Final week, I bumped into an issue with my financial institution’s cellular app. So I did what most prospects do — I reached out to assist.
The primary jiffy had been the standard back-and-forth. What working system are you on? What app model? An ordinary troubleshooting script, besides I used to be contacting them by the app, the place that data may (and arguably ought to) have been surfaced to the rep mechanically.
After a number of rounds of questions, the assist rep lastly gave me the actual reply: It was a identified problem, and a repair was already on the best way.
That’s the place the frustration actually landed for me.
It’s not as a result of bugs occur; it was as a result of I’d simply hung out reporting one thing that wasn’t new, leaping by hoops that didn’t change the end result, and taking on assist capability that would’ve gone to a buyer with a solvable problem.
A easy, proactive message to affected customers, or perhaps a small in-app banner saying “We’re conscious and dealing on it,” would have saved everybody time and pointless effort.
That have is strictly what proactive customer support is designed to stop.
Reactive assist waits for patrons to run into issues and ask for assist. Proactive service anticipates these moments, communicates early, and reduces the necessity for patrons to succeed in out within the first place.
On this information, we’ll break down what proactive customer support means, clarify why it issues, and share some sensible methods you can begin exploring at this time to construct a extra proactive assist expertise at your group.
What’s proactive customer support?
Proactive customer support is an strategy to buyer assist the place you anticipate buyer wants or potential issues and take motion earlier than prospects have to succeed in out to your staff for assist.
You see points early, attain out first, and make issues smoother with out ready for a ticket to land within the queue or for a buyer to silently churn.
Let’s have a look at how this compares to extra conventional reactive customer support.
Proactive vs. reactive customer support
Buyer assist groups have historically been constructed round managing a queue or inbox. A buyer reaches out with a problem, and the assist staff helps resolve it. That is reactive assist.
The factor is, assist groups usually obtain tons of of messages about the identical downside on the similar level within the buyer journey, and the staff has to answer every one individually. Sure, that may nonetheless result in an awesome expertise. You may even obtain a 100% CSAT rating through reactive assist if prospects really feel supported and their points are resolved.
However prospects could be even happier if the difficulty hadn’t occurred within the first place. That is the purpose of proactive assist.
For instance, at one firm I labored at, we seen numerous prospects asking how one can obtain their bill shortly earlier than or proper after their first renewal. They doubtless wanted the doc to share with their finance groups, however it turned out the bill obtain possibility wasn’t apparent within the app.
Had been prospects joyful when the assist staff despatched the bill and confirmed them the place to seek out it subsequent time? Completely. Some even described it as above-and-beyond assist, as a result of they acquired the bill instantly and realized the place to go sooner or later.
However was it environment friendly? Probably not.
By including directions on how one can obtain invoices into the onboarding e mail sequence in the course of the first month and transferring the bill obtain function into Billing settings, the place customers naturally seemed for it, we had been capable of practically eradicate that class of incoming tickets.
That’s proactive customer support in follow.
| Reactive customer support | Proactive customer support |
|---|---|
Resolving buyer points after they occur | Stopping points earlier than they occur (or decreasing their affect) |
Ready for patrons to succeed in out with an issue | Reaching out first or intervening early to stop issues |
Clients are joyful if their problem is resolved | Clients get a smoother, extra frictionless expertise |
Requires extra staffing as ticket quantity grows | Optimized for effectivity by decreasing avoidable tickets |
The advantages of proactive customer support
Proactive assist helps you create a smoother buyer expertise whereas making your assist operation extra environment friendly. It’s a win-win strategy. Listed below are the important thing advantages you achieve once you implement a proactive customer support strategy.
Elevated buyer loyalty
Sure, the Service Restoration Paradox means that when a buyer experiences a problem and your staff resolves it nicely, it may improve loyalty. However in real-world eventualities, repeatedly operating into issues with an organization is simply irritating — and most of us can relate to that as prospects.
That’s why stopping points the place doable is usually a greater long-term technique for loyalty.
As a substitute of counting on restoration, proactive customer support reduces friction and builds belief by serving to prospects keep away from issues altogether. Analysis reveals that over 90% of consumers admire firms that take a proactive customer support strategy.
Greater assist effectivity
Because the bill instance from the earlier part reveals, proactive customer support is usually extra environment friendly as a result of it eliminates avoidable tickets and provides your staff extra time for the circumstances the place human assist is really wanted.
By anticipating buyer wants and addressing points earlier than they escalate, you’ll be able to scale back the amount of incoming inquiries and liberate your brokers to give attention to complicated, distinctive, or high-priority issues. Proactive self-service choices like chatbots, in-app messages, and sturdy information bases also can deflect widespread questions, additional decreasing workload and serving to prospects get solutions sooner.
Decrease assist prices
When widespread points and repeated questions are addressed proactively, ticket quantity goes down. Customer support prices are likely to comply with. With fewer repetitive tickets to deal with, groups can scale extra sustainably, with no need to develop headcount on the similar charge because the buyer base.
