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Sairam
Turning Customers into Promoters – A Lesson in Customer Support
January 3rd, 2012 
Apple’s retail stores have a lesson for us on this, as Fred Reicheld of Bain and Company narrates, in this video from the HBR stable.
The iconic company wanted a simple question answered, and the question was, “How do we make our customers come back for more and bring their friends too?”
Apple invested in the IT to find out how likely customers were to recommend the store to their friends. On a scale of 1-10, scoring 9 or 10 meant they had succeeded, but anything less than was a failure. Apple went back to the not-so-happy customers and asked them where Apple had gone wrong. Armed with that information, Apple was able to figure out customer pain points precisely and address them immediately, in real time.
But what Apple did remarkably well, and differently from others was recognizing the efforts of the employees who were delivering service the customers loved. Every shift, at the opening huddle, managers asked these employees to share this important learning with others – how they had served customers who had then given them a straight 10 for their great support.
There was always support from the top management at Apple for this kind of endeavor, and when employees know that the management is listening to them, that their contributions on the shop floor are valued and recognized, innovation and a culture of quality service will automatically be fostered.
The results are for the world to see – In fiscal 2010, Apple’s retail stores pulled in $2.36 billion in profit on $9.8 billion in revenue. Over the first six months of fiscal 2011, Apple has made $1.84 billion in profit on revenues of $7.04 billion.
The lessons here are not just for retail. Major companies have tried to implement variations of this, and failed, but the organizations that have cracked this tough nut have found themselves in a position of some advantage.
Reicheld goes ahead and gives us a 4 step plan to transforming our customers into promoters, which we have condensed here.
Gathering Feedback – The single question survey with the 1-10 point scale that we talked about earlier would be a great place to start. The knowledge about how many of our customers are actually inclined to recommend us to others is a priceless piece of information. The best thing we could have is real time information on what the customer is thinking while buying and using our product.
Closing the Loop – Using this data, we can then go back to those of our customers who don’t think a recommendation to their friends is warranted. After apologizing to them for not meeting expectations, we can find out what went wrong in the sales cycle. This, in turn, could then be changed immediately to make the process smoother for our customers.
Enhancing Successes – From the customers who have been happy with our service and who said that they’d be recommending us to others, we need to find out why and reinforce those reasons in a way that all our customers can experience what our most happy customers experienced. That way, our successes can be enhanced.
Sharing Best Practices – The knowledge gained from enhancing our strong points and using the data to minimize customer dissatisfaction should be shared across the organization, so everyone knows what it takes to keep the customers happy. The best practices can then be a resource that everyone can draw from.
In an online perspective, these same principles can be applied, but a different set of tools are required. Before we can even think about turning our customers into promoters, we need to be able to serve them effectively online. Here are 5 reasons you should be serving your customers on Facebook. Also, here’s a piece that validates why you should be using Twitter for the same purpose as well.
Does your organization use customer support like this, to deliver value to your organization? We’d love to hear from you. Do share your thoughts with us.
Sairam
8 Tips on how to use Twitter for Business
December 26th, 2011 
As the world accepts social support as part of the workings of business and customer service, businesses now have to look even more closely at the way we use social networks and blogs. A small mistake could send your brand into the abyss. At the same time, a little time and attention could do wonders for your business.
Twitter, for example, now has established dos and don’ts for business as well as personal use. For example, sending links to everyone using the @ feature is considered spamming, but sharing the same link twice or thrice a day with slightly different descriptions is not. Similarly you may also DM a link to a person, but repeatedly sending DMs with links to your product is not considered good form.
So what are the rules you should follow when you are using Twitter as a business? Here’s a quick and easy run through on some things you need to know when using Twitter professionally.
1. Use your Twitter real estate – Twitter gives you 140 characters to tell the world what you are all about. Use it tactfully, and well. You have a space for your company’s website, don’t forget to put it up. You may well change the way it’s displayed, month on month, and check metrics to see what works best for you. Here’s what we at Freshdesk, say.
2. Let people know what they’re clicking on – Do not shorten your website URLs on the bio page, as users might not be inclined to click on something that doesn’t bear any connection to what they came to see. It looks pretty out of place and additionally, you are losing a branding opportunity.
3. Brand your Twitter Background – Twitter lets you upload an image as a background for your Twitter page, and is another great branding opportunity that you should not lose. It’ll take you about 30 minutes to setup a satisfactory background image and upload it. Try to take the time out to do it. It’s intangible as a branding asset, but as all marketers know, the intangibles are sometimes the ones that matter most.
4. Don’t just re-tweet anything – Before you re-tweet anything, check, double check and triple check the sources and the links. Once you have RT’d the tweet, it amounts to endorsing the view and opinion in the tweet, even though you might not ascribe to it fully. You might also be held accountable for it, so think a million times before you hit retweet.
5. Do not Spam – As we pointed out before, refrain from bulk DMs or @ mentions to all your followers. Save your DMs for personalized recommendations or messages and @ mentions for conversations that can be viewed publicly. Any attempt at blatant self promotion or sales DMs will only be responded to by unfollows or blocks.
