{"id":24022,"date":"2020-07-08T17:00:09","date_gmt":"2020-07-08T16:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/?p=24022"},"modified":"2023-03-06T16:18:59","modified_gmt":"2023-03-06T16:18:59","slug":"conversational-support-definition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/conversational-support-definition\/","title":{"rendered":"The end of “good enough” \u2013 and the rise of conversational support"},"content":{"rendered":"

Support has changed in innumerable ways, from the emergence of call centers (yes, phones were novel once<\/em>) to the shift to social media. But one thing has not: what customers want.<\/p>\n

As consumers ourselves, we\u2019re all too familiar with what our customers want \u2013 a convenient and personalized support experience. There\u2019s little more frustrating than finding out you\u2019re ticket #372876 or being subjected to Cisco\u2019s \u201cOpus No. 1,\u201d<\/a> the anthem of waiting on hold.<\/p>\n

But until recently, businesses have had to settle for \u201cgood enough\u201d customer support. You know the kind: chatbots that give off-topic responses, live agents who rush through requests in order to hit volume targets, and personalization that\u2019s just a few pre-populated fields in disguise.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s customers expect, and are demanding, more \u2013 and that\u2019s exactly why we\u2019ve leaned into conversational support<\/a> at Intercom. Conversational support engages our customers with a messenger-based experience that\u2019s at once personal and efficient.<\/p>\n

“Conversational support engages our customers with a messenger-based experience that\u2019s at once personal and efficient”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s enabled us to build strong customer relationships, from our earliest days to now. Just ask our customers: even during this challenging year, we\u2019ve maintained a +96% CSAT score. Like so many support teams, we are continuing to learn and evolve and it\u2019s this kind of positive feedback that lets us know we\u2019re on the right track.<\/p>\n

By embracing conversational support, every business can do the same. It\u2019s time to trade in yesterday\u2019s disjointed experiences for new conversational ones. The result? Happier customers and<\/em> a happier support team.<\/p>\n

Out with the old: disjointed customer experiences<\/h2>\n

I\u2019ll get straight to the point: most customer support experiences leave a lot to be desired.<\/p>\n

As support leaders, we\u2019re well aware of this. There\u2019s a gap between what we know and what we\u2019re able to deliver. In Intercom\u2019s survey of nearly 600 support managers, 73% said customer expectations are increasing, but only 42% were sure they\u2019re meeting those expectations.<\/p>\n

\"73%<\/p>\n

Our efforts to provide support everywhere, in every possible way, have only made things worse. Phone, email, forms, social, SMS, chat \u2013 we\u2019ve all heard the rallying cry to add more channels, faster. Gartner\u2019s Advisory Director Devin Poole calls<\/a> this the drumbeat of support organizations: \u201cIf you want to keep up, keep adding.\u201d<\/p>\n

“The reality is customers want resolutions, not increasingly complex ways to contact support”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But the reality is customers want resolutions, not increasingly complex ways to contact support. Contrary to oft-touted advice, CEB (now Gartner) found<\/a> 84% of customers would rather have a straightforward<\/em> solution to their problem rather than a menu of service channels to choose from.<\/p>\n

Disjointed support experiences are drowning our teams in work, across too many channels and at higher costs, and they\u2019re driving our customers away. We don\u2019t need more ways to support customers; we need a better way.<\/p>\n

The rise of conversational support<\/h2>\n

Conversational support is the key to bridging the gap between what customers want and what we can deliver. It\u2019s the next generation way to provide customers with the personalized and convenient help they expect, through a messenger-based experience.<\/p>\n

Using a business messenger \u2013 for us, that\u2019s Intercom<\/a> \u2013 enables you to help customers where and when their questions arise. Yes, I mean in your product and on your website. Remember, questions typically arise when customers are trying to do<\/em> something and can\u2019t.<\/p>\n

“Think of a messenger as a hub where customers can get everything they need to solve their problems and, in most of cases, all on their own”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Messengers are so much more than live chat<\/a>. Think of them as a hub where customers can get everything they need to solve their problems and, in the majority of cases, all on their own. You can proactively share updates<\/a>, like we did around business continuity. You can point to FAQs in your help center<\/a> and use chatbots<\/a> to instantly answer common questions. When issues get complicated, that\u2019s when a support rep can follow up with the customer<\/a> asynchronously and, better yet, they can seamlessly help multiple customers at once<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Conversational<\/p>\n

We use a framework called the Conversational Support Funnel<\/a> to put this new way of helping customers into practice. It has three distinct layers: proactive, self-serve, and human. It\u2019s designed to pre-emptively address known issues and automatically resolve common ones, so your support team can focus on the high-value problems that are the best use of their time and expertise.<\/p>\n