This is where a modern customer engagement center becomes crucial. CEC helps you engage with them meaningfully across their entire journey and create holistic, omnichannel experiences.

Core functionalities of customer engagement center

CEC has the functionality to cut down on certain redundant manual tasks while also having access to collaboration tools and real-time analytics. 

Here are the functionalities that equip support agents with those opportunities.

• Omnichannel communication: Phone, email, chat, social media, video, self-service portals, etc.
• 360-degree customer views: Complete history and context for every interaction.
• Intelligent routing: Getting customers to the right resource at the right time.
• Knowledge management: Easy access to information for both agents and customers.
• Analytics and AI capabilities: Data-driven insights and automation.
• Integration capabilities: Seamless connections with other business systems.
• Customer journey analytics: Identify trends, pain points, and opportunities for improvement.

Hereby, you got enough primary knowledge about a CEC platform. But how would you build your own centralized platform or ecosystem that goes beyond traditional customer service? 

Without any further ado, let’s start building a successful customer engagement center for your business.

How to build a successful customer engagement center?

The most effective CECs strike a balance between efficiency and personalization. Leveraging technology to handle routine tasks while empowering agents to add the human touch where it matters most.

So, start with identifying the right strategy and finish by combining all your unique business needs together.

1. Identifying your CEC strategy

Create a strategy of what you are trying to achieve. Maybe you’re aiming to reduce support costs while improving satisfaction scores. Or perhaps you want to transform customer service into a revenue-generating department through upsells and cross-sells. 

Whatever your goals, they should drive every decision that follows.

These approaches are commonly recommended by experts. For example, several vendors and industry research reports (including Salesforce and Gartner) stress the importance of starting with a clear vision and well-defined objectives. 

2. Defining the ideal customer experience

Put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Map out their journey from initial awareness through purchase and beyond. Where are the pain points? Where are the opportunities to delight?

Identify pain points (like having to repeat their story multiple times) and look for opportunities to delight them. Then create detailed customer personas and journey maps. Document the ideal experience for each touchpoint, then identify the gaps between your current state and where you want to be.

3. Getting a technology infrastructure in place

With your strategy and ideal experience defined, it’s time to evaluate technology solutions. 

Look for platforms that offer:

The technology should enable your strategy, not define it. Too many companies fall into the trap of letting software limitations dictate their customer experience.

4. Connecting to your customers where they are

Today’s customers hop between channels like nobody’s business. They might start on your website chat, continue via email, and finish with a phone call. And they will expect you to keep up.

Your CEC needs to meet customers on their preferred channels while maintaining context across interactions. This doesn’t mean you need to be everywhere at once, though. Start with the channels your customers use most, then expand methodically.

A survey of your current customers can reveal surprising insights about channel preferences. For example, younger customers might prefer text messaging, where older ones overwhelmingly chose email over phone calls. These omnichannel strategies are now standard in customer service and CX practice.

5. Putting the right people in place

We all know, even the best technology needs to be supported by the right team. That’s why your CEC team needs to be equipped with the right skill and knowledge. 

Such as,

Consider a cross-functional teams (or “pods”) approach where teams handle specific customer segments across all channels rather than specializing by channel. This encourages ownership of the entire customer relationship.

However, training isn’t a one-time event. Build continuous learning into your CEC culture with regular skill refreshers and opportunities to share best practices.

To enhance your client support strategy—download our comprehensive FREE eBook and build a high-performing customer service team.

The form can be filled in the actual website url.

6. Building a CEC for your business

Finally, remember, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Your Customer Engagement Center (CEC) should be tailored to your unique business needs and customer expectations.

Start with a minimum viable product that addresses your most critical pain points, then evolve it using real customer feedback and performance data.

Consider a phased implementation strategy:

An agile, iterative rollout is a proven best practice in the customer engagement space. It mirrors the adaptive nature of successful CX transformations, what works for one business might require fine-tuning for another. That’s why a phased, feedback-driven approach isn’t just popular; it’s essential.

Wrapping up

Building a successful Customer Engagement Center isn’t just about installing new software. It’s about creating a foundation for meaningful customer relationships that drive business growth.

Also, this journey of building a successful CEC is never truly “finish.” Customer expectations continue to evolve, and so should your engagement strategy. The journey of improvement never ends, but with each step, you’ll build stronger, more profitable customer relationships.

The post How to Build a Successful Customer Engagement Center appeared first on Fluent Support.

Well, keep reading to know how it impacts. 

Importance of agent signature 

Let’s say, 

You reach out to a company’s support team with an urgent issue. After waiting, you get a response that’s helpful but the ticket is unsigned or have no name in it. Just a generic “Support Team” reply. You might get the answers of your question but it feels robotic. In your subconscious you will feel like you are just another customer. 

Now, compare that to getting a response from “O’Sullivan Williams, Senior Support Specialist, Product Department”. Suddenly the interaction feels more personal, human and trustworthy. You know a real person is dealing with your issue. This small but mighty difference is why agent signatures on support ticket replies matter. 

Let’s try to break down the benefits of it. 

1. Trust through Personalization 

Trust is the foundation of any customer relationship. When an agent signs their name, it means someone is personally responsible for your case. This personal touch builds confidence, and build trust for a brand that shows transparency through small but mighty gestures like this. 

2. Authority and Accountability 

An agent signature means authority and accountability. It gives customer the power to blame someone if anything goes wrong. Customer really apricate this power. This can be especially important when dealing with complex or sensitive issues where customers need to feel the matter is being taken seriously by an expert.  

3. Business Growth 

Customer satisfaction drives business growth. Happy customers become advocates who recommend your services. Just a simple agent signature helps create that satisfaction by making the interaction feel personal and valued. Over time this builds your brand’s reputation. 

4. Brand Identity 

When agents sign off with their title, designation or department, it shows the company’s professionalism. It showcases that the company is highly structured and well organized. That improves your brand value, so it enhances the credibility. 

5. Building Positive Agent-Customer Relationships 

Personalized responses can build stronger relationships between agents and customers. When customers know who they’re talking to, they’ll engage in a more constructive conversation. Or may build relationship with the agent as well. Which significantly lead to advocacy of the brand. 

Setup agent signature on helpdesk system 

Setup the agent signature is very easy on Fluent Support thanks to dynamic short code. You can do it in two different ways. 

Signature on ticket reply 

In Fluent Support you can put your signature very fast as a support agent. For that, go to the ticket dashboard and click on any ticket. Hit the reply icon on the top in Fluent Support.

Now type out the desired reply or use AI to type answer of the customer ticket. Then click on the short code dropdown at the right top corner of the reply box.  Select ’Agent Full Name’, hit enter then again select ’Agent Title’ which basically agent designation. 

That’s it; you don’t have to type your full name and designation every time you reply. This dynamic shortcode will pull your information from your staff profile and put it there. 

Setup signature from business inbox 

In fluent Support you can link up to 500 emails from where you can get support ticket directly to your helpdesk system. You can also setup signature there for each email inbox. In that way you do not have to worry about adding agent signature at all. It will be added atomically. 

To do so, go the business inbox and click on any business pipe settings that is connect with an email. You will see this tab says ‘Email Settings’. Click on that then click on the edit under manager of ‘Replied by Agent (To Customer)’. 

A popup will appear with an edit text box and all the. Shortcode list. Just organize the signature as you like and hit save. That’s it. Now if any agent replies to ticket from this business email the agent signature will be added automatically with correct agent information. 

Conclusion 

In summary, a support agent signature is more than just a name at the end of an email. It’s a trust builder, a symbol of authority, and a driver of business growth. It personalizes support interactions, reinforces professionalism, and enhances the customer experience—all of which are key to long-term success. 

So next time your support team replies to a ticket, remember: agent signature is a small thing that makes a big difference in business growth. 

The post Importance Of Support Agent signature On Ticket Reply appeared first on Fluent Support.

You spend months and dollars bringing a customer to your doorstep, only for them to walk out after one purchase. Frustrating, right?

That’s where CLM comes in, saving days of work and, more importantly, your revenue becomes consistent. 

CLM isn’t just another buzzword; it’s the secret spice to grow your business sustainably. It’s more than just getting new customers in the door; it’s about creating relationships that actually last. It might sound complicated? But don’t worry; we are going to walk you through. 

CLM is the roadmap for how your customers interact with your brand, from awareness to becoming loyal customers. Mainly six stages of this process: 

1. Awareness: When someone first stumbles upon your brand. 
2. Engagement: When they start showing interest and checking you out. 
3. Conversion: When they finally decide to buy. 
4. Retention: When they stick around for more. 
5. Loyalty: When they grow trust in the brand and return regularly. 
6. Advocacy: When they’re so impressed, they tell everyone about you. 

We will explain a bit more on each topic. But first, we have to answer this vital question. 

Why does CLM even matter? 

The short answer is that if you nurture your current customer, they will bring more customers. Now the long answer. 

More Revenue: A happy customer with your brand spends more and buys more often. 

Better Reputation: They’ll share their positive experiences in the public review section, on social media, and even recommend it to others in person. 

Smoother Experiences: When you know a customer’s need, you can really tailor the service; that sets you apart from competitors. 

Lower Costs: It’s cheaper to keep a customer than find a new one. 

Let’s break down the customer lifecycle 

As we mentioned the six stages previously, let’s break it down in an elaborative manner. 

1. Awareness: make them notice you 

First impressions are everything in the awareness stage. If you are in a crowd, how do you make someone notice you? And this is the challenge every business faces. You need to place the business where your potential buyer already spends time, like online. 

So, the obvious thing to do is run targeted ads on platforms like Google or social media. It should target the right person, not just a random noncustomer. You need to optimize your content using SEO strategies so your blogs, videos, and website appear prominently in search results. 

Lastly, use testimonials, case studies, and reviews from your current customers to grow trust with new visitors. 

2. Engagement: keep them interested 

You grabbed the attention; now it’s time to keep them engaged and build trust. The best way to keep them engaged is to offer value upfront. Try to create an environment where your visitors can feel heard and appreciated. 

You could offer free resources first, like a product trial, to give them a short period of experience. These will showcase your expertise. This will encourage you to revisit it as a go-to resource in a targeted niche. 

This is the point you have to be accessible. Its cloud be through social media, live chat, or email. and do not keep them waiting for too long. 

Finally, add a personal touch to every interaction. Use their name, note their preferences, and write to align with their interests. Slowly, you will build a meaningful relationship. 

3. Conversion: close the deal 

This phase, visitors are interested now. It’s time to show them some guide to seamlessly reach the final step: hit the buy button. The business with that customer began. 

Always simplify the checkout process. Short and less clicks, but detailed and clear. A clean and simple design can significantly reduce frustrations and increase conversions. 

From time to time, you need to create a sense of urgency, like a limited time offer, to act quickly rather than abandoning the cart. 

Building trust is non-negotiable. Secure payment options, money-back guarantees, and authentic customer reviews remove any doubts. 

4. Retention: keep them coming back 

It took too much time and money to get a customer and build trust—a relationship. Don’t let the relationship fade away after the first sale. Work on this to convert them into loyal customers. 

Rewarding loyalty is a great starting point. It could be customers’ points for every purchase or receiving exclusive discounts and early access to your latest products. These perks make them feel valued and encourage them to return. 

Stay connected. Or anyone can soap in and take them away. A simple follow-up email, a thoughtful product update, or even a simple greeting can go a long way in showing appreciation for being with your company. 

The power of feedback is a must. Asking customers for their opinions through surveys or reviews not only makes them feel heard but also provides invaluable insights to refine the service. 

