📝 The Ultimate Guide to Zendesk: Do's and Don'ts for Customer Experience
Are you looking for ways to improve your customer experience? Look no further than Zendesk. As a customer experience enthusiast and consultant with nine years of experience, I've seen firsthand the benefits of using Zendesk to streamline customer support and improve satisfaction. In this guide, I'll share with you the top do's and don'ts for using Zendesk effectively.
📋 Table of Contents
1. Create a Request Type Field
2. Launch Your Web Widget on Your Website
3. Create Help Center Articles
4. Turn Off Tags for Agents
5. Give Customers a Case Number
6. Create a Notification for Non-Business Hours
7. Create a Reminder Automation for Your Customers
8. Create a Reminder Automation for Your Agents
9. Use Simple Service Level Agreements
10. Enable the On Hold Status
11. Customize Your Email and Template
12. Use the Agent Workspace
13. Upgrade to the Zendesk Suite
14. Collect Feedback
15. VIPs with Organizations
16. Don't Use Features That You Don't Understand
17. Don't Over Complicate the Setup
18. Don't Add More Than a Few Agents in Your System
19. Don't Use the Same Credentials for the Same Account
20. Don't Configure Multiple Brands
21. Don't Over Complicate Views
22. Don't Make Exceptions for Customer Satisfaction
23. Don't Over Complicate the System with Too Many Notifications
24. Don't Leave Your Business Rules Disorganized
25. Don't Integrate Tools You Don't Need
📝 The Do's
1. Create a Request Type Field
Whenever you set up your Zendesk, make sure that you collect the right information from your customers in order to help them solve the request. It's not just that, but you want at the end of the month to be able to see how many requests have come into the system with a certain type of request. For example, billing, technical, general question, finance, bug report, etc. Why do you need the type of request field? Well, it's because you'll be able to see what your customers are reaching out to you and you'll be able to create reports and improve your product based on what your customers are asking.
2. Launch Your Web Widget on Your Website
With the web widget, you have an extended functionality of Zendesk. You'll be able to provide your users with the ability to search the knowledge base that you have created. You'll be able to make them submit a request using a form. You'll be able to give them support for chat, and they'll also be able to call you from within the widget. Not only that, but you'll be able to create bots within that widget, so a lot of functionality available for you. Why do you need this? Well, it's because you can save a lot of time and energy because your users will be able to use the widget and deflect tickets that potentially can come into the system otherwise. You just get rid of them because they use the widget.
3. Create Help Center Articles
It's important to have a knowledge base in place if you want to game the system. Repetitive requests can be answered with articles that you write in your knowledge base that your users can Google those and find them, read them, and then solve the request by themselves. So, you encourage self-service, you save company money, and your users will be happier.
4. Turn Off Tags for Agents
Why do you want to turn off tags for agents? Well, because you can eliminate a lot of human error if there is no convention of using tags in the system. For example, billing inquiry, billing underscore inquiry, and somebody writes it billing and then another word inquiry, then you have two different tags trying to say the same thing. So, you eliminate this friction from your agent side, and you'll be able to have much more control over the types of tags that you use in the system. I can't say this enough, but less is more. So, the less tags you have and the better organized they are, the more you will have to gain.
5. Give Customers a Case Number
If you give your customers a case number, then they will be able to reach out to you again and say, "Hey, I have some more information that I'd like to add to this case number," instead of them creating a new ticket each time with a different thought about the same issue. This will increase efficiency for your agents because they'll be able to keep everything organized into one ticket thread. Your customers will also be more organized because you'll be able to respond to them within the same ticket thread and be able to follow the request much easier. And if you save agent time, then you save company money.
6. Create a Notification for Non-Business Hours
You want to set the right expectations for your customers. You want them to know when you can be reached out to, when you can be able to get back to them, and when you can solve the request. It's not going to upset them if you are straight with them and tell them exactly when you are available. They'll be much happier to know you'll get back to them either tomorrow or after the holiday or whenever it is that you're available. Setting the right expectations is the key to creating a meaningful relationship with your customers.
7. Create a Reminder Automation for Your Customers
Sometimes your customers open a request with you and then they forget about it. It's normal. What you can do is you can follow up and say, "Hey, do you still need help with this?" And if not, then we'll solve it for you. This helps you to get rid of backlog in the system while also maintaining a good customer experience for your customer because you chase them, and then if they still need help, then they will reply, and the conversation can go on.
8. Create a Reminder Automation in Zendesk for Your Agents
Why do you need this? Well, it's because sometimes tickets slip through the cracks, and in order for your customers to not get upset by it and forgotten about and feel ignored, then you can create an automation and remind your agents that, "Hey, this ticket hasn't been touched yet. Hey, this ticket needs your attention." This way, you'll be able to avoid having really upset customers that sometimes go on social media and complain about your services. You don't want that.