6. Do not get involved in controversies – On a personal twitter account, you can tweet almost anything on any topic you like, but on a business account, it’s a strict no-no. A snide tweet can be more trouble than you can ever imagine it could be. Here’s a Neal Schaffer post on Twitter Content Strategy.
7. Make conversation with your customers – Your customers will contact you on Twitter with questions and doubts relating to your product or service. You must track, engage and help them in every way you can. Word of Mouth is very powerful, as Jeff Bezos said, and when you serve your customers well on Social Media, the word of mouth generated is magnified many times over.
8. Use Twitter for Customer Support – Serve your customers, right where they are, on Twitter itself. Most companies now are already using Twitter to serve their customers. This does not mean directing customers to call or email, but resolving their issues immediately. It also makes sense to track customer sentiment on Twitter in real time, making it easier to respond, whether it is to positive appreciation or negative criticism. Here’s a whitepaper on how to use Twitter for customer support.
Do share your experiences with using Twitter for business.
Image Courtesy wickedying.com
Sairam
Freshdesk is now integrated with Capsule CRM
December 17th, 2011 
Freshdesk is happy to announce our integration with Capsule CRM, as we roll it out for all our customers today.
Now as you view and reply to tickets on Freshdesk, you can view the contact and company details of the requestor from Capsule.
Also, if the requestor is not in your Capsule contacts, you can quickly add the contact to Capsule, without leaving the Freshdesk Ticket page. You can search for contacts from Freshdesk. You can also create and add notes.
Neat huh? We thought so too.
Alternately, when viewing contacts inside Capsule CRM, with a single click you will also be able to see all the tickets they’ve submitted in Freshdesk. This way, your sales and support teams can quickly and easily share customer contact and ticket information.
When sending replies from Freshdesk, you can use the bcc feature to send a copy of the reply to your Dropbox email address(provided by Capsule) to log your reply as a case in Capsule CRM.
Here’s to a ‘fresher’ experience with Freshdesk.
You can sign up for our 30 day free trial here.
Sairam
Freshdesk now in 6 Languages
November 23rd, 2011 Our first rollout of languages includes German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Polish.
But what if your customers are French, but your agents are Spanish? Well, Freshdesk allows you to use different languages for agents and customers as well.
Admins can configure language for their entire Helpdesk or Users can configure their own language.
So, dear customers,
Tag, Bonjour, Hola, Ciao, Ola, & Czesc,
Welcome to Freshdesk…!! 
Update
We are now available in Finnish as well. Make that 7, and counting!
Sairam
Freshdesk in Business World
November 21st, 2011 So it wouldn’t be too hard for you to imagine the exhilaration I felt when Freshdesk was featured on Business World, and that too, as part of the cover story.
I take the opportunity to thank our customers and everyone who wished us well along the way.
We look forward to your continued support as we hope to keep doing what we do best – “Create Awesome Stuff”.
Sairam
5 reasons you should be serving your customers on Facebook
November 14th, 2011 A lot of brands have ignored this & their reputations have suffered. This study from Conversocial for Ecoconsultacy sheds further light on the pressing need to integrate Facebook with Customer Service.
If you still need validation, we’ve compiled 5 reasons why you should be serving your customers on Facebook.
1. Your Customers are on Facebook.
Facebook has over 800 million active users and 50% of them log on every single day. It’s a basic tenet that businesses should be present where the customers are.
And since they are all on Facebook, you should be too.
2. It’s Easy to Use
For your customer, clicking through to your company’s page on Facebook and posting a query is far more easier than to send an email or to call you. Your customer is much more likely to contact you this way because he knows how the interface works, and he doesn’t have to go out of his way to reach you.
3. Can Give Real Time Customer Support.
You can serve customers in real time, unlike other platforms such as email. It’s an immediate, direct line to your customers that can facilitate instant customer service & gratification. The information that flows as a result for this interaction might be gold dust for your business. Here’s an article that shows how Wendy’s, Pizza Hut and Chick-Fil-A all had average first-time responses of 1:30 for Facebook customer posts and how that impacts customers.
4. Your Competition is doing it, and well.
Chances are, your competition is already serving its customers on Facebook, or at least getting up to doing so. Shouldn’t you be beating them to it? Even customer support intensive companies like AT & T are way ahead already, what is stopping you from joining them?
5. Everyone’s watching.
When your customer asks you something on Facebook and you post an immediate reply to it, there are a lot more people watching than you think. Your responses will let people know that you are there and that you are listening and that your brand can be trusted. Facebook generates a lot of eyeballs. This could be game breaking publicity for your product and service.
As Tony Alessandra put it, “Being on par in terms of price and quality only gets you into the game. Service wins the game.”
Now that Facebook is the easiest way for your customer to find you, isn’t it time to make your customer service simpler and easier?