5. Loyalty: strengthen the bond 

A loyal customer always chooses your brand over competitors because of the trust and satisfaction with your company. And the fun thing is that every time your product or service meets an achievement, it gives more confidence to the customer for your brand. 

To make this bond stronger, offering exclusive benefits can make a profitable impact. And we have already talked about the gifts you can give them for being loyal. 

This should be consistent. Not just a one-time thing. Like regular personalized newsletters, timely updates, or thoughtfully crafted offers. Just to keep the interaction alive. 

6. Advocacy: turn them into fans 

This is the next step in customer loyalty. Customer becomes an active marketer of your brands for free. 

You can promote user-generated content. Encourage your customers to share photos, stories, and experiences featuring your products. Not only does this allow them to showcase their love for your brand, but it also creates authentic content that builds trust. 

An affiliate program is a good platform for these brand advocates. A brand-loyal user as an affiliate can convert more customers easily than you can think of. You should celebrate the success of your advocates by highlighting their story and case study as well. 

Tools that make CLM easier 

Now you might think this is just too much to handle. But here is the thing: you don’t have to do all this manually. There are a lot of tools available. But here are some tools that can make your life way easier 

• Fluent Support: An OpenAI-powered helpdesk system built for WordPress. Fluent Support enables teams to streamline customer support and integrate ticket management directly into their website. 
  
  Its AI features help agents respond to customer queries faster and with precision. Additionally, its automation and dynamic ticketing system are perfect for any business industry. 

• FluentCRM: A robust email marketing solution for WordPress. FluentCRM allows you to manage email campaigns, track user behavior, and automate email sequences right in WordPress. 

• Google Analytics: Understand your audience by analyzing their behavior—like which pages they visit and where they leave. 

• Zapier: Automate repetitive tasks across apps to save time while keeping workflows intact. 

As we said, there is a lot to this list. These are just what you can consider right away to start the CLM process. 

Get started with customer lifecycle management 

Now that are on the same page. Now let’s get started with the process. 

1. Map It Out: Pinpoint all the stages and touchpoints in your customer’s journey. Visualize the whole customer journey, mapping where they start and where you want them to go. 
2. Track Success: Set clear goals, like improving engagement rates or customer retention. Put these numbers on a KPI to track. 
3. Segment Your Customers: Not all are the same. Different customers have different needs. Personalize your approach by grouping based on different characteristics. 
4. Keep Improving: Use data and feedback to refine your strategy. You have to keep reviewing what’s working and what’s not. 

Wrapping up 

Companies that master the CLM can see a noticeable increase in profitability from returning customers. And not to mention that you earn a good reputation in the market in the process. 

So, in the end, would you rather constantly chase new customers or build deeper, everlasting relationships with the ones you already have? I hope you get the answer now. So, when will you start the customer lifecycle management for your business? 

The post Customer Lifecycle Management (CLM): Is This Vital For Business?  appeared first on Fluent Support.

Support agents can go through these periods as it’s part of their everyday job. However, there are times when the pressure piles up and they end up working through a heavy backlog. Managing existing tickets while taking on new ones can be exhausting and increases the risk of burnout among support agents.

“Burnout happens, but could be mitigated with proper distribution of works and by encouraging agents for the positive reviews they got.”

Md. Kamrul Islam
Head of Technical Support at WPManageNinja LLC

Burnout happens and it’s understandable. But it’s more important to know how to tackle this problem in the earlier phase. Otherwise, you can not deliver the best service and handle your customers with a joyful attitude in the long.

In this blog, we will discuss why burnout is so prevalent in the customer service industry and ways to avoid it.

Why burnout is prevalent in customer service

Customer support is one of the toughest jobs that looks simple from the outside. Support agents interact with all kinds of customers, and not everyone is easy to deal with. It’s almost certain that they’ll encounter an angry customer at least once a day.

Furthermore, the high volume of tickets works as an add-on to this pressure. The combination of high expectations and emotional stress makes burnout a prevalent issue in customer service.

Let’s explore why burnout is so common in customer service.

The pressure to meet customer expectations

Nowadays, customers want their issues fixed right away with perfection. They count on support agents to be knowledgeable, understanding, and quick. This constant demand to meet or exceed customer expectations can create a lot of pressure on support agents.

A report by Salesforce shows that “84% of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as its products or services.” 

This means customer support isn’t just about solving problems anymore. It’s about making every interaction a positive one. The daily pressure to keep up these high standards can lead to stress and exhaustion.

Handling a constant flow of tickets

Picture a never-ending line of people asking for help. Before you finish helping one customer, two more need assistance. This is what many support agents deal with every day. The constant flow of requests can be immense, making it hard to keep up.

Here’s a comparison graph of a helpdesk system:

This graph shows the support ticket flow over two different years, showcasing an increase in ticket volume. 

As businesses grow, the pressure on support teams mounts, requiring them to continuously enhance their performance.

Several factors contribute to this increase in ticket volume:

• Agent expertise: If an agent isn’t skilled enough in that specific area, it can slow down the ticket resolution process and create a ticket backlog.
• Technical issues: Bugs or glitches in products can trigger a flood of support requests, as customers seek solutions to their problems.
• New releases: Product launches or updates often bring unexpected challenges, causing a spike in support inquiries.
• Festivals or sales: High-traffic periods like sales or festivals lead to increased customer interactions, resulting in more tickets.

With the ever-growing ticket volume, agents often find themselves stuck in a cycle of constantly reacting to inquiries or issues. This constant pressure can lead to feelings of frustration and helplessness, which can ultimately result in burnout.

The emotional strain of difficult interactions

Customer support isn’t just about solving technical problems. But it’s also about managing the emotions of both, the customer’s and the agent’s. 

Dealing with angry, frustrated, or disappointed customers can be emotionally draining. While some customers are pleasant and understanding, others can be demanding, rude, or even abusive.

According to a UK-based survey, “42% of employees feel emotionally drained from their work.” This emotional exhaustion is a key contributor to burnout, making it harder for them to maintain the positive attitude that’s essential in customer service.

Ways to avoid burnout in customer service, according to support agents

Customer service burnout is inevitable but can be mitigated by proper methods and organizations. 

Let’s take a look at this image mentioned below to find out the ways at a glance.

1. Understand the signs of burnout

As we already know the prevalence of customer service burnout, we have to know what are the signs of burnout to know if our support agents are experiencing it.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), burnout is not a medical condition but an “occupational phenomenon.” While it’s not officially a disease, it can lead to serious medical issues, including anxiety, emotional stress, and other related disorders.

Dr. Tara Narula, a cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital, has suggested some signs of burnout that lead people to mental stress and disorders. 

Note: One of these signs alone may not indicate burnout. However, if you notice multiple signs in one individual, it could be a cause for concern.

• Fatigue:  A key sign of burnout is exhaustion. When stress builds up, it drains your body and mind, leaving a constant tiredness in your body. 

If an employee seems less energetic or engaged in work, it might be a sign of burnout. Pay attention to their energy levels, especially if it’s a noticeable change from their usual behavior.

• Mental detachment: Feeling mentally disconnected from your job is often a sign of burnout. You might become negative or cynical about your work. In case, someone seems less involved or indifferent to tasks they once cared about, it could indicate burnout. Keep an eye on changes in their focus or enthusiasm, as these are key signs.

• Cynicism/pessimism: People feel they are not professionally efficacious and become negative towards work or colleagues. 

It’s the difference between saying “I had a bad week” and “I’m just not good at this job.” This shift can increase feelings of frustration and make daily responsibilities even harder to manage.

These can apply to any career but there are certain professions like customer support, call center, teachers, medical professionals, etc. So, by recognizing the symptoms of burnout, individuals and organizations can take proactive steps to avoid it.

2. Proper training and coaching: 

Onboarding in customer service isn’t just about learning rules and regulations—it’s about mastering how to satisfy customers effectively. 

New bees in the support team often struggle with calming frustrated customers, which isn’t a skill acquired magically. Without proper training and guidance during their intern period, support agents can experience significant stress, leading to burnout.

• Customer interaction training: Equip your team with the skills to handle various customer scenarios, including managing difficult conversations and intense situations.

Here’s a video that provides more insights into positive customer interactions.

• Technical skills training: Ensure agents are well-versed in the tools and technologies they’ll use daily, enabling them to solve problems efficiently and confidently.

• Stress management training: Teach techniques to manage stress and maintain mental well-being, helping agents stay balanced and focused even under pressure.

• Team-based training: Foster collaboration and support among team members, promoting a cohesive environment where employees feel valued and supported.

3. Expertise-based product sector selection 

A research report from Ipsos reveals that about 64% of Americans feel stressed at work, and 33% believe this stress is negatively impacting their lives. This stress often arises when agents lack proper knowledge about their products. 

Customer support team leaders recommend assigning support agents to products or sectors they are specialized in. This approach can help reduce stress and increase their interest in their work.

4. Organized workloads

Support teams should hold a daily meeting to review the number of tickets or support queries received and distribute them evenly among team members.

Since the volume of support tickets can vary each day, it’s important to actively manage this distribution to avoid overloading any single individual. An organized helpdesk system can assist in balancing workloads effectively.

If your team is regularly overwhelmed by a tidal wave of support tickets flooding the inbox outside of working hours, consider expanding your support network by hiring a global team. By bringing on additional agents, you can distribute the workload more effectively, with your international team handling requests that come in during the night, ensuring continuous coverage and faster response times.

5. Ideal systems and automation

An advanced ticket management system with workflow automation can release agents’ stress. Automation can handle recurring tickets, escalate tickets automatically, and also close if there’s a common issue.

For example, Fluent Support is a feature-rich self-hosted help desk system with AI-powered responses, automated workflow triggers, and 20+ integrations.

6. Know when to pause

“The violence of positivity does not deprive, it saturates; it does not exclude, it exhausts. That is why it proves inaccessible to unmediated perception.”

Byung-Chul Han, The Burnout Society

In The Burnout Society, the famous philosopher Byung-Chul Han warns that constant positivity doesn’t necessarily uplift us; instead, it overwhelms and exhausts us.

In customer service, the pressure to always be upbeat and productive can lead to burnout. It’s important to recognize when you’re feeling saturated and take steps to recharge. So, know when to pause, reflect, and take care of yourself.

“Today we live in a world that is very poor in interruption; “betweens” and “between-times” are lacking.”
― Byung-Chul Han, The Burnout Society

So, while it’s important to stay focused on work, remember to take breaks to restore your body and mind. Constantly working on cases can lead to burnout.

In this case, the 20-20-20 rule can be a great practice. The rule says that for every 20 minutes spent looking at a screen, you take a 20-second break, move around, and look at something 20 feet away, which relaxes the eye muscles for 20 seconds and gives your brain a much-needed respite.

Here are some methods for taking effective breaks:

• Stress-relieving activities
• Colleague interactions
• Focused breathing
• Ergonomic chairs and desks

Therefore, know when to step away and return with a refreshed mind. Use these methods for continuous healing and avoid burnout. 

7. Celebrating wins and positive feedback

Recognizing and celebrating achievements is crucial in customer support. It boosts morale and the value of hard work. Make it a habit to acknowledge both individual and team successes, whether it’s resolving a challenging case or receiving positive feedback from a customer.

Here are a few ways to recognize employees:

• Birthday celebrations
• Employee of the Month awards
• Days off for volunteering
• Hybrid work models

A simple compliment can be the key to preventing someone from feeling overwhelmed and helping them stay motivated, particularly in customer service, where negativity from customer complaints can be prevalent.

Wrapping up

Customer support agents face tough challenges and deal with numerous issues daily, leading to mental exhaustion and burnout.