9. Use Simple Service Level Agreements
Like first reply time and resolution time. I've seen this time and time again. Companies try to use all the service level agreements available in Zendesk, and they end up being overwhelmed by them. What you can do is you can start slow, even start off with just the first reply time. Set it up well, create some very realistic times to get back to your customer, and make sure that you respect those. Once you do the first reply time well, you can add the resolution time. Once you do that, well, you can think about maybe adding additional ones. But until then, I advise you to start with these two. Also, keep in mind that these are the two most important ones that are directly related to customer satisfaction. If you do these well, then customers are going to be happy.
10. Enable the On Hold Status
The on hold status in Zendesk is used whenever you need to escalate your issue to someone else. Is it maybe your partner, a distributor, or a delivery company, or somebody in your Dev team that doesn't have access to Zendesk, or maybe management that needs to handle compliance? Whatever that reason is, you need the on hold status for a few reasons. Number one, because you can tell your customers it's going to take a while, so you take responsibility for how long the request is going to take to be solved. And number two is because you can increase productivity in the system because you know that these tickets have their own type of handling.
11. Customize Your Email and Template
It is good customer experience best practice to personalize your email channels so that it reflects your company's branding. When you start out with Zendesk, your domain contains Zendesk in it, and your users might be confused by that. So, you need to get rid of that by customizing your email and then the template of your email. Usually, the out of the box is very stale and does not reflect your company's branding. If you want to have good customer experience and make your customers feel like they're part of your branding, you need to customize the email template to reflect your company's branding. And you can do that with some HTML and CSS. It's not very complicated, and you can go ahead and give this task to your developers. If you want to keep things simple when you start out, you can just add your logo within the template, so your customers will see the brand that they are doing business with.
12. Use the Agent Workspace
Forget about the classic workspace. Start using the agent workspace. This is a new technology and is being worked on day by day while the classic one is being deprecated and will not be available anymore. It might create a bit of discomfort when you first transition to it, but you only have productivity to gain from it. With the agent workspace, you keep everything centralized into the Zendesk support interface.
13. Upgrade to the Zendesk Suite
You're missing out on a bunch of new functionality that Zendesk has enabled within the last two years within the Zendesk suite. So, if you're still using the foundational support or foundational growth or foundational anything, you might want to consider upgrading to Zendesk suite. You have increased functionality, increased productivity, and you have a bunch of tech that is being worked on day by day by Zendesk in order to improve this even more.
14. Collect Feedback
Please consider collecting feedback for any type of request that come into the system. Don't create any exceptions or any types of requests that come into the system. Try to collect feedback for all of them. The reason why you want to collect feedback for all types of requests into your system is because some of them are prized for help and indications on how you can better your product from your customers. So, your customers directly tell you what their problem is, and you can fix that. Obviously, there's a bunch of accountability here and a bunch of responsibility. If you want to do things right and you want to listen to everyone's feedback, you have to be able to be flexible and be willing to put in the extra work to make your product that use.
15. VIPs with Organizations
Organizations in Zendesk are a way for you to group your customers. In every business, there is a group of people who are likely to spend more money with the business and thus have a higher importance in the way that they are dealt with. You can create custom business rules based on when these people reach out to you, and you can bump up the priority to Pi so your agents know that this is a more important case to deal with.
🚫 The Don'ts
1. Don't Use Features That You Don't Understand
There is nothing wrong with using new features. However, if you incorporate those into workflows and your agents don't know how to handle them, then you'll end up with a clogged system. Don't get me wrong, I want you to do that because you'll end up needing a consultant to help you unclog the system. So now, in all seriousness, you can, of course, start to play out with new features, and you can test them out. And then once you understand them and maybe have a discussion with your team on how they work and how they can be integrated, then, of course, you can roll them out.
2. Don't Over Complicate the Setup
I've seen this time and time again in my nine years of experience of working as a Zendesk consultant where companies complicate the setup thinking that they're going to fix everything. If you don't use it, don't install it. If you've installed it and you're not using it, delete it. Why is this important? Well, it's because you set up the system how you best understand it. And then in a few months, somebody else sets it up how they best understand it. And then in a few months, somebody else sets it up how they best understand it. And that's how you end up piling up a lot of unused data that leads to complicated workflows for you to solve your tickets. And it will just slow you down.
3. Don't Add More Than a Few Agents in Your System
If you give permission to everyone in the system to make the same changes, then everyone will set up Zendesk to however best they understand it. And then you'll end up having a very complicated and clogged system. And it just piles up into a big mess that nobody can use. Try to limit the permissions of people that are able to make changes in Zendesk to only a few people that actually understand the system. This way, you'll be able to have clear processes, and people will be able to only make changes to what they know how to do best.
4. Don't Add Agents That Won't Use the System
When you start out with Zendesk, you might be optimistic, and you'll think that it will fix everything in your company. It won't unless you set it up correctly, and everyone is well trained and knows how to use the system and knows exactly what is expected of them to use in Zendesk. So, start out with only your core of people to use Zendesk, and then you build up from there. This way, you can be more economical and save company money.
