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Businesses are adopting cloud help desk software to streamline ticket management workflows; in the process, they’re also improving customer experience (CX).

While improving customer service has always been an important objective for businesses, improving CX is a relatively new focus. Let’s explore this topic more by examining how cloud help desk software improves customer experience.

Customer Experience (CX) vs. Customer Service

First, let’s differentiate between these similar terms.

According to Investopedia:

“Customer service is the process of ensuring customer satisfaction with a product or service. Often, customer service takes place while performing a transaction for the customer, such as making a sale or returning an item.”

And according to Wikipedia:

“Customer experience is the product of an interaction between an organization and a customer over the duration of their relationship.“

An article found on Forbes called: “Ten Customer Service And Customer Experience Trends for 2017”, written on January 7th, 2017 by Shep Hyken, explains more:

“According to Forrester, 72% of businesses say that improving the customer experience is their top priority. A study from NewVoiceMedia indicates that companies lose more than $62 billion due to poor customer service.”

Essentially, customer experience includes the actual help desk service and the experience customers have when receiving the service over the lifetime of the business relationship. CX goes beyond the successful resolution of ticket issues and focuses on how customers perceive the support process; and, while customer service focuses more on one-time resolutions, CX focuses on the long-term experience of customers.

Cloud software solutions, such as cloud help desk software, are giving businesses the ability to deliver optimal customer service throughout the lifetime of the business relationship. Cloud help desk software is key to achieving improved CX, as customer support is the main touchpoint for customers to interact with businesses.

Customer Self-Service Portal

One of the best ways to improve CX is to give customers their own self-service portal to manage tickets. Not only does a customer portal help customers resolve their questions and issues quickly and effectively, it also reduces the number of tickets being issued – as it gives customers the ability to resolve many issues themselves with a knowledgebase center.

Features of a customer portal include:

• • Track existing tickets
  • Around the clock customer service capabilities
  • Accessible in the cloud anywhere, anytime, and on any digital device
  • Knowledgebase section for self-help with downloads, SEO articles, FAQs, etc.
  • Automated KB suggestions when submitting tickets
  • Login with social media accounts (FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+)
  • Access to Surveys/Ratings/Feedback tools

Essentially, a customer portal helps both the customer and business resolve questions and issues more effectively. Customers will appreciate being able to track and manage tickets while having the resources available to resolve questions and issues without submitting a ticket at all. This type of expanded functionality is what modern B2B and B2C customers expect and desire in our modern business world.

In fact, 90% of consumers want businesses to provide a customer self-service portal. And, according to an article found on Software Advice called: “How a Customer Self-Service Portal Improves Customer Experience”, written by Craig Borowski, we learn:

“What Consumers Do First When They Have Questions for a Company

73% Search online

13% Phone call

9% email

5% Live chat”

The article also points out that 77% of customers spend 15 minutes or less trying to find the answers before contacting the company, and another 18% keep searching until they find the answers. This means that 95% of customers would likely find the answers they need if a self-service knowledgebase center was available through a cloud help desk customer portal.

Faster Response Times

Streamlining the support desk with automation and cloud technology helps businesses improve ticket response times and the overall CX. When customers or prospective customers don’t have to wait as long to resolve questions or issues, they’ll be more satisfied with the service received.

According to the aforementioned Forbes article:

“Numerous surveys have revealed abysmal results for response times to customer comments, complaints and questions on support channels such as social media, email, etc…And by the way, the company that responds faster than its competition will stand out and win.”

Cloud help desk software brings organisational efficiency to customer support; if the customer self-service portal doesn’t sufficiently help, customers can easily submit and track a support ticket through a preferred channel. Automation then filters and streamlines support tickets according to the rules-based criteria set by users; from there, agents have the visibility and tools needed to resolve tickets quickly and efficiently.

The cloud further enhances the agent’s ability to manage and resolve tickets, either from the office or remotely, and from their desktop or mobile device. Task management, internal messaging tools, and gamification further streamline and incentivise ticket resolution processes, resulting in faster response times and improved CX.

Omnichannel Support

Cloud help desk software gives businesses an efficient way to manage tickets from multiple channels through one central location. From this central dashboard interface within the cloud, managers and agents will gain the visibility and tools needed to prioritize and efficiently resolve tickets with omnichannel support. Omnichannel support includes:

• • Email
  • Chat
  • Phone
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • API Integration

An article found on Finances Online called: “How to Improve Customer Experience Using A Helpdesk Software”, explains:

“An omnichannel customer experience is made up of individual customer touchpoints over a variety of channels that seamlessly connect, allowing customers to pick up where they left off on one channel and continue the experience on another.”

Consolidating support channels and tracking their history with ticket submissions gives agents more visibility and ability to personalize support services for each customer. Another article from Software Advice called: “5 Must-Have Tools for Improving Customer Experience”, written by Craig Borowski, explains:

“The benefit of omnichannel support is that it also lets customers pick a conversation up where they left off on a different channel.

…The key to omnichannel support is a centralized customer support platform. It boosts CX and makes agents more efficient with readily available information at their fingertips.”

Conclusion

Attracting and retaining customers will be even more important as online technology continues to increase customer expectations. Cloud help desk software is giving businesses the tools needed to meet these rising expectations by streamlining ticket management processes. When customer support is improved, businesses will improve CX as well.

Vision Helpdesk understands the importance of improving customer service and experience for businesses. Our comprehensive cloud-based help desk software gives businesses the tools needed for streamlining ticket management processes while improving CX with a customer portal, faster response times, and omnichannel support capabilities. If interested in learning more, please book a demo, start a free trial, or contact us today.