However, to ensure high-quality service and customer satisfaction, proactive and well-supported customer support agents are crucial.

The success of the entire customer service industry relies on these support agents. Prioritizing their mental health and well-being is essential. If burnout isn’t mitigated, it can negatively impact the company. 

The post 7 Ways to Avoid Burnout in Customer Service appeared first on Fluent Support.

But customer service is more than just a checklist of tasks. At its core, it’s about fostering positive relationships with customers. It’s about understanding their needs, addressing their concerns promptly and efficiently, and creating an overall experience that makes them feel valued.

In this article, we will do a deep dive into it. Let’s start from the top, from the basics.

Customer service agents’ main responsibility is positive customer interactions, encompassing everything from answering questions and resolving confusion to offering helpful advice for better customer experience.

In simple words, it includes a wide range of tasks to meet customer needs proactively, address concerns, and convert customers to satisfied and loyal customers.

Key aspects of customer service

Customer service agents have some primary characteristics that define them in the customer service team.

Customer Interaction

The customer service team directly communicates with the customer. Customer service agents have skills like active listening, empathy, patience, and a detailed understanding of the company’s products and services.

These interactions can occur through omnichannels, including phone, email, live chat, social media, and in-person.

Customer Experience

The customer experience is directly linked to the quality of customer service. A positive experience can build customer loyalty and reduce customer churn. Big companies nowadays compete on the quality of their customer experience in a saturated market.

Technology Integration

Modern customer service adapts new technologies to enhance efficiency and effectiveness. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, AI and automation, chatbots, and robust data platforms are tools for fluidized customer interaction.

As service trends move forward, these technologies allow personalized service and help companies handle increased customer service tickets without losing quality.

Measuring and Improving Service

To continuously improve customer service, companies track various customer metrics such as customer satisfaction scores (CSAT), net promoter scores (NPS), and customer effort scores (CES). These numbers give you granular insights. With these, you can figure out the strengths and weaknesses of the given service and help you improve point by point.

The Many Hats of Customer Service

Customer service agents play different roles at different touch-points on the customer journey map. Here are a few responsibilities a service team has to go through.

Problem-solver

Customer service representatives are the frontline troubleshooters. They look after the first layer of issues raised by customers. Whether it’s a purchase issue or the best package to choose to use of the product, they actively help out clients.

So they have to think quickly, be technically sound, and be calm under stress. Because of direct customer interaction, they are one of the vital bodies to request new features for the dev team.

Informative guides

They are the face of the company to the customers. So they have to provide clear and concise information about products, services, and policies. They answer questions, recommend, and ensure detailed information is provided to the customers before making the purchase decision.

Active listeners

The vital skill of a customer service agent is listening rather than speaking. Reps who are experts on active listening can understand the root cause of customer concerns, empathize with frustrations, and deliver a good customized service.

Active listening is paying full attention to the customer without interception, recognizing their emotions, and creating a feedback loop aiming to provide a solution. This makes customers feel heard and valued.

Relationship builders

A customer service rep’s other job is to connect with customers on a personal level. Personal connections create brand loyalty and customer retention. Relationship building creates a memorable experience that makes customers feel appreciated. Hence, they become an advocate, an unpaid affiliate.

Why Customer Service Matters

The market is getting saturated day by day. Only exceptional customer service can set you apart from your competitors. This can add a lot of nontangible but vital value to your business. 

Customer satisfaction and loyalty

A good customer service experience can create happy customers. They are more likely to return and also recommend your business to others. The Salesforce survey found that 73% of customers expect companies to understand their needs and expectations. 

Moreover, satisfied customers often become brand advocates without a pannuy. They happily share their positive experiences on social media and with other customers, which increases the brand’s visibility.

Brand reputation

Word-of-mouth marketing is the most powerful way to convert. Customer service interactions play a major role in shaping brand perception. A positive experience with a brand can influence their purchase decision.

Reduced customer churn

Retaining existing customers is significantly cheaper than acquiring new ones. If you can mitigate customer concerns effectively, you can minimize customer churn. A study by Harvard University says if you can increase customer retention rates by 5%, you can increase profits by 25% to 95%.

Reducing churn not only stabilizes revenue but also allows businesses to build long-term relationships with their customers. This can open doors for upselling and cross-selling.

The Future of Customer Service

The world of customer service is constantly evolving. Technology is playing the main role, with chatbots, automation, and AI-powered solutions.

The future lies in striking a balance between automation and human interaction.

AI-powered chatbots can answer frequently asked questions and provide basic troubleshooting steps. These bots even schedule appointments, freeing up human reps from recurring inquiries. Chatbots can operate 24/7, providing immediate assistance and improving first response time. That means the Sun model will not effect your multinational business.

Self-service portals empower customers to find information, track orders, and manage accounts on their own. This reduces the need for direct contact with customer service.

These portals often include comprehensive FAQs, how-to guides, a knowledge base, and community forums where customers can help each other. This not only reduces the workload on customer service teams but also builds confidence in your customers

A ticket management system  can help the service team get customer queries into an organized system with a high level of communication functionality. These systems help you organize all customer tickets with a personal agent-only note.

These systems are equipped with high level automation and trained AI power to make service easy and fully intuitive.

But while these tools can streamline processes and enhance efficiency, the human touch will always remain the same. Customers still value the ability to interact with a real person who can understand their specific needs and provide personalized solutions.

Personal interactions can address unique or complex issues that automated systems might not handle effectively. And as we mentioned, empathy makes loyalty.

Building a Customer-Centric Culture:

Creating a customer-centric culture goes beyond building a customer service team. It requires a company-wide commitment to prioritizing customer satisfaction. This can involve:

Empowering employees to make decisions and take ownership of customer issues. An empowered agent feels more confident and motivated to provide excellent service. This can involve giving them the authority to make exceptions, offer discounts, or customize the plan.

Investing in ongoing training to make sure the customer service team has the skills and knowledge to handle any situation. Trainings can improve communication techniques, give sound information about products, and help build strategies to deal with difficult situations.

Gathering customer feedback through surveys, reviews, and social media monitoring to identify areas for improvement. As we mentioned, a proper feedback loop helps businesses understand customer pain points and solve them.

This information can be used to make big data. Ultimately, it will help you improve the products, services, and CX.

Recognizing and rewarding employees who consistently get a good customer rating. Recognition can boost productivity and build a culture of excellence. The rewards can be a bonus, acknowledgment, or better opportunities for career advancement.

Wrapping up

When businesses focus on putting customers first, they make customer service a core part of their business. Therefore, they get more and more happy customers, who keep coming back and even bring in new customers. 

A customer-first approach also makes customers loyal. As a result, it helps the brand stand out in a busy market. This gives the business an edge over competitors and makes the business sustainable.

Customer service is not only about resolving issues but also about creating opportunities for upselling and cross-selling. So, a customer service team with the right tools and training is essential. This is the only way to see that upright graph.

The post What is Customer Service: From Interactions to Relationships appeared first on Fluent Support.

Why Integrate Fluent Support with HubSpot CRM?

While Fluent Support directly integrates with many tools, HubSpot CRM isn’t one of them. Before diving into the integration process, let’s explore the benefits of connecting your CRM with a Helpdesk:

Centralized Customer Data

Combining Fluent Support and HubSpot CRM ensures that all customer interactions and data are stored in one place. This centralization makes it easier to track customer history, preferences, and interactions.

Improved Customer Experience 

By integrating these platforms, support agents can access support data in the CRM, providing more personalized and efficient support.

Enhanced Marketing Efforts 

Syncing support data with HubSpot CRM allows marketing teams to segment and target customers more effectively, using insights from support interactions to inform campaigns.

Automated Workflows 

SureTriggers can automate various tasks, such as creating new CRM contacts from support tickets or updating existing records with new information, saving time and reducing manual work.

Step-by-Step Guide to HubSpot CRM integration

Before you begin the integration process, ensure that both Fluent Support and HubSpot CRM are properly set up and configured.

Step 1: Set Up Fluent Support and HubSpot CRM

Install Fluent Support 

Installing Fluent Support is as simple as searching in your WordPress dashboard or downloading it directly from the WordPress repository. Configuring means setting up a business inbox and adding agents. You can get started with solving tickets within 5 minutes.

Set Up HubSpot CRM 

If you haven’t already, sign up for a HubSpot account and set up your CRM. Customize your CRM settings, create pipelines, and add any necessary custom fields to track support-related information.

Note: If you’re planning to use HubSpot CRM for service then Fluent Support integration might not be as essential. However, if you want your customer data to remain in your control (like hosting it on your own server space), Fluent Support is the best option there is. 

Step 2: Sign Up for SureTriggers

SureTriggers is a powerful automation tool that can connect various apps and services. To start using SureTriggers, follow these steps:

Sign Up

Visit the SureTriggers website and sign up for an account. Choose a plan that suits your needs. Or for the purposes of trying out the integration try their free trial.

Explore the Dashboard 

Once signed in, familiarize yourself with the SureTriggers dashboard. This is where you will create and manage your automations (triggers) under the WorkFlows tab.

Step 3: Create a New WorkFlow

With SureTriggers, you can create “triggers” that automate actions between Fluent Support and HubSpot CRM. To be more specific, SureTriggers looks for events in Fluent Support and triggers actions on the HubSpot CRM according to the triggers. 

Here’s how to create a new trigger:

Start a New Workflow

On the WorkFlow tab, click on the “Add Workflow” button. 

Select Fluent Support as the Trigger App 

Choose Fluent Support from the list of available apps. 

Choose a Trigger Event 

Select the event that will start the automation. For example, you might choose “New Ticket Created” as the trigger event.

Step 4: Connect HubSpot CRM

Next, you need to connect HubSpot CRM to SureTriggers and define the actions that will occur when the trigger event happens in Fluent Support.

Add an Action 

After setting up the trigger, click on “Add Action” to specify what should happen in HubSpot CRM when the trigger event occurs.

Select HubSpot CRM as the Action App

Choose HubSpot CRM from the list of available apps. 

Choose an Action Event 

Select the action you want to occur in HubSpot CRM. Common actions include “Create Contact,” “Update Contact,” or “Add Note to Contact.”

Map Data Fields 

Map the data fields from Fluent Support to HubSpot CRM. For example, you can map the customer’s email address, name, and ticket details from Fluent Support to the corresponding fields in HubSpot CRM.

Save and Test the Trigger 

Once you have configured the action, save the trigger. SureTriggers will provide an option to test the trigger to ensure it works correctly. Perform a test to verify that the data is being transferred accurately between Fluent Support and HubSpot CRM.

Step 5: Activate the HubSpot Integration

After testing the trigger and confirming that it works as expected, change status to live. SureTriggers will now automatically perform the defined actions whenever the specified trigger event occurs in Fluent Support.

Activate the Trigger 

Go to the SureTriggers dashboard and activate the trigger. Ensure that it is set to run continuously or according to your preferred schedule.

Monitor and Refine

Monitor the trigger to ensure it is working smoothly. Check the SureTriggers dashboard for any errors or issues. Refine the trigger conditions and actions as needed to optimize the integration.

Advanced Tips for Fluent Support and HubSpot CRM Integration

• Use Custom Fields: Utilize custom fields in both Fluent Support and HubSpot CRM to capture and transfer specific information that is important to your business processes.
• Automate Follow-Ups: Create triggers that automate follow-up tasks, such as sending thank-you emails or scheduling follow-up calls in HubSpot CRM based on ticket resolution status in Fluent Support.
• Leverage Segmentation: Use the data from Fluent Support to segment your customers in HubSpot CRM. This allows for more targeted marketing and personalized support experiences.
• Integrate with Other Tools: SureTriggers can connect Fluent Support and HubSpot CRM with other tools in your tech stack, such as email marketing platforms, project management software, and more. Explore additional integrations to further streamline your workflows.
• Analyze and Report: Regularly analyze the data collected from both platforms to gain insights into customer behavior, support performance, and marketing effectiveness. Use these insights to make data-driven decisions and improve your overall operations.

