PROVIDE HELP WHERE IT'S NEEDED: WORKING CROSS-FUNCTIONALLY TO BUILD CUSTOMER-CENTRIC SUPPORT @StossInSupport cstoss@gmail.com

AGENDA • What is Customer-Centric Support? • Why Cross-functional? • 3-phase Approach • Keys to Success

WHAT IS CUSTOMER-CENTRIC SUPPORT? • Email, phone or chat aren’t always enough • Guide customers at every step of their journey • Ask yourself: “Where are my customers?” If the answer includes anything but “On my Support Contact Page” You can improve!

WHY CROSS-FUNCTIONAL? • Inside your application: Embed support • On an IoT device: One-touch support • On your website: Prominent KB search bar • Near a phone: Accessible number If the customer is …

THREE-PHASE APPROACH • Remove unwritten knowledge • Increase Self-service • Nudge Users • Make Search bar front-and-center on your Support page • Embed knowledge search in your SaaS product • Replace “For further assistance, please email support@company.com” with a link to something immediately useful • Phase 1 can result in ~10-20% case deflection Phase 1 - Document your knowledge

THREE-PHASE APPROACH • Add in some smart searching (eg. Elastic Search) • Bring in some machine-learning (eg. Solvvy, Guru) • Guide users to a decision (eg. Ada, Drift) • SaaS Bonus – Proactive Support! (eg. Pendo, Intercom) • Identify issues based on patterns you know lead to support tickets and automate them away! • Phase 2 is about efficiency ~15-20% increase in individual load Phase 2 - Automation

THREE-PHASE APPROACH • Better Error Messages in Product • Guide the User to a self-serve solution • Real-time Guides • Walkthroughs of your product and Embedded screenshare (eg. Median) • Proactive Diagnostics • Send diagnostic data to support when known patterns occur • Phase 3 is about customer-centricity and will improve your NPS and CES Phase 3 - Product Guidance

KEYS TO SUCCESS Gain Buy-in Cross-functional understanding of the value of self-service and positive customer experience is integral to success Start Within All the necessary Support work must be done in Phase 1 to enable Phases 2 & 3 Progress, not Perfection This approach can be broken into smaller chunks. Most important is to have a roadmap with the right functions and make consistent progress