Introducing Connected Customer Conversations and Helpshift for Phone
Today, Helpshift is announcing our new and fundamentally different approach to B2C customer service that empowers brands to dramatically improve the way they serve their customers. Our new platform, Connected Customer Conversations, creates a unified customer experience that connects messaging, phone, email, self-service, bots, and AI.
Why We Built a Platform for the End Customer
We recognized that brands use a traditional omnichannel strategy to streamline channels for the benefit of their support organizations, not their customers. This has resulted in siloed, fragmented customer experiences where customers have to start over in different channels — often after having to wait on hold in each of those respective channels. These customer frustrations have persisted in the face of brands’ massive investments in omnichannel tools.
With the launch of Helpshift for Phone and Connected Customer Conversations, we are delivering where traditional omnichannel has failed: connecting channels and creating a cohesive and convenient experience for the end user.
Phone calls and self-service are embedded right within the messaging conversation.
What Makes Helpshift So Different?
Meet Helpshift for Phone
There are two primary ways for brands to use Helpshift for Phone.
The first is a “call to messaging” use case. Customers often call support out of habit and might not know that they can get all of their questions answered — in a personalized manner and on their own time — when they message with the brand instead of call. That’s why we’re giving brands the tools to update their IVR so that customers can “dial 1 to message”. When customers select this option, they will receive an SMS that contains a link that will take them into a messaging thread. From there, bots can gather all the information needed to serve the customer and seamlessly hand off to an agent when necessary. This provides legacy call centers a way of deflecting calls to messaging, where bots and automation can be used to make a meaningful impact on the cost to serve.
The second use case is the reverse: a “messaging to call” experience. Having a means to escalate messaging-based conversations to a live phone call when necessary is still important for many digital-first brands today. If an agent (or bot) determines that an issue is urgent, then both the customer and agent have the ability to switch to a phone call — without losing the existing conversation history. For the customer, this becomes a connected and seamless experience since the agent has all of the context from the messaging thread. And when the call is over, a transcript along with agent notes are all available within the existing record.
With the launch of Helpshift for Phone, we are delivering a product that complements and builds on our digital-first approach to customer support. It’s an approach that puts end customers first by eliminating the disjointed experience that customers have as they shift channels. With Helpshift for Phone, we can deliver an all-channels-in-one messaging hub — or Connected Customer Conversations as we are calling it. With these two product launches, Helpshift is further equipping brands with the ability to deliver amazing, differentiated experiences to their customers.
Read the full release here, and if you haven’t already, check out our launch event — or go ahead and request a personalized demo with our team!
Want to learn more?
- Blog Post: Phone IVR: Lessons and Learnings for the Digital World
- Blog Post: What Connected Conversations Mean for Your Customers
- Additional Solution Information: Helpshift Powered Service and Deflection