Wrapping Up

Integrating HubSpot CRM with Fluent Support using SureTriggers can significantly enhance your customer support and marketing capabilities. By automating data transfer and streamlining workflows, you can provide better customer experiences, improve efficiency, and gain valuable insights.

With the right setup, you can unlock the full potential of your customer support and CRM systems, driving growth and customer satisfaction.

The post Fluent Support: HubSpot CRM Integration appeared first on Fluent Support.

Surely you need marketing to reach your target demographics and a sales team to ensure you have consistent sales. But when your customers face problems, where should they go for their solution? What process do you have to use to tackle angry customers? Eventually, this will be a key factor in maintaining your business’s goodwill.

That’s where the customer support team works wonders. Customer support teams handle everything related to customer relations and keep customers’ happiness higher. Building an efficient customer support team is an obvious priority of any customer service strategy.

Building a customer support team from scratch needs a process to build the overall foundation of your customer service. Excellent customer service varies from business to business, and most companies fail to do so because of their lack of understanding of the customer support process.

In this article, we’ll cover why you need a customer support team, what makes a great support team, how to build a customer support team, what tools you should use, and how to optimize these tools for your business needs. Take it as a full-free course on building a customer support team from the beginning. You’ll learn the ins and outs of the process and what structure you should follow based on your business.

Download the full eBook guide on “How to build a customer support team”. This eBook has additional resources for further study.

The form can be filled in the actual website url.

If you already have a customer support team, you can still follow these solid steps to ensure your customer service strategy is on the right path. If you are new, let’s get started with why a customer support team is an essential part of your business.

Why should you build a support team?

A customer support team is a tribe of empathic people who dedicate their time and effort to solving customer problems and helping them achieve success.

Not all businesses need customer support, but it is essential for those whose marketing promise depends on excellent after-sales customer support. After-sales support is a great tool to build long-term customer relations. Even pre-sales support is widely popular among companies nowadays. Pre-sales support helps a customer make their purchase decision, create a seamless customer onboarding process, and help them use your products after payment immediately.

Both pre-sale and after-sale support can be run by one customer support team. Now, as a business, you should ask yourself, “Do I need a customer support team right now?”

It is important to answer this question because often business owners make this mistake, not considering making customer support a priority from the start. Then, when business gets bigger, customer inquiries flood in, and they get overwhelmed with little time to provide solutions to all customers.

No matter what industry you are in, always think ahead a few years. Ask yourself:

• How can a support agent save me time?
• How much time will be saved for me to do things I’m capable of?
• How many expected customer queries will my business get after the official launch?
• Do I need human agents, or are chatbots enough?
• Or do I need human agents in 6 months?
• Can I automate most customer inquiries? If yes, then how can I do it?
• Am I capable of handling these amounts of customer inquiries, or do I need to hire?

These are some initial questions you must ask yourself before launching your business. If you find most answers telling you that you need more hands in handling customers after-sales, it is inevitable that a customer support team is required for your business. Either you are an e-commerce store, agency, service provider, or consultancy, you should invest in customer support from day one.

Now that you know the benefits of investing in customer support, let’s help you define what excellent customer support is for your company.

Define “excellent customer support” for your business

Without a standard, it’s hard to measure success. Before building a customer support team, you need to set your standard for great customer support.

What do you mean by “great”? Or what does “excellent customer support” mean to you by definition?

Most companies provide customer support. But not all are the same. Some differentiate themselves by going the extra mile and going to great lengths for customer satisfaction.

Think outside the box about how you can differentiate your customer support from that of your competitors. What is one thing you are willing to do that your competitors are not thinking of doing?

Decide what type of service quality you are going to provide. And how are you going to ensure the results? Get your whole company behind the idea of your great customer support. It is important to ensure that your other teams understand the value of excellent customer support. It will help develop a company-wide customer-centric mindset and sophisticated team-wise collaboration.

When you clearly define excellent customer support, you can develop guidelines for your support team. You can select specific customer support metrics to measure their success.

We will discuss more guidelines and support metrics later in the structure and process steps. Now let’s dig into how you can make sure your customer support team conveys your brand and company value while interacting with customers every day.

Align your customer support with your brand and company values

We talked a lot about the tone of the brand’s voice in customer service previously. It means how you follow the same tone of voice in your copywriting, whether it’s your company’s website, brand brochure, other marketing materials, or customer service. Your brand tone of voice sets your brand personality. Your brand personality is essential to attracting your target audience.

Every company has values at its core. Values keep the business operations in check. Like when Google founders incorporated Google Inc., they came up with 10 main values Google will always follow. One is, “Do the right thing; don’t be evil.”

These company values helped Google set their overall business policy and shape their brand personality.

What are your company’s values? What is your brand’s tone of voice?

When you clarify those two, you can easily implement them into your customer support policies and strategies. If your company wants to be known as a customer-centric company, then your value should reflect that customers are your first priority.

This value should dictate your excellent customer support definition, and your team should deliver on that promise. Remember, a customer service team can only deliver great customer service when, as a company, you make it happen.

Make sure, as a company, all of your teams are onboard about customer service policies and strategies. Customer support should not be a standalone department; it should seamlessly interact with other teams like the marketing and sales teams to provide customers with fast, reliable, and quality solutions.

Consideration for building a support team

How your employees interact with your customers sets the overall perception of the customer. Customers’ perspectives may change in a single interaction, no matter what your team members’ intentions are. Your team members need to understand that from the beginning.

Your customer service team should reflect your brand, your values, and your tone of voice. It takes more than positive interaction to achieve this; companies should have their goals, vision, and mission align with their strategies. Then you can build your customer service team on top of it.

Find out where your customers are and which channels to focus on for customer support.

The best way to provide great support is to know where your customers hang out and be there. Get more data on your customer demographics; analyze what channels they use more and what they are using more to contact you.

Is this your official email address? Your helpdesk portal? Live chat? Or your social media channels?

Many companies make the mistake of providing support on every channel before scaling up their customer support team. Ask yourself first:

• Are you ready to provide customer support on every channel?
• Can your team handle that much pressure?
• Are your team members trained for every channel?
• Is that okay for your team members’ mental health?

The answers are important to ensure your customer support team’s operation and efficiency. Find out what your business and customers need for support. Answer these questions:

• What is the standard of communication for your industry?
• Does your industry need face-to-face, online, or technical support?
• What primary communication tool do your customers use?
• What social media channel is popular with your customer demographics?

If your business serves older demographics, they are more comfortable with phone communication and, often, emails.

Younger generations like live chats, social media like Twitter, or self-help tools like knowledge bases and communities. Young demographics are comfortable using search engines, answer tools like Quora, discussion forms, Facebook groups, and Reddit to find the solutions themselves. Their short attention span requires quick answers.

You can easily cater to them by creating in-depth tutorials, customer support videos, documentation, and knowledge bases. You can also provide help desk and email communication for further communication.

Find out your customer demographics using which social media platforms most, and then start providing support from one or two. Do not spread your customer service team too thin. It will only frighten them; as a result, your customer will get inconsistent support, and customer churn will happen.

Take market data and analyze it. What are your competitors using to serve their customers? It is the easiest way to make sure you are on the right path. Now do whatever it takes to offer better customer service from them. Match the strength of your support team members with their preferred channels to provide quality customer support.

Review legal restrictions and examine necessary requirements

Now that you have decided on your support channels and mediums, it’s time to review legal restrictions and examine the necessary requirements. You should find the answers to these questions:

• Which country does your business cover?
• What rules do they have about customer data collection and use of this data?
• How are you going to follow the country’s law with your terms and conditions?

For example, the European Union demands GDPR compliance for every business. Consult with a legal expert when writing your business’s terms and conditions, disclaimer, use of user data, and other legal documents. Be sure to clearly make any legal requirements visible while onboarding new customers, because you don’t want to leave your customer in the dark about any policy changes in your customer support terms.

Point out potential legal troubles before offering customer service on various mediums and create systems for team members to tackle those when necessary. You can brainstorm different customer service situations and pain points and come up with solutions in advance to train your support team members. So when the actual event happens, they will know what to do or can manage related types of situations on their own.

Hire right people and build your team with right roles

Hiring the right agent for your customer support team is the key to quality support. It is crucial to find the right customer support agents, because they are the only part of your business that has the ability to influence your customers through one-to-one interactions.

Wrong people in any customer service team are the reasons for bad customer experiences. When you build your support team, you will have to appoint the right type of person who is compatible with your company’s values.

What type of person is best for a customer service job? The answers are:

• Empathic
• Active listener
• Problem solver
• Quick learner
• Technically skilled

Your right candidate knows what to do with responsibility and freedom. Empathy is a must-have characteristic you should look for while building your customer service team. If your agents can’t feel them in customer shoes, they will never understand customer fraustations. An empathic agent will actively listen to the customer and provide an exact solution to fulfill their immediate needs. They also know how to say no to customers professionally without upsetting them.

You can appoint support agents in-house or choose virtual support assistants to run your team. It depends on your business size, customer base, and daily incoming customer queries. A small e-commerce store may need 2–3 support agents to handle customers. You can manage it with a few virtual agents covering all time zones. But this can’t be done for a big business with lots of inventory or services and a huge customer base.

Choose which path is right for you and how you can scale if you need more agents to handle future customers. If you choose to build an in-house support team, you’ll need to clarify which roles and responsibilities your customer service team will take on.

You’ll need some essential roles to run customer support or service teams:

Customer support engineers – They are also known as customer service engineers. They handle all technical problems, run tests, diagnose problems, and offer tech solutions for your customers. This role required technical skills, an engineering degree in related fields, and often expertise in the industry the business covers.

Customer support specialist – They are mid-level support staff who are not heavily skilled like support engineers but can handle immediate tech issues, how to solve problems, and help customers with product installations and use. They are more required to have soft skills like active listening, emotional intelligence, and great communicator. Empathy also plays a huge role for customer support specialists.

Customer service managers – Managers are important for big support or service teams. They help you keep your agents motivated. They run the day-to-day operations of support teams and set daily, weekly, or monthly targets. Most times, they take new recruits under their belt and train them to become sophisticated customer support specialists or engineers. A customer service manager may have all the qualities of a service engineer, but it is not necessary to have degrees or expertise in specific fields to fulfill the role. They must know how to handle teams, agents, and customers in difficult situations with highly emotional intelligence. This role needs organizational skills more than technical skills.

Customer success managers – Many service-based and subscription-based businesses are now relying more on this role to provide better customer satisfaction. Customer success manager helps new customers onboard, helps them with product education, provides support when they need it, and builds long-term relationships with personal connections. It is different from support specialists because success managers focus on a few customers rather than providing support to all. Their main target is to deliver proactive support rather than general support. They ensure customers are achieving success through regular product use and stay with the customers as long as they stay active.

Customer onboarding specialist – When a new customer first purchases your products, they will need guidance on how to use it or to complete the purchase properly. Customer onboarding specialists help your user onboard, educate them with the benefits of the features, and guide them to solve one problem at a time. Customer onboarding specialists help you retain customers and stop customer churn after a few weeks of sign-up.

