How to Use Automations for Holiday App Success

Every mobile app faces a classic problem during the holidays: how do you serve a large customer base while also providing a personal experience that keeps them coming back? It doesn’t help that the busiest season for mobile apps is also the time when you and your staff want the most time off.

Automations allow your customer care to be available 24/7, activate based on custom triggers, and reply to users en masse–without an Agent needing to be there. It’s an invaluable tool for the holiday app season.

What are Automations exactly?

that your users provide. This tool is invaluable for managing a high volume of tickets without the need for additional staff. For example, if you frequently receive Issues that ask about a holiday deal, you can set an Automation for the phrases “holiday”, “deal”, and “where” that has the answer. Don’t worry if the deal is only for a specific app or platform, because you can set that too.

Auto-Resolve: An Auto-Resolving Automation will send a message to users that haven’t responded to an Issue after a preset amount of days. It makes sure that your customers are satisfied–use this tool to close conversations by asking if there’s anything else you can help with. Your users will know you care and you can use that moment to suggest they head to the app store.

Holiday Practices for Automations

Tier-Based Support: Automations will help your Agents quickly respond to the Issues of paying customers. You can set specific Automations that let premium users know you’re on the way. Speed is a critical way to keep profit flowing–premium users will expect premium service.

Stop Churn: When a customer writes in with the threat of deleting your app, an Automation can detect it and respond. Let users know instantly that you value their business. Give yourself a little extra time to respond.

Localization: December is a great month for mobile app success even outside of the Americas. Your automations can be triggered and written in any language, which means it’s incredibly easy for Agents to serve customers globally.

Overcome Bugs: If your app has an error that every user seems to notice, you can set an automation to inform users that your team is on the case. Keep your staff free to solve the problem rather than field Issues about it.

Festive Update: Aren’t you planning a festive app update? Users will likely have questions about the fun things you have planned, but most of your support Agents will be enjoying their own holidays. You can set Automations based on questions you expect to receive while your agent sips eggnog at home.

Business Hours: Regardless of the time of year, Agents can’t always be there to help customers at the time of need. An automation can tell users the best time to reach you. Turn them on when you leave and off when you arrive.

Build Community: Create an automation that recommends other ways users can keep in touch with you or receive updates. After you resolve their issue Christmas morning, they’ll be glad to do so.

Give Every New User An Answer

700 million additional apps were downloaded between Christmas and New Years for a 65% increase. There are plenty of reasons for that trend: companies ramp up marketing, people have more time on their hands, and more consumers visit the app store to fill a freshly-unwrapped phone. All of your newfound holiday users will have no idea how your app works. Most will look for answers in your Help section.

Their point of need is a pivotal moment, because most apps lose 75% of new users within the first day. Lack of help is a large factor. Imagine how impressed new users will be when you can answer them instantly on Christmas Day. That first impression can easily lead to an evangelist, let alone a satisfied new user.

Retain Customers That Bought Holiday Devices

It’s not just new users that Automations can help you retain. More than 7 million additional Android and iOS devices were unwrapped on Christmas Day 2011 (353% increase!), and I doubt that number has changed much since then. Your current users will have to redownload all of their apps–they will expect your app to be ready for iOS 8 and Android Lollipop. They may also run into issues restoring their accounts. The last thing you want is for your faithful customers to have trouble using your app with the latest software.

Ready for success?

Helpshift Automations are the best way to provide fast service while staying lean (and included on every Helpshift plan). Contact [email protected] to get set up!