{"id":25651,"date":"2021-03-31T15:59:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-31T14:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/?p=25651"},"modified":"2024-02-21T16:01:46","modified_gmt":"2024-02-21T16:01:46","slug":"personal-human-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/personal-human-support\/","title":{"rendered":"The support leader\u2019s guide to personal, efficient human support"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, customers\u2019 expectations for fast, personal support<\/a> are higher than ever \u2013 making automation essential for resolving simple, repetitive queries at scale. But there\u2019s an inescapable fact that not every answer can, or should, be automated.<\/p>\n

After all, not even the best chatbot can help calm an angry customer, investigate a thorny issue, or build rapport with high-value customers quite like your team can. These types of issues require an empathetic, human touch.<\/p>\n

Human support<\/a> is an essential part of any successful support strategy, but the reality is that it doesn\u2019t scale and it\u2019s expensive to operate. It\u2019s also a waste of your support team\u2019s expertise and resources if they need to answer every question that rolls in \u2013 regardless of each issue\u2019s priority, how urgent it is, or how much the customer is spending with you.<\/p>\n

So how do you empower your team to be both highly efficient and hyper-personal so they can meet and exceed the demands of modern customers? Below, we share a proven framework and powerful workflows for freeing up your support team\u2019s workload and ensuring only the most high-value, complex queries reach their inbox. We\u2019ll also dive into effective support principles for resolving high-touch queries with empathy, transparency, and speed.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Ensure only complex queries reach your team<\/h2>\n

At Intercom, we use a framework called the Support Funnel<\/a> to deliver efficient, personal support to our customers. It combines proactive<\/a>, self-serve<\/a>, and human support capabilities to get ahead of known problems before they arise, automatically answer repetitive queries, and quickly resolve complex issues.<\/p>\n

With the funnel, proactive and self-serve support resolve most simple, repetitive queries, meaning only the most complex and critical issues ever reach your team.<\/p>\n

When most of your customers\u2019 questions are resolved proactively and automatically, it frees up your support team to focus on your most important, complex, and VIP support<\/a> queries. This also empowers your team to do what they do best \u2013 using their product knowledge, technical expertise, and empathy skills to keep customers satisfied and ensure they\u2019re getting long-term value from your product or service.<\/p>\n

“By freeing them up to do more of the work they love, you\u2019ll also boost job satisfaction and team morale”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Plus, most support reps don\u2019t enjoy answering the same simple questions over and over \u2013 instead, they get a kick out of the kind of work that requires flexing their deep problem-solving skills. By freeing them up to do more of the work they love, you\u2019ll also boost job satisfaction and team morale.
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Supercharge your team efficiency with automation and apps<\/h2>\n

Your support team may appear to possess superhero powers, like the ability to calm angry customers, translate technical issues into easy-to-understand solutions, and solve complex problems. But they\u2019re still human, and being human comes with productivity limits. Some of your biggest efficiency gains won\u2019t come from the hands of your support reps at all, but from the backend of a well-oiled, automated inbox.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth making your workflows as efficient as possible. Taking mundane, repetitive tasks off your team\u2019s hands will add more fuel to their tank and leave them with more time to better support your customers. Here are some powerful foundational steps to take:<\/p>\n

Automate your inbox workflows<\/h3>\n

\u201cCan I put you on hold?\u201d \u201cLet me pass you to my colleague.\u201d If you\u2019ve ever been on the receiving end of this type of ping-pong support as a customer, you\u2019ll know how frustrating it is to be passed from rep to rep. It wastes both the agent\u2019s and the customer\u2019s time.<\/p>\n

“Set up a workflow that automatically collects conversation data from your customer on what their query is about”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A far more efficient (and polite) approach is to set up a workflow that automatically collects conversation data<\/a> from your customer on what their query is about \u2013 whether that\u2019s a billing query, a technical issue, or something else. Then route the conversation to the right team, like your billing team, so they can step in and provide the customer with a speedy, empathetic response.<\/p>\n

This also means your team won\u2019t have to spend time manually tagging conversations to identify common customer pain points for your proactive support.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Prioritize VIP and urgent conversations<\/h3>\n

When a VIP customer gets in touch, you\u2019ll want to fast-track the issue to your VIP team so they can reply ASAP. With a modern customer support tool, like Intercom<\/a>, you can apply multiple automated rules within each workflow. For example, you can mark these pressing issues as priority and apply an SLA rule<\/a> to hold your team accountable to delivering a top quality, rapid response.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Seamlessly manage all of your tools from one inbox<\/h3>\n

A whopping 68% of support leaders<\/a> say their team hit roadblocks once a month because their support stack isn\u2019t integrated with technology used by other teams. What\u2019s more, the majority of support teams have between six and 10 tools in their support tech stack alone. Imagine how many wasted hours your team is racking up switching between all these tools, not to mention the headaches.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Whatever tools you\u2019re using \u2013 whether that\u2019s social media, call center, issue management, or even sales tools \u2013 you\u2019ll want to make sure your customer support tool can plug into and play nicely with them. Ultimately, this will make your support more efficient, powerful, and all-around more helpful for customers.<\/p>\n

“With Intercom, there are lots of useful apps you can integrate with and use right from the Inbox to streamline your support”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

With Intercom<\/a>, there are lots of useful apps you can integrate with and use right from the Inbox to streamline your support. For example:<\/p>\n