Customer service representative – Most service representatives handle customers primary inquiries offline or online, offer answers to refunds, process changes, and take new orders. They take care of customers’ basic needs, so customers do not need to wait or submit a ticket for further assistance. They minimize customer support specialists workload. Oftentimes, small businesses or startups can operate their support teams with customer service representatives and scale the team when necessary. This role requires fast problem-solving skills and soft skills like resourceful communication, empathy, and ability to handle rude customers.

Customer experience managers – Great customer experiences are the foundation of customer loyalty. Customer experience managers’ job is to find areas to improve, build, and implement strategies to deliver an excellent customer experience. They work closely with customer service managers and customer support specialists to improve customer interactions. Their main focus is to improve efficiency at every customer touch point and increase customer engagement.

Chief Customer Officer (CCO) – This new role is taking the business world by storm. Chief Customer Officer role demands are growing in customer-centric businesses. They are more like a hybrid of customer success managers and customer experience managers. The slight difference between the other two is that CCO is an executive position. They help management create new policies keeping customers’ needs and customer experiences in mind. Their focus is to make the business more customer-centric, increase customer retention, and build long-term customer relations.

These are some of the most popular roles in the support industry. Pick one that suits your needs, and create your customer support team around them.

Train your people and build a foundation from start

It’s essential that you build a strong foundation for your customer service team from the beginning. Most businesses see customer support as a cost center and try to cut their budget. They go for cheap talents for the support team.

It’s a mistake—a dangerous mistake for a business that just invested in a new customer support team.

Go for professionals for certain roles, like customer success managers, customer service managers, or customer support engineers. They are the main part of any support team. You only want experienced people in the field. But don’t feel scared to recruit new people if they meet your criteria and match the soft skills that are needed to run a customer support team. You can always train them and make them efficient with proper education and processes.

Remember, your skilled customer service team can increase customer retention, customer referrals, and quarterly sales. Serving customers with the right people is the key.

Train your new agents to use your products and services. You can tell an agent’s ability by how fast they catch up on using it and learn to do regular use cases. New agents can tag along old representatives to learn day-to-day work. This is to educate them on how to handle customers and teach them about customers’ pain points.

You can create a sandbox to teach new agents different scenarios before putting them into handling new customers. This way, they will gain confidence and cut nervousness during their first customer interaction. Internal documentation or wikis are nice tools to help new agents learn on the go.

Create a solid structure and process for your support team

A solid structure and process can run your customer support operation smoothly. Have a process for training new agents so you can easily train them, manage them, and put them right to work. Consider having a customer service playbook for everyone. In this playbook, you can find a short but understandable explanation and information about:

• Policies,
• Operation process,
• How to contact other team members
• Whom to knock when in trouble?
• Reply with templates to use.
• Examples of common cases and solutions
• Links to troubleshooting guides

If your support agents have to follow certain rules or processes, clarify them in your playbook or training. The more freedom you can give to your support teams, the more efficient they will be in real-life customer interactions.

Most times, the process needs to evolve around the structure of your company. Your customer support department structure needs to be close to your business structure. What is your business structure?

• Is it a small business or a start-up?
• Is it a mid-size company with different products serving different demographics?
• Is it an enterprise-level company serving both B2B or B2C?

Now that you know your business size, find out what type of customer support role you need to fill up your company support department. Start by appointing the right people for these roles and building the team gradually.

Create a customer expectation checklist or customer service commitment to create a seamless process. These checklists or service commitments can be private or you can make them public to boost your brand reputation among your customer base.

Research your market, do a competitor analysis, and find the answers to these questions:

• What is the average handling time in your industry?
• What is your competitor’s customer response time?
• What level of service are your competitors offering?

Now that you have all the answers, think of how you can manage to exceed customer expectations with your definition of customer support, your team, and the process you developed. Explore possibilities, tweak, experiment with what works, and evolve the process.

Create your customer support standard based on the answers to these questions:

• How fast are you going to reply to your customers?
• How will your support team handle different types of customers?
• What will be your refund or return policy?
• When and how do you say no to customers professionally?
• What will your ethical approach be to asking for reviews from customers?
• What should you do when your team is unable to provide support? How do you handle customers in these circumstances?
• What extra mile can an agent go to provide a great customer experience? What will be the limit on spending?
• What customer service metrics will your team follow for daily operations?

When you have a support standard with a solid team structure and process, your customer support team will run on their own without you micromanaging every little aspect.

Remember, the goal is to build a self-sufficient customer support department. So you can focus on other areas of your business.

Now, what tools should you use to run a self-sufficient customer service department?

Invest in the right tools

Customer support tools help your team speed up their work. These tools help with repetitive tasks, automation, team collaboration, and storing customer data like customer conversations, purchases, and more. Customer relationship management tools, or live chats, also play a huge role in customer service operations.

Ask yourself these questions before investing in tools:

• What value do the tools offer? Does it fulfill my needs?
• How fast can my team learn to use these tools? Will it be easy for customers to use?
• Do I need to use extra tools to get the most value out of the tool? Does it support integrations with the right tools?
• Does it make things easier to streamline support agents daily workflow?
• What type of automation does it offer?
• How sophisticated is it in reporting, data presentation, and analytics? Does it offer individual agent reporting?
• Does it offer vanity customer service metrics like waiting time, average handling time, average resolution time, or first response time?
• Can I scale my customer support department with this tool?
• Do I need to upgrade the tools to meet my future expectations?

These questions will help you prioritize what tools you need for your support operations. There are different types of customer support tools:

Chatbots – AI chatbots are now widely popular support trends to serve repetitive questions and answers. This saves agents time. But sometimes you will still need human agents available when an AI bot is unable to answer complex questions. 

Example: Crisp, Live Chat, Messenger.

Knowledge Base tools – These types of tools help you build your documentation or detailed knowledge base. You can create step-by-step detailed answers to frequently asked questions with SEO focus. So when a customer searches for them on any search engine, your answers will come up first. 

Example: Betterdocs

Helpdesk – Helpdesk tools help you serve customer queries from one place; you can source them from different channels and share the same inbox with multiple agents. Helpdesk has automation to automate repetitive tasks and manage daily workflows. It also offers an internal knowledge base and team collaboration tools built within the core helpdesk. You can also integrate other tools easily with a robust helpdesk system.

Example: Fluent Support

CRM tools – Customer relationship management (CRM) tools are useful when you have huge customers and want to collect and store their information. They also track sales, manage marketing, and manage email for businesses.

Example: FluentCRM, Hubspot.

Other Tools – There are other types of tools that may also come in handy for support operations. Like time management tools (Hubstaff), project management or bug reports (FluentBoards, Trello, Asana), learning management systems (LMS) like Learndash and TutorLMS, and internal communication tools (Slack, Telegram, or Discord). You can select these tools depending on your team’s needs.

Many small businesses make the mistake of not prioritizing investing in customer service tools. It is vital to think of these tools when building customer support tools. Not investing in the right tools can damage a customer service team’s time and energy.

You can start your service operation using free tools. There are plenty of them, but most free tools are limited, slow, and unhelpful. Eventually, you’ll need to scale up your support operations, and these free customer service tools will fall short of meeting the standards.

Small improvements in speed can increase customer satisfaction. Feature-rich tools can improve your team’s efficiency and comfort. Better internal tools can speed up smooth collaboration, avoiding collisions and confusion between team members.

Building an efficient support team requires the correct combination of the right people and the proper tools. You have a solid structure, a seamless process, and support agents in place. Now think of what tools the customer service team really needs for their day-to-day work and what tools can help them create a great customer experience for your users.

SaaS vs. self-hosted: which to choose?

Decide which customer support tool you want to use. Does live chat do the work? Or helpdesk is the answer?

Live chats are often used when you wish to serve your customer 24×7. Mostly, this tool is used to smooth customer onboarding or pre-sale support. You can integrate chat bots to answer frequently asked questions, no matter what time it is.

On the other hand, helpdesk unifies your customer communications. It saves all types of conversations, helps you automate repeated tasks, and fosters fast internal communication and team collaboration. Most help desk tools work with knowledge base tools automatically, so you can easily suggest related questions and answers right when customers open a support ticket.

As there are different types of customer support tools, there are also different categories of support tools. These tools have two main categories:

• Saas – Software as a Service (Saas) provides software services over the internet without you installing or hosting them on your system. You only have to visit the service provider, sign up, and start using the service. You don’t need to maintain the hardware or hosting. Your data is hosted and maintained by the cloud service you use.
• Self-hosted – Self-hosted system are open-source apps or premium apps you can buy and download. You manage them on your hardware or in your hosting space. You have to install, maintain, and operate the software to run it for your use. You own the data because it sits on your system or hosting.

There are a few pros and cons to using both SaaS and self-hosted tools. If you have a relatively small, consistent team of 2-3 agents, then you can select SaaS support tools. Because most SaaS support companies price their plans based on how many agents you have, If you don’t mind paying per agent and don’t plan to scale your support operations, you can go for SaaS tools. Some most used SaaS support tools are:

• Zendesk
• FreshDesk
• Helpscout
• Helpcrunch

The disadvantage of using these services is that you don’t own the data. You can’t import or export your data as you wish. You’re at the mercy of your provider’s hand. There are also limitations on how many users, tickets, or agents you can serve or add, how many integrations you can use, and more. Sometimes you have to buy premium add-ons to use certain features. The cost builds up eventually. And if you ever decide to scale up your support team, add more agents, and serve more users, the cost will go up. For a small business, this may seem unjustifiable!

On the other hand, self-hosted apps offer more flexibility. You can expand open-source apps for your own needs and customize them freely. All the data is also accessible to you because it’s hosted by you. If your customers are sensitive about their data and privacy, self-hosted tools are the only answer. Some popular self-hosted tools are:

• Fluent Support
• Awesome Support
• Support Candy
• Chatwoot
• Live Helper Chat

These apps offer to host your customer support data on your own hosting. You can ensure your customers privacy by providing customer support using any of these apps. You can design your privacy policy based on where your business is. You can choose how to backup your data by following those policies. You can offer higher security to your customers to win their trust.

Self-hosting gives you the freedom not to share your data with third parties. Most SaaS tools come short in these situations because customer data protection is now a sensitive issue all over the world. You can scale your customer support department whenever you need to with self-hosted apps.

The best self-hosted customer support tools

Now that we proved self-hosted apps are more flexible than SaaS tools, it’s time to choose the best self-hosted customer support tools. We will compare the tools from the previous list.

Check out this comparison table between Fluent Support, Awesome Support, JS Helpdesk, and Support Candy:

You’ll clearly see that Fluent Support is winning in all categories. Here are some features that make Fluent Support the best self-hosted support tool:

• Fluent Support offers unlimited agents, users, and tickets. You don’t have to stress over limits; install the plugin and start using it. It only takes 5 minutes to set up Fluent Support.
• Fluent Support has a flexible pricing plan. It does not sell premium add-ons like others. All features are included in every pricing plan.
• Fluent Support offers 20+ integrations, including WooCommerce, Learndash, Easy Digital Downloads, Slack, and more.
• It has easy integration with Slack, Telegram, Discord, and Whatsapp. Your agents can attend to tickets and reply right from these messaging apps chatboxes.
• It has seamless integration with the email marketing tool FluentCRM, project management tool FluentBoards, and the custom form plugin Fluent Forms. You can create support forms with Fluent Forms and integrate them with Fluent Support’s backend. You can run email automation using the Fluent Support block inside FluentCRM.
• Fluent Support integrates effortlessly with LMS plugins like Learndash, LifterLMS, TutorLMS, and LearnPress. You can provide customer support to your course students without any hassle. Their purchase details are accessible right into their support tickets.
• It has a superior automation system that can help you automate most repetitive tasks and enable fast ticket replies. Fluent Support Automation helps you serve more customers faster than most of its competitors.
• Fluent Support allows for advanced filtering and sorting. This makes it easier to manage tickets and respond quickly.
• You can create separate inboxes for different businesses. This helps prevent confusion and lets you manage tickets based on products.
• The customizable and custom ticket portal lets you keep your website’s branding. This offers a smooth customer experience.
• Detailed customer profiles give easy access to important information.
• Collision detection alerts you when multiple agents enter the same ticket. This ensures that everyone knows who is handling the query.
• Email piping turns email queries into support tickets. This ensures that no customer query is missed and all are managed in one place.
• It has integration logs, and the activity logs track every action taken by agents in real-time. This provides a complete record of all activities within the support desk.