5. Don't Use the Same Credentials for the Same Account
I've seen this a few times where people try to piggyback on the same accounts, and they share credentials with one another, thinking that they can use the system from two different locations with the same email and same password. Well, Zendesk obviously has a detection for that, and once they pick up on that, they will, of course, ban you.
6. Don't Configure Multiple Brands
Unless you need to. Brands and Zendesk are entities that have different email addresses, have different content, have different frequently asked questions, and different branding. If you are a business that operates three stores and you have one mother company, then yes, brands are for you. If you want to make a differentiation between internal processes and external processes with brands, don't do that.
7. Don't Over Complicate Views
Don't try to create one view per process in your system. You only have a limited number of well views that you can see in the system, plus two more if you're an admin. So, try to keep it at a minimal. Less is more. Try to keep unsolved tickets, tickets that are assigned to me, and tickets unsolved. That's all you need.
8. Don't Make Exceptions for Customer Satisfaction
You might be feeling afraid sometimes to send the customer satisfaction request to somebody who you might think is dissatisfied. Well, if you avoid receiving bad feedback from exactly who's upset with you, then you might never actually fix what is wrong with your service. So, I think you're missing out on a great opportunity to improve your product. Of course, there is a great deal of accountability and responsibility tied to actually collecting feedback from everyone. So, are you ready? I hope you're ready.
9. Don't Over Complicate the System with Too Many Notifications
It is customer experience best practices to keep as less touches as possible with your customers. Don't always email them and tell them whatever small detail. You've been there, probably. I have been there where if you receive too many emails from someone, you get tired and you get bored, and you just don't pay attention anymore. So, keep it at the middle.
10. Don't Leave Your Business Rules Disorganized
I've seen this time and time again. If you create business rules and you don't necessarily pay attention to how many you create and if they're actually being used or not, then you end up having a big pile that just builds up and builds up. And it's going to make it harder for you to solve requests, and you're going to do it with actually work around, which is not where you want to be because then you'll end up hating Zendesk or thinking it can't do what it's supposed to. It's not the case. You've just been setting it up wrong.
11. Don't Integrate Tools You Don't Need
You might be optimistic when you start out with Zendesk and try to integrate all the apps, all the systems into Zendesk to make sure that it's solving all of your problems. Well, it actually does the opposite. If you're not careful with this, start simple, and then integrate one by one the tools that will increase your productivity and increase the visibility that you have with your customers and what processes that enhance your business.
🎉 Highlights
- Create a request type field to collect the right information from your customers.
- Launch your web widget on your website to save time and energy.
- Create help center articles to encourage self-service and save company money.
- Turn off tags for agents to eliminate human error.
- Give customers a case number to keep everything organized into one ticket thread.
- Create a notification for non-business hours to set the right expectations for your customers.
- Create a reminder automation for your customers and agents to avoid having really upset customers.
- Use simple service level agreements like first reply time and resolution time to increase customer satisfaction.
- Enable the on hold status to increase productivity in the system.
- Customize your email and template to reflect your company's branding.
- Use the agent workspace to keep everything centralized into the Zendesk support interface.
- Upgrade to the Zendesk suite to have increased functionality and productivity.
- Collect feedback for all types of requests into your system to better your product from your customers.
- VIPs with organizations to group your customers and create custom business rules.
- Don't use features that you don't understand to avoid a clogged system.
- Don't over complicate the setup to avoid a big mess that nobody can use.
- Don't add more than a few agents in your system to have clear processes.
- Don't use the same credentials for the same account to avoid being banned.
- Don't configure multiple brands unless you need to.
- Don't over complicate views to keep it at a minimal.
- Don't make exceptions for customer satisfaction to improve your product.
- Don't over complicate the system with too many notifications to keep as less touches as possible with your customers.
- Don't leave your business rules disorganized to avoid work around.
- Don't integrate tools you don't need to increase productivity and enhance your business.
❓ FAQ
Q: What is Zendesk?
A: Zendesk is a customer service software that helps businesses improve their customer experience.
Q: How can Zendesk improve customer experience?
A: Zendesk can improve customer experience by streamlining customer support, providing self-service options, and collecting feedback from customers.
Q: What are some best practices for using Zendesk?
A: Some best practices for using Zendesk include creating a request type field, launching your web widget on your website, creating help center articles, turning off tags for agents, giving customers a case number, creating a notification for non-business hours, creating a reminder automation for your customers and agents, using simple service level agreements, enabling the on hold status, customizing your email and template, using the agent workspace, upgrading to the Zendesk suite, collecting feedback, VIPs with organizations, and not over complicating the system with too many notifications.
Q: How can I avoid a clogged system in Zendesk?
A: You can avoid a clogged system in Zendesk by not using features that you don't understand, not over complicating the setup, not adding more than a few agents in your system, not using the same credentials for the same account, not configuring multiple brands unless you need to, not over complicating views, not making exceptions for customer satisfaction, not over complicating the system with too many notifications, and not leaving your business rules disorganized.
Q: How can I increase productivity