BestBuy Customer Service Facebook Screenshot Courtesy crmsocialmedia.com
Sairam
Meet Freshdesk at the NASSCOM Product Conclave 2011
November 7th, 2011 Dates: 9th and 10th, November
Venue: Vivanta by Taj, Yeshwantpur
Stall Number: 19
If you are at the Conclave, do drop by Stall number 19 and we can discuss anything customer support. We’ll be especially pleased to show you our latest addition: customer support over Facebook. If you are yet to decide on visiting the event, here are the NASSCOM officials with 7 reasons to NOT attend the event. Online registations have been closed but there will be spot registrations.
See you there!
Sairam
Your Customers will now “like” your Support.
November 4th, 2011 Announcing the Freshdesk Facebook Feature
Now your customers will definitely “like” your customer support, if not love it, that is.
All over the world, companies are going and listening to their customers where they are – online, and reaping the benefits. MarketTools’ social media study based on a survey of enterprise customers found that 23% of companies were providing customer support on Facebook and 12% were providing customer support on Twitter. It’s time your company joined that list of progressive businesses. We are happy to announce Freshdesk’s brand new feature – customer support on Facebook.
Now your customer’s posts on your Facebook wall, comments on posts, and messages will all become tickets that agents can process and answer like an email ticket. Your replies will be posted right back on Facebook making it totally hassle free for your customers. Add this to Freshdesk’s Twitter feature, and your customer support arsenal now has the two most important weapons out there.
Unleash them today, and surprise your customers with your super fast support. It’s working great for us! Our Facebook fan page capture below.
Facebook Customer Service Image Courtesy ecoconsultancy.com
Sairam
The Case for Social Customer Support
September 21st, 2011 Peter Shankman, CEO and founder of Geek Factory, and founder of HARO, was returning to Newark from Tampa after a really long day of travel and business meetings. He had no time to stop for dinner and he knew he would be home only by 9 pm. Hungry, and fantasizing about a steak, he sent off a tweet before his flight took off.
This was what his tweet said -
Hey @Mortons – can you meet me at newark airport with a porterhouse when I land in two hours? K, thanks.
Meant purely as a joke, he tweeted that and then thought nothing of it.
However, when he landed at Newark, to his absolute astonishment, Peter Shankman was greeted by a tuxedo wearing waiter from Mortons with a 24 oz. porterhouse steak, an order of colossal shrimp, potatoes, bread, napkins & silverware.
An overjoyed Shankman tweeted, with a picture of the steak -
Oh. My. God. I don’t believe it. @mortons showed up at EWR WITH A PORTERHOUSE! #OMFG
Mortons Steakhouse had seen the tweet, authorized the delivery and had the meal delivered to the airport 20 miles away from the restaurant, also figuring out which flight Shankman was on, all in under 3 hours.
This is customer service at its best, and the social world immediately went gaga over it. The story went viral, and Mortons got a level of free publicity and marketing which they wouldn’t have dreamed of.
Is there a lesson here for businesses?
Of course there is, the most obvious being that the world is social, and every move they make, good or bad, will be watched, judged and dissected, and it makes sense to have a social media strategy that’s well thought out and takes all this into account.
But there is another lesson here, something that most who read this story will see through. That is, the case for social customer support.
A company like Mortons, or perhaps Pizza hut or KFC should give you the option of ordering your food via Twitter or Facebook, shouldn’t they?
Shouldn’t service companies like AOL be able to handle customer support direct on twitter instead of asking customers to mail or call to this number or that?
It really adds no value to the organization when the customers contact you through new channels of communication but you redirect them to the old ones. This is a real opportunity for companies, a chance to go where customers are and serve them better.
In the last few years of the Social Media Revolution, as more & more brands jump into the fray, Social Media has been associated with Marketing, and the Marketing team has traditionally been in charge of it.
For brands like Pepsi, Levi’s Strauss, Ford and IMAX, Twitter & Facebook make sense as a marketing presence, as a means of engaging customers and viewers, keeping them involved with events & the like. But for companies like Vodafone, SKY or perhaps Bluedart, which are customer support intensive, does the real value of Social Media lie in Marketing alone?
Most probably not.
What if customer support could be brought to the social arena? What if each and every social media conversation you have could be recorded, addressed and resolved as you would a normal phone call or an email? Wouldn’t that make sense?
Some companies think it makes perfect sense. They have already seen through the fog into this & are breaking new ground in keeping their customers happy with service that’s faster & more interactive. It’s a win-win both ways. Customers are happy that their queries are being heard & resolved on a platform they love, and businesses are happy, because a happy customer, however the world may change, is still good business.
And Freshdesk helps you do just that, aggregate all your customer support queries, requests and complaints, from multiple platforms like email, phone, the web, and of course social media, into one tool, which your Customer Support team can then easily and effectively resolve. Read our White paper on improving Customer Service with Twitter.
The case for Social Customer Support is quite strong & almost imperative. Your customers are already talking to you on Social networks, Are you listening?