These are some of the most recognized features of Fluent Support that differentiate it from other self-hosted plugins. You can explore more features here.

Setup Fluent Support in 5 minutes!

Starting with Fluent Support is fairly simple.

If you are using WordPress to build your website, simply install the Fluent Support plugin and activate it. You can use a short code to put the customer support area on any page you want. You can build a custom page for the support-related staff, or you can use the default page provided by the plugin.

Don’t you use WordPress?

No problem; you can set up Fluent Support on your subdomain like WP Manage Ninja does. Their main domain is wpmanageninja.com, but their support portal is hosted in a different sub-domain, support.wpmanageninja.com.

After installation, activate the plugin and set up the settings. In the setting, you can set up two kinds of business inboxes:

• Web-based: You can only offer support through your website. Customers have to log in to submit tickets.
• Email-based: You can offer support using an email. Customers can send email to the email address, and your support agents can reply to the email from your support dashboard. Think of it like a shared inbox.

Research your customers behavior—how they wish to connect with you and what medium they most use to contact you.

Then you can easily choose which route is best for you—web or email?

You may use different platforms for your business, like Shopify, a custom CMS, or any other no-code tools to host your business, but you can use WordPress and Fluent Support to host your customer support department in your subdomain without any hassle.

Learn fluent support in an hour!

Follow this video to set up a web-based Fluent Support business inbox.

Want to offer email support? Set up an email-based customer support portal through email piping. Follow this video:

It showed how to add Gmail to your email inbox in this video. Fluent Support also offers other platforms.

Forward or redirect from an email provider or a host:

• Google Workspace (formerly known as G Suite)
• Office 365 Outlook Web Access (OWA)
• Amazon WorkMail
• Zoho Mail
• Yahoo Mail

• Bluehost
• Namecheap
• cPanel
• GoDaddy
• Dreamhost

You can click and follow the individual documentation to start with the setup.

Fluent Support’s whole set of settings is centered in the “Global Settings.” Here is a video walkthrough on how you can set it up.

How do I automate support tasks with Fluent Support?

Automation is a big part of Fluent Support. It is also essential for any customer support operation.

Automation saves time, speeds up daily operations, and helps your customer support department with efficient team collaboration. Fluent support helps you do these using manual and ticket workflow automations.

You can run a manual workflow and set the following actions:

You can run these inside any support ticket manually. But what about repetitive tasks? Or if you want to add tags automatically to a ticket, Or do you want to assign agents to new tickets?

Automatic workflows do that seamlessly!

Use automatic automation to set tasks to be done automatically inside Fluent Support based on certain triggers and using certain actions.

There are 3 triggers: on ticket creation, on customer response, and on ticket closure.

Here are the actions that can be performed based on the triggers:

• Add Response
• Assign Agent
• Add Internal Note
• Close Ticket
• Add Tag(s)
• Remove Tag(s)
• Delete Ticket
• Block Ticket Submitter (Customer)
• Trigger Outgoing Webhook
• Add Bookmarks

Here are some live examples of automatic workflows. You can implement your own use cases based on your needs. Watch this video to get the idea!

Optimize your help desk based on your business needs.

Fluent Support is a flexible help desk. You can optimize it based on your business needs and integrate it with 20+ tools easily. Let’s look into some business categories and use cases for optimization.

E-commerce: Most WordPress e-commerce businesses run on the WooCommerce plugin. Fluent Support offers seamless WooCommerce integrations.

You don’t have to do anything if you have Fluent Support installed on your WooCommerce sites. It will show customers recent purchases right in their support tickets. Your agents don’t have to click anything or open a new window to access this information. This will save them time, and they can attend to more customer queries.

You can also offer custom fields in your support tickets related to your WooCommerce products. So customers can easily select the WooCommerce product related to the support inquiry.

You can set up different products or ticket tags in business settings. Then you can use these tags and products specifically in workflow automation to assign different agents to different product-related support tickets.

Fluent Support’s ‘Internal Notes’ are the best way to collaborate with other agents, and you can see which agents are working on which support tickets using agent collision detection.

Your agents can bookmark tickets while they are working and access them from their bookmarks later. Fluent supports easy integrations with tools like Slack, Telegram, WhatsApp, and Discord. Your agents can receive and reply to support tickets from their Slack, Telegram, and WhatsApp chats. Only Discord integration offers ticket notifications for now. Your agents attend to customers wherever they are, even if they only have mobile and internet access! Fluent Support is fully mobile-responsive and can load support tickets in mobile browsers.

Entrepreneur – Are you an entrepreneur or a solopreneur? Running your business on your own?

Most solopreneurs depend on virtual assistance (VA) to cover their customer support. It is more hassle-free than hiring a full in-house team. Solopreneurs want to live headache-free. Most of their business runs on automation.

That’s why they need tools that can help them automate mostly anything and everything. Fluent Support comes in handy on this.

You can automate all types of customer queries with Fluent Support Workflow settings. You can automatically send repetitive questions answered with saved replies and use knowledge base integration to serve related questions answered right into the customer support forms. Fluent Support offers a shared inbox, so any solopreneurs can add their VA to the system. All you have to give them is access to support staff settings. You can set up customer support for multiple business emails with Fluent Support’s different business inboxes.

Your VAs can manage different products or different types of customers assigned to them from one dashboard. You can communicate with them using ‘Internal Notes’ and assign them tickets. Fluent Support can help you manage your multiple VA’s from one system without wasting time on different tools and emails.

Agency: Running an agency with multiple clients is a hectic operation. How can fluent support help you streamline your agency’s customer support?

Fluent Support offers a modest agency plan for agency owners. You can buy this to offer Fluent Support for multiple clients.

For your own customer support, you can create multiple business inboxes for your multiple clients and assign different agents to manage those business inboxes. If you use Slack for internal communication, you can easily connect it with Fluent Support to serve and manage tickets from Slack quickly!

Course sellers: – Selling courses from your website? Need to offer fast customer support for your buyers?

No worries. Fluent Support has seamless integrations with most LMS systems. It has integration support with LearnDash (10K+ users), TutorLMS (50K+ users), LifterLMS (10K+ users), and LearnPress (100K+ users).

Fluent Support shows your customers recent courses on their support tickets. You can also add custom fields related to your course on support forms. So customers can easily select the course title related to the support queries.

If your course site also has a membership system, Fluent Support offers integrations with the most popular membership systems, like Buddyboss, Paid Membership Pro, Wishlist Members, and Restrict Content Pro. Fluent Support shows your customers membership levels in their support tickets, along with other related information. You can add custom fields related to these membership systems, like the LMS systems.

Build self-service tools and community support.

There is a catchphrase popular in the support industry;

Customers don’t want to wait for solutions. They have the power to find the answers themselves. All you need to do is help them with self-service tools.

Most self-service tools are knowledge bases, AI chatbots, video tutorials, in-depth guides, and often community forums. These take time to build, but if you take the time to invest in them, it can help you tenfold. Self-service tools can reduce customers’ support tickets and save agents time. If you build these with SEO-focused intent, then your customers will find them easily with a search. It will also increase your brand awareness among customers. It can help your existing customers, but it can also reach new customers through the content itself.

Community forums can help you build customer loyalty, brand reputation, and unlimited customer-generated content. As a brand, you can offer a place for your existing customers online. They can hang out, ask questions, and help each other. Your agents can often answer complex questions and engage with customers regularly. Community forums can help you understand customers’ perspectives and generate feature ideas.

You can use the community to shape your brand’s reputation. A community can be a hub for cultivating loyal customers. You can offer rewards, discounts, and other offers for your community members. Engage communities, increase customers’ trust, and make your brand more connected with them on a personal level. Every business should take the time to build a community around their brand. Community forums are also the best tools to grow organic reach. And we all know that word of mouth is the best way to attract new customers!

Gather, measure, and analyze customer feedback and support data.

Customer support data and customer feedback are the most valuable assets of any business. Customer support data will help you understand how your support department is performing, what you are lacking, whether your customers are happy or not, and how you can scale your support department faster.

On the other hand, customer feedback can help you understand customers’ perspectives about your brands, customer experiences, and expectations about your products or services. You should not ignore this data and plan on collecting it from the beginning via customer survey.

You can use different methods and tools to collect this data:

• Your help desk should have the ability to provide various reports about support ticket data, individual agent reports, first response time, average handling time, and other vanity customer service metrics. These metrics will help you understand your customer support department’s performance. For example, Fluent Support has dedicated report tabs for this.
  
• You can set up different surveys to collect customer feedback with tools like Fluent Forms. You can do customer feedback surveys and customer satisfaction surveys to learn more about customer pain points, agent performance, team efficiency, and product usefulness.
  
• You can use direct phone calls to gather feedback from your long-term customers. Older, existing customers are more eager to share feedback than new customers.
  
• You can run automation with helpdesks (like Fluent Support Workflows) to send certain questions in different forms based on different keywords.
  
• You can collect data from your community forums, customer interactions, or run surveys from time to time to gather feedback data.
  
• You can follow your social channels or customer conversations to gather social data from various social networks.

The next step after gathering data is to analyze and measure it. Many customer support data points are easy to measure. Your help desk will do the job. Help desk data will help you understand customer behavior and help you run your customer service department efficiently.

Your customer feedback data will help streamline your customer onboarding, build better products or services, and increase customer retention. This is your customer feedback loop.

Conclusion

Building a customer support team needs thorough planning, clarity, and enough investment. Creating a support system is not a one-time job; it’s running work. As a business owner, you will need to embrace customer support as the main part of your business to become a customer-centric company.

Great customer experience can help you build a brand reputation quickly, and the only way to make it happen is when your whole company is obsessed with customer service. 86% of customers are willing to pay you more if they are satisfied with your customer service.

A fully empowered customer support team has the ability to ensure an excellent customer experience. Build a support department with clear intent, invest in the right tools, and hire the right people to do the job. Listen to your customers, take proactive actions, and motivate your service team. Your customer acquisition cost will reduce, customers will reward you with their loyalty, increased purchases, and high referrals.

The post How To Build A Customer Support Team – Complete Guide appeared first on Fluent Support.

We are committed to continuously updating Fluent Support to make it more efficient for your team. Our 24/7 team is actively collecting feedback and applying it one by one with every update.

This version update is no different. So let’s start with the newly added features.

What’s New in Fluent Support 1.7.9?

As we are saying, this version update will help you organize team workflow more efficiently. To do that, we have two brand new features.

Activity Trends by Time of Day

We know you struggle with the ticket overflow. We all do. But have you noticed something interesting? Not every time of day or not every day, this overflow occurs. There is a hidden pattern.

To find the hidden pattern, we have introduced a calendar heatmap in Fluent Support. It’s a brand new way of reporting. Just go to ‘Reports’ on the Fluent Support dashboard and click on ‘Activity Reports’.

This feature will help you predict which day and what time you will most likely face ticket overload. And using this data, you can redistribute your support assets to tackle the overload more effectively.