There’s additionally a folks profit right here: When brokers aren’t caught in an countless queue of repetitive requests, they’re sometimes extra targeted, engaged, and fewer harassed, which might enhance each efficiency and worker retention.
6 methods to offer proactive customer support
Listed below are six methods you’ll be able to implement proactive customer support at your group.
1. Notify prospects about identified points and their statuses
If there’s an outage, inventory problem, or bug, it’s a very good follow to inform prospects immediately. Individuals are way more forgiving once they hear it from you first — and it saves everybody time once you notify them that there is a problem as a substitute of leaving them to second-guess what’s occurring, contact assist, or churn quietly.
There are two methods you’ll be able to notify prospects of points which may affect them: ship them an e mail, or add a message in regards to the problem in your app.
Nevertheless, you don’t wish to e mail all prospects about each minor bug or problem. That may shortly turn into overwhelming and create frustration moderately than be useful. Concentrate on points which are important and more likely to affect the client expertise — outages, product adjustments, and so forth. — and take into account providing an unsubscribe possibility for patrons who aren’t enthusiastic about product-status updates.
If you wish to keep away from inbox fatigue altogether, you might show a message in regards to the problem in your web site or in your app. Instruments like Assist Scout Messages will help you notify prospects shortly — utilizing both a normal message or a banner notification — in order that they know what’s occurring and that you just’re on it.
2. Put money into a strong information base
Alongside the identical traces, be sure necessary customer-facing data is clearly documented in your information base. Analysis reveals that 69% of consumers wish to resolve as many points as doable on their very own earlier than contacting assist, so well-written articles for widespread questions is a proactive solution to deflect repeat tickets and assist prospects discover options sooner.
To get began, have a look at your commonest assist tags and the everyday questions prospects have at every step of the client journey. You may also discover the KCS strategy, the place everybody on the assist staff contributes to the information base content material (with knowledgeable overview earlier than publishing).
Another choice is to provide assist reps a tag like “Add to assist middle” to allow them to flag lacking particulars, edge circumstances, or new learnings whereas they’re working within the assist queue. Your information administration staff can later overview the tagged tickets and replace documentation as wanted.
It’s additionally value optimizing your assist middle for AI so prospects can get fast solutions with out manually sifting by articles. Ideally, your assist middle ought to present AI help immediately so prospects don’t want to modify instruments and also you don’t have to keep up a number of instruments in your tech stack.
3. Guarantee your staff has entry to key buyer knowledge when dealing with tickets
Think about a buyer reaches out about an order delayed by a transport supplier.
Reactive service is explaining what’s occurring with that particular order.
Proactive service is utilizing the client context you have already got to go additional — for instance, by figuring out whether or not their different orders may additionally be affected and providing a refund or low cost.
In a SaaS context, the identical thought applies: Make sure that your assist staff has entry to related buyer context like browser and OS particulars the place doable, plus any upcoming renewals and up to date conversations with account managers. This enables your assist staff to keep away from pointless troubleshooting questions and helps the staff flag churn threat or improve alternatives for account managers to behave on.
You’ll be able to retailer that knowledge in your assist desk and floor it to assist reps whereas they’re dealing with tickets through the use of your software program’s contact and firm properties function.
Benefiting from your assist desk’s integrations with CRM instruments, ecommerce platforms, and advertising apps can streamline how that knowledge will get populated. You may also select to push knowledge from your personal methods through API or Zapier.
4. Add solutions to the following logical query to your saved replies
Every time a buyer reaches out, a proactive behavior is to reply not solely their instant query but in addition the following query they’re more likely to ask.
For instance, if a buyer asks how one can create an account, the following logical step is likely to be how one can get began with the product. So alongside the direct reply, you might embrace a brief demo video or your “Getting began” information to cut back back-and-forth and to assist them transfer ahead sooner.
If a buyer asks about an out-of-stock merchandise, a proactive response would come with when it’s anticipated again and may provide comparable in-stock alternate options within the meantime.
You’ll be able to facilitate this by coaching assist reps to persistently suppose one step forward. One other thought is to bake this into your saved replies for widespread ticket themes, so the appropriate sources and hyperlinks are mechanically included when a rep makes use of the related saved reply.
5. Stop early assist tickets with guided onboarding
When a buyer first indicators up in your product or buys from you for the primary time, they’re more likely to have questions: How does this work? What ought to I do subsequent? How do I get probably the most worth out of the product?
Leaving prospects to determine it out on their very own is a missed alternative to have interaction them and construct loyalty. Whereas assigning an account supervisor to each buyer would assist, it’s not real looking normally (particularly when the client lifetime worth doesn’t justify it).
The answer is to offer scalable onboarding steering. Assume onboarding emails, in-app ideas, and brief how-to movies that proactively reply the “What do I do subsequent?” query. These sources can stroll prospects by key steps, present them how one can use the product, and spotlight what they need to do early on to get one of the best outcomes.
