because it perfectly combines the work of the sales, marketing, and customer service teams. This ensures consistent communication and greater operational efficiency, which will lead you to achieve the most important goal - sales growth. The tool collects customer information so that you can manage transactions, monitor lead behavior on the sales path, and personalize communication. The advantage of the platform is the comprehensiveness of the proposed solutions and the consolidation of multiple tools in one place. 

www.hubspot.com/products/sales/demo

Pipedrive 

Pipedrive is perfect for small and medium-sized businesses, and you should reach for it if you want to improve your sales results. The software focuses on three areas: sales opportunity management, task automation, and tracking the history of customer conversations. The panel presents tasks to be completed in a clear way, necessary to achieve our goals, and the full history of contacts allows for scheduling conversations. Importantly, PipeDrive organizes potential customers in a way that allows you to focus on transactions with the highest priority. All of this makes it a system with universal application.

www.pipedrive.com/pl

Other popular CRM systems include, for example, Salesforce, NetHunt CRM, or Livespace. 

Currently, providing a consistent customer experience in each communication channel is a customer service standard. In your efforts to acquire loyal users, reach for tools that support communication with users. Regardless of whether you have a prowadzisz small online store or you are the head of sales in a large enterprise, you need support in nurturing relationships with your product or service recipients. We hope that the mentioned tools for effective customer service will bring satisfaction not only to customers but also to you.