You cannot just reorganize your team or automate the ticket flow using Fluent Support ticket automation on that specific date or time. Isn’t it handy?

Duplicate or clone workflows

Speaking of ticket automation, we all know that Fluent Support has workflow functionality. Using this, you can really dig deep into conditions and make very complex automated or manual triggers.

From time to time, you might need to recreate a similar workflow but for a different target. Instead of making it from scratch, now you can just make a duplicate of the workflow and start working on it.

Required option in product

In Fluent Support, you can add unlimited number of products. This product or brand will appear on the ticket submission portal. Now you can make this input section compulsory in the settings.

Just go to the ‘Ticket Form Config’ in global settings and check the ‘Required fields for products and services’. That’s it. Selecting a product from the dropdown is now a required field.

Now tickets will be more organized as per product, which will help you set automation triggers or assign agents automatically.

Uploaded files are more organized on cloud storage

If you love organized files and folders, then you will love this feature. Fluent Support gives you the ability to upload ticket-related files directly to cloud storage without eating up your hosting storage.

To keep everything in one place, the system created a mother folder to keep all the files in one place. But after this update, Fluent Support will create ticket-wise subfolders to make it even more neat.

Integration with FluentBoards

This is the biggest update to this version. This will make you a pro-task manager. WPManageNinja, the team behind Fluent Support, released a handy task manager, FluentBoards. And Fluent Support will be integrated with this automatically.

FluentBoards is a WordPress project management plugin featuring unlimited boards, CRM integration, Kanban boards, and project reporting. It simplifies project management within WordPress, making team collaboration and task management easy. It’s ideal for support heads to keep track of all tasks in one place.

The plugin is easy to use, offers different views and customization options, and offers a lot of integrations. It boosts productivity with clear visuals. Whether you’re handling a small team or working alone, Fluent Boards simplifies project flow with task mapping.

With this update, you can easily convert a ticket into a task with a couple clicks, and FluentBoards will add it as a task on board. All you have to do is click on the ticket, and from the top right corner, click on ‘Add Task to FluentBoards. If you check the board, you will find the ticket as a task right there.

Integrations logs 

If you want to check if FluentBoards is integrated with Fluent Support or not, we have another new update. With this update, you will be able to see all the integrated products in one integration log.

This will tell you not only what is connected with Fluent Support but also show what other interaction options are available with documentation.

A few bug fixes

Here are a few bug fixes you will get with this version update.

Language default issue

When the site language was not set to English, the workflow automatically switches to manual mode, causing potential confusion. This is fixed now.

Inbox CSS issue

There was a CSS problem hiding the text of the ticket identifier tag in all inbox tables. This impacted the tag name display. This is also fixed.

Dashboard view bug

Selecting “View dashboard” and “draft_reply” together was causing no tickets to be displayed. This issue is fixed now. 

Migration issue

Users were experiencing problems when migrating tickets from Zendesk and Freshdesk, causing potential data loss or inconsistencies. Both of the issues are fixed in this version.

Import tickets module ug

Clicking the “Import Tickets” button in the ticket migration module opened multiple modals at once, leading to a cluttered interface.

Bookmark issue

The bookmarking feature is not functioning as expected, reducing the efficiency of managing important tickets.

File upload issue

Files with long names fail to upload during ticket creation due to the WordPress log name restriction. This was limiting the ability to share detailed information.

Now a new webhook introduced, which will keep the name up to 50 characters and cut off the rest. It will allow easy upload. This webhook needs to be activated manually.

Business box restriction bug

Even after restrictions are applied to a specific business box, it still appears on the dashboard. But it’s not now.

Memberpress integration issue

In the Memberpress integration, two subscription lists appear—one for recurring and another for non-recurring. This complicated management is fixed.

WooCommerce Widget Bug

The WooCommerce widget did not appear on the ‘View Customer’ page, reducing functionality for managing customer interactions. That’s also fixed in this update.

Wrapping up

All in all, this version update is giving you a few very exciting new features. It’s taking your team management to the next level. 

The Fluent Support team is still working on the next update. We are dedicatedly listening to your needs and trying our best to make this WordPress helpdesk system more and more powerful.

The post Fluent Support 1.7.9: Activity Trends, Manage Task By FluentBoards And More appeared first on Fluent Support.

According to Microsoft’s study, 56% of respondents, drop a business after just 1 bad service experience. So it’s not something you can overlook.

But here’s the kicker—achieving exceptional customer service isn’t just about fancy tech and streamlined processes. It all boils down to your frontline support heroes—the ones who make it happen.

Understanding the Agent Efficiency paradigm

Getting agents to work smarter, not harder, isn’t just about fancy tech upgrades. Research keeps telling us the same thing: customers get ticked off when they’re stuck dealing with slow and inefficient support reps, even if you’ve got all the bells and whistles like IVR systems and chatbots.

So, what’s the real issue here? It’s all about how much time agents waste hunting down the right info to help out customers. That’s why you need to switch things up. Let’s focus on making knowledge management a breeze, so your agents can do their thing without all the hassle.

It’s all about how efficiently your agent handles tasks and helps customers out. We’ll also dive into what exactly makes up agent productivity, but first, let’s take a look at something called the Agent Efficiency Pyramid.

The Agent Efficiency Pyramid

To navigate the complexities of improving agent efficiency, imagine a pyramid structure that gradually increases productivity as you reach the top. At its base lie fundamental knowledge management principles and workflow policies, which serve as the bedrock for what comes later. These principles put a lot of focus on consolidating knowledge into a centralized repository and streamlining processes for scale.

Imagine a pyramid that shows us how to make agents work better. Picture it like this: at the bottom, you’ve got the basic stuff—the core ideas that set the stage for everything else. We’re talking about policies like putting all our knowledge in one easy-to-find place, cutting out pointless searches, and making sure everyone is on the same page about the workflow. That’s where it all starts.

Download the full eBook guide on “How to build a customer support team”. This eBook has additional resources for further study.

The form can be filled in the actual website url.

How do you measure productivity in service?

Measuring productivity in service-based industries, such as customer support, involves assessing the efficiency and effectiveness of various operational processes and activities. Here are some key metrics and approaches commonly used to measure productivity in service:

Service level

Service level measures the percentage of calls answered within a specific time frame, typically expressed as a percentage. For example, a service level of 80/20 means that 80% of calls are answered within 20 seconds. This metric indicates the responsiveness of the service operation.

Average handling time (AHT) 

AHT represents the average duration of a customer interaction, including the time spent on the call or interaction and any related after-call work. Lower average handling time values generally indicate higher productivity, as agents can handle more inquiries within a given time period.

First contact resolution (FCR)

FCR measures the percentage of customer inquiries or issues resolved during the initial contact with the service provider, without the need for further follow-up or escalation. Higher FCR rates indicate greater efficiency and effectiveness in resolving customer concerns.

Contact volume

Contact volume refers to the total number of customer interactions received by the service operation within a specific period, such as calls, emails, or chat sessions. Analyzing contact volume trends helps assess workload and resource requirements.

Occupancy rate

Occupancy rate measures the percentage of time that agents spend actively engaged in handling customer interactions or performing related tasks, such as documentation or training. Higher occupancy rates suggest efficient utilization of agent capacity.

Utilization rate

Utilization rate measures the percentage of time that agents spend in productive work activities relative to their total available working time. This metric considers both active engagement with customer inquiries and non-contact-related tasks.

Customer satisfaction (CSAT) score

CSAT score reflects customers’ satisfaction level with the service quality and their overall satisfaction with the support received. It is often assessed through post-interaction surveys or customer feedback surveys. Higher CSAT scores indicate better service outcomes and customer experiences.

Net promoter score (NPS)

Net promoter score measures customers’ likelihood to recommend the service or organization to others based on their recent experience. It provides insights into customer loyalty and advocacy, which are key indicators of service quality and long-term business success.

Quality assurance (QA) metrics 

QA metrics assess the quality and accuracy of agent interactions based on predefined criteria, such as adherence to call center scripts, resolution accuracy, and compliance with service standards. Monitoring QA metrics helps maintain service consistency and identify areas for improvement.

Employee satisfaction and engagement

Employee satisfaction and engagement metrics, aka. agent experience, such as employee surveys, turnover rates, and absenteeism levels, indirectly reflects the productivity and effectiveness of service operations. Satisfied and engaged employees are more likely to deliver high-quality service and contribute to positive customer experiences.

Key Strategies for Enhancing Agent Productivity

Improving agent productivity is crucial for contact centers aiming to enhance customer satisfaction and streamline operations. The strategies outlined by various experts provide valuable insights into optimizing workforce management and fostering a positive work environment. We’re going to classify them into broader groups as shown in the pyramid. So, you can implement them as you need to, focusing on different aspects of productivity.

Culture

Culture, in a business setting, comprises the environment of the workplace. However, it’s got nothing to do with the physical environment. Rather, it focuses on the vibes of the company both including and excluding employee behavior and mindset. Here’s what fosters a culture of

Celebrate successful performance

Recognizing and celebrating agents’ achievements fosters a culture of positivity and motivation within the contact center. Regular acknowledgment of agents’ successes reinforces desired behaviors, boosts morale, and cultivates a supportive environment where individuals feel valued and appreciated.

Show management support

Active participation from managers during surges in call volumes demonstrates care and support for frontline agents. By assisting with workload management and providing additional resources during peak periods, managers alleviate stress, boost morale, and foster a sense of camaraderie within the team.

In addition to these traditional methods, many managers now leverage modern tools, such as AI meeting note-takers and other AI platforms, specifically designed to enhance active participation.

Facilitate career development 

Providing opportunities for skill development and career advancement demonstrates investment in agents’ future growth. By offering training programs, mentorship opportunities, and clear pathways for progression, organizations foster a culture of continuous learning and professional development, increasing employee engagement and loyalty.

Prioritize continuous learning

Implementing e-learning programs enables agents to upskill and improve productivity while minimizing time away from customer interactions. By offering self-paced training modules and resources, organizations foster continuous learning, enhance competencies, and adapt to evolving industry trends, ultimately driving better service outcomes.

Encourage regular breaks

Burnout is a real challenge for customer support agents. Allowing agents to take frequent breaks prevents that and maintains productivity levels. By promoting work-life balance and encouraging self-care practices, organizations support employee well-being, reduce stress, and enhance long-term performance and retention.

Support remote work

Allowing agents to work from home promotes flexibility and trust, which can enhance productivity. By providing remote access to systems and resources, organizations accommodate diverse work arrangements, increase employee satisfaction, and attract top talent regardless of location.

Encourage competition

Publicizing individual performance figures incentivizes competition and boosts productivity among agents. By recognizing top performers and fostering a culture of achievement, organizations motivate individuals to excel, drive performance improvements, and deliver exceptional customer service.

Tools

Although it’s in the middle of the pyramid, Tools have the fastest implementation to returns funnel among these categories. Mostly because tools aren’t dependent on modifying human behavior.

Invest in communication tools

Investing in communication tools like contextual intelligence-enabled headsets facilitates real-time collaboration and reduces call handling time. By equipping agents with advanced communication technologies, organizations improve responsiveness, streamline workflows, and enhance service quality, ultimately leading to greater customer satisfaction.

Integrate systems for real-time information

Integrating agent contact management systems with customer records provides agents with personalized service and increases efficiency. By consolidating customer data into a unified interface, organizations empower agents to access relevant information quickly, personalize interactions, and resolve inquiries more effectively.

Measure effectiveness

Combining productivity metrics with customer satisfaction scores identifies top-performing agents and areas for improvement. By evaluating performance holistically, organizations gain insights into agent effectiveness, customer experience, and operational efficiency, enabling targeted interventions and continuous improvement efforts.

Invest in wireless headsets

Untethering agents from their desks with wireless headsets improves mobility and productivity. By enabling agents to move freely and access information on the go, organizations enhance responsiveness, reduce call transfer rates, and improve overall service quality.

Prioritize agent comfort

Choosing comfortable headsets supports productivity and agent satisfaction. But that’s just one part of the things an agent uses throughout the day. By investing in ergonomic designs and lightweight materials, organizations minimize discomfort, reduce fatigue, and create a conducive work environment conducive to focus and productivity.

Optimize IVR usage

Using IVR intelligently streamlines customer interactions and improves efficiency. By collecting relevant information upfront and routing inquiries to the most appropriate agents, organizations reduce handling times, enhance first-contact resolution rates, and improve overall service delivery.

Offer multichannel interactions

Providing opportunities for agents to engage in various types of interactions keeps them motivated and engaged. By diversifying tasks and offering cross-training opportunities, organizations foster skill development, increase versatility, and adapt to evolving customer preferences.

Manage channels in a Universal Queue

Breaking down silos between communication channels enables agents to handle inquiries more effectively. By consolidating interactions into a unified queue, organizations improve visibility, streamline workflows, and deliver consistent service across channels.

Provide instant access to knowledge

Implementing knowledge management tools enables agents to access relevant information quickly, improving efficiency and service quality. By centralizing knowledge resources and providing intuitive search functionalities, organizations empower agents to resolve inquiries more effectively and enhance customer satisfaction.

Provide regular feedback

Listening to calls frequently and providing agents with both positive feedback and constructive criticism supports their development and performance improvement. By offering personalized coaching and development opportunities, organizations foster continuous learning, service skill development, and career growth.

Unify customer information

Centralizing customer data eliminates time wasted searching through multiple systems suh as intergated CRM, improving efficiency and service quality. By providing agents with instant access to comprehensive customer profiles, organizations personalize interactions, anticipate needs, and deliver proactive support.

Utilize Social Media

Monitoring social media mentions prevents overload and improves productivity in managing online interactions. By setting queue limits and prioritizing interactions, organizations streamline social media management, enhance responsiveness, and protect their brand reputation.

Process and Policy

Process and policy form the basis of a productive team. If you’re policies aren’t optimized for efficiency, tools, and culture will mean very little if any. Your policies are the bedrock for more advanced paths to take toward overall efficiency.

Adapt to demand 

Reassigning agents across different interaction types based on demand optimizes resources and ensures efficient handling of customer inquiries. By dynamically allocating agents to address fluctuating workload patterns, organizations can maintain service levels, prevent backlogs, and keep agents engaged in meaningful tasks.

Empower agents

Providing agents with access to their own performance scores enables self-evaluation and continuous improvement. By encouraging agents to monitor their progress and identify areas for development, organizations empower individuals to take ownership of their professional growth, leading to enhanced performance and job satisfaction.

Implement self-service options

Implementing self-service options for simple queries reduces agent workload and improves efficiency. By enabling customers to resolve routine inquiries independently through intuitive interfaces or automated systems, organizations streamline operations, reduce handling times, and enhance overall customer satisfaction.

Implement flexible shift patterns

Offering agents flexibility in scheduling promotes work-life balance and enhances job satisfaction. By accommodating diverse lifestyles and personal commitments, organizations empower agents to manage their time effectively, resulting in higher productivity, lower absenteeism, and improved employee retention.

Involve agents in scheduling 

Increasing agent involvement in scheduling improves adherence and engagement. By allowing agents to participate in shift planning and decision-making processes, organizations promote autonomy, increase job satisfaction, and create a more collaborative work environment.

Maintain occupancy during low-volume periods

Utilizing workforce management solutions ensures agents remain productive during quieter periods. By scheduling non-phone-related tasks or back-office work during troughs in inbound activities, organizations optimize resource utilization, minimize idle time, and maximize productivity.

Implement structured coaching processes

Reviewing agent performance regularly and providing constructive feedback supports development and performance improvement. By offering targeted coaching sessions, organizations address skill gaps, reinforce best practices, and empower agents to excel in their roles.

Simplify processes with unified interfaces

Integrating systems provides agents with a comprehensive view of the customer, streamlining processes and reducing handling time. By centralizing customer data and eliminating the need to navigate multiple systems, organizations improve efficiency, enhance accuracy, and deliver a seamless customer experience.

Wrapping up

When it comes to making agents super productive, you’ve gotta go all in. That means tackling the main problems head-on and making sure your team has all the info they need. When businesses focus on managing knowledge better, they give their support folks the tools they need to knock it out of the park with customers every time. 

And hey, as tech keeps changing, you’ve gotta stay quick on your feet and ready to try out new ways to make agents more productive.

Until next time, happy serving!

The post 25+ ways Increase Service Agent Productivity appeared first on Fluent Support.

As you can see, there is a word SSL in it. Before we get into the error part, let’s understand what SSL is.

Understanding SSL Certificates

If the site has an SSL certificate, then the URL will have ‘HTTPS://’ instead of ‘HTTP://’ and, in addition, it will show a padlock icon in the browser.

Role of SSL Certificates in Website Security

SSL is not at all optional. If you are running any sort of website and want it to be visible to search engines, then you must have this certificate.

Encryption: When you see that little padlock symbol in your web browser, it means SSL/TLS encryption is at work. This keeps your data safe as it travels between your browser and the website’s server.

Authentication: SSL certificates make sure you’re talking to the real deal. They confirm that the website you’re visiting actually belongs to the right folks, not some impostor or hacker.

HTTPS: As mentioned before, HTTPS is one of the must-have criteria to be indexed on any search engine, including Google, Bing, and so on. And without indexing, you will not appear in any search.

Causes of the “SSL_ERROR_NO_CYPHER_OVERLAP” Error

Now let’s get back to the error we are talking about. Before we get to the solution, we need to understand what’s causing it. And there are a few significant reasons for that.

Outdated Web Browsers: Like using an old phone, outdated browsers might not understand the latest security languages websites use.

Incompatible SSL/TLS Protocols and Cipher Suites: Security protocols are a rule book, and cipher suites are the specific words used within those languages. If your browser and the website don’t agree on which language or words to use, they can’t communicate securely.

Browser Settings: Sometimes, your browser settings might be configured to not use modern security methods, causing a compatibility issue.

Website Configuration: The website itself might need a security upgrade. This could be due to:

• Outdated server settings that don’t support secure connections.
• Issues with the website’s SSL certificate.

Caching Problems: Old data stored in your browser’s cache can sometimes cause issues. Outdated information about the website’s security settings might be causing a conflict.

Antivirus or Firewall Conflicts: Security software like antivirus or firewalls can sometimes interfere with secure connections. Their settings might be blocking the secure communication your browser is trying to establish.

How to Fix the “SSL_ERROR_NO_CYPHER_OVERLAP” Error

As it is an issue, you need to solve it. It’s kind of obvious. Here is how you can resolve the “SSL_ERROR_NO_CYPHER_OVERLAP” error. 

Update browser to the latest version

So, first things first, let’s make sure your beloved browser is up to date. It might sound cliche, but it is the solution to most of the issues as well. Because,

• Outdated protocols: Your browser might not support the latest security protocols the website is trying to use.
• Unsupported cipher suites: The website might be using encryption methods your browser doesn’t recognize.

Updating will update everything in one shot. Here’s how you can do it:.

Firefox:

• Open Firefox.
• Click the three horizontal lines in the top-right corner (the menu).
• Choose “Help” and then “About Firefox.”
• If there’s an update, Firefox will download it.
• Restart Firefox to finish the update.

Chrome:

• Open Chrome.
• Click the three vertical dots in the top-right corner (the menu).
• Go to “Help” and select “About Google Chrome.”
• If an update is available, Chrome will install it.
• Relaunch Chrome to complete the update.

Microsoft Edge:

• Open Edge.
• Click the three horizontal dots in the top-right corner (the menu).
• Choose “Settings” and then “About Microsoft Edge.”
• If there’s an update, Edge will install it automatically.
• Restart Edge to apply the update.

After that, you can clean the cache or browser and restart it before you check.

Reset TLS and SSL settings

Alright, so maybe updating the browser didn’t quite do the trick. No worries; we’ve got another trick up our sleeve. Sometimes the communication between your browser and a website gets confused because of security settings. Here’s what you can try to fix it:

This process resets your browser’s security settings to their defaults. This can sometimes clear up any conflicts that might be causing the “SSL_ERROR_NO_CYPHER_OVERLAP” error.

Reset security settings in browsers

Google Chrome:

1. Open Chrome and click the three vertical dots in the top right corner.
2. Select “Settings” from the menu.
3. Scroll down and click on “Advanced.”
4. Look for the section called “Reset settings” and click “Reset settings.”

Firefox:

Firefox handles this in a more specified way.

1. Open Firefox and type “about:config” in the address bar (don’t worry, it’s safe!).
2. Click “Accept the Risk and Continue” if a warning pops up.
3. In the search bar at the top, type “TLS” and look for any bold values. Bold values mean the settings have been changed.
4. Right-click on a bold value and select “Reset” to set it back to default.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for “SSL 3.”

Microsoft Edge:

1. Open Edge and click the three dots in the top right corner.
2. Go to “Settings” and then select “Privacy, search, and services.”
3. Scroll down to “Clear browsing data” and click “Choose what to clear.”
4. Make sure “Cookies and other site data” and “Cached images and files” are checked.
5. Click “Clear now” to reset the settings.

Remember, if updating your browser doesn’t work, resetting your security settings is the next option. Make sure to follow the steps for your specific browser to avoid unintended changes.

Bypassing encryption protocols

Okay, so if you’ve tried everything else and you’re still stuck, there’s one last option for you, the ultimate one. But I’m telling you, this should be your very last resort.

Bypassing encryption protocols is like taking the locks off your online doors – it seriously weakens your security and leaves you wide open to all sorts of online threats. So, unless you really need this, I’d recommend reconsidering it before doing so.

Here’s how to do it in popular browsers:

Chrome:

1. Open Chrome and type “chrome://flags” in the address bar.
2. Look for the option “TLS 1.0/1.1 deprecation” and set it to “Disabled.”
3. Restart Chrome for the changes to take effect.

Firefox:

1. Open Firefox and type “about:config” in the address bar.
2. Search for “security.tls.version.enable-deprecated” and set it to “True.”
3. Restart Firefox to apply the changes.

Microsoft Edge :

1. Open Edge and type “edge://flags” in the address bar.
2. Look for the option “TLS 1.0/1.1 deprecation” and set it to “Disabled.”
3. Restart Edge to complete the process.

Remember, only resort to bypassing encryption protocols if absolutely necessary, as it can compromise your online security.

Server-end issue

Let’s say you have tried everything from above. But you are still seeing the “SSL_ERROR_NO_CYPHER_OVERLAP”. Then there is only one reason for that. It’s server end issue. In this case, the issue might lie with the website system.

Websites have their own security settings too, and sometimes those settings might malfunction or not be configured properly. Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do to fix a server-side problem.

You can contact the hosting provider or system admin to give it a look. Most hosting or server providers, like AWS or GCP, will help you solve this issue.

Wrapping ups

We just showed a few ways to fix it. To prevent any future errors, you can remember these few points. 

• Clear Browser Cache and Cookies
• Test access on other browsers
• Verify SSL certificate expiry dates
• Monitor server logs for clues

In simple words, just be smart to avoid the “SSL_ERROR_NO_CYPHER_OVERLAP” error. Happy browsing.

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