A easy solution to determine what to incorporate is to overview assist tickets from new prospects. Search for patterns within the questions they ask within the first days or perhaps weeks, and ensure these solutions are integrated into your onboarding stream.
For internet merchandise, interactive walkthrough instruments like Userflow can be utilized to indicate new prospects how issues work whereas they’re utilizing your product. For bodily merchandise, a transparent, quick-start information and, the place acceptable, a brief video on how one can use and take care of the product can go a good distance. In the event you’re an ecommerce model, you may embrace a postcard with a QR code to a getting began video in your product packaging.
Embody these in onboarding or post-purchase sequences so prospects get probably the most useful data on the proper second and your staff avoids an pointless assist load.
6. Flip buyer indicators into proactive assist
Proactive assist can go loads deeper than an awesome information base or further onboarding assist to deflect tickets. Drops in utilization, repeated errors, or a spike in failed funds are all indicators you’ll be able to act on early as a substitute of ready for annoyed messages to reach.
For instance, instruments like ChurnZero allow you to monitor product utilization in actual time. You should use that to succeed in out when utilization drops or when a person repeatedly hits the identical problem — a fast “Need assist getting this arrange?” e mail can stop churn. Equally, if somebody begins integrating a third-party software after which stalls, you’ll be able to proactively share ideas or provide a brief troubleshooting name.
On the billing facet, establishing sensible alerts in Stripe (or no matter fee system you utilize) helps you catch failed funds early and make contact with the client to resolve it or organize an alternate. In follow, these alerts are sometimes only once they land in Slack, so the staff can acknowledge possession and hold visibility on what’s being dealt with.
Proactive messaging instruments might be useful by letting you set off communications when sure situations are met (like a failed fee or a brand new app set up). Relying on what suits the second, you may present a related assist article, begin a reside chat if somebody spends a very long time on a web page, show a banner, or ship a brief survey to verify in on the proper time.
One other good time to succeed in out is once you see a optimistic sign, like a big order, an upcoming renewal, or a lately resolved complicated assist case.
A brief check-in survey will help you perceive how the client is doing, how your staff may assist them higher, and whether or not there’s the rest you’ll be able to assist with. These messages present you care, and so they usually floor small points earlier than they turn into larger ones.
The purpose is to indicate prospects you’re paying consideration and also you’re there to assist — not ready for them to share a win to report the issue first.
Nice examples of proactive customer support in motion
So what does proactive customer support appear to be in follow? Let’s stroll by a few real-world examples.
Assist Scout’s proactive assist with AI Solutions
When prospects attain out with a query that’s been requested 50 occasions earlier than, there’s no must route it to a human rep — it slows down decision and isn’t one of the best use of your staff’s time.
Assist Scout is a robust instance of streamlining the person expertise with proactive self-service choices. The staff maintains an intensive information base (operating on Assist Scout Docs) that covers each function from a number of angles. On prime of that, web site guests can entry AI-powered solutions based mostly on the information base articles, giving prospects a self-serve solution to get quick responses to widespread questions.
It’s a fast, low-friction solution to find out about Assist Scout options and plans and to get light-weight product assist. In the event you choose a extra conservative strategy, your prospects also can search your information base content material immediately or ship an e mail to your assist staff utilizing the identical window.
Demio’s in-app onboarding tour
The most effective onboarding experiences I’ve seen is from Demio, a webinar platform. They use an onboarding product tour that guides customers by the dashboard and reveals what “utilizing Demio” truly seems to be like by strolling you thru a demo webinar setup.
It solutions the questions new customers sometimes have immediately: the place to create and schedule occasions, how one can host a session, how one can handle attendees, and extra.
What makes it particularly efficient is the timing.
The tour seems as quickly as you create an account, so that you don’t have time to second-guess what to do subsequent or get caught. As a substitute, it proactively guides you thru the important thing steps and helps you create your first occasion immediately.
Gorgias’ e mail notifications for each outage
When Gorgias was earlier in its journey, they took an strategy to incident communication that I not often see: Each time there was an outage, I’d obtain an e mail — after which one other one when issues had been resolved.
Some groups may take into account that “an excessive amount of” or fear that being this open may damage the corporate’s repute. I’ve even labored with firms that choose to maintain points quieter for precisely that cause.
However in Gorgias’ case, it was genuinely useful. I wasn’t utilizing the product day-to-day myself, however I managed groups who relied on it. So when somebody would Slack me asking what was occurring, I already knew and will replace the staff instantly with out having to search out a standing web page or piece issues collectively from scattered reviews.
As a person, I appreciated that degree of transparency. Outages aren’t uncommon in SaaS. What builds belief is how clearly and proactively an organization communicates when one thing goes flawed — and Gorgias’ strategy in these early days made me respect them extra, not much less.
Proactive customer support greatest practices to bear in mind
As you intend your proactive customer support technique, you’ll doubtless give you further methods to assist prospects forward of time and new eventualities the place you’ll be able to delight them.
Listed below are a number of greatest practices to bear in mind as you construct a proactive customer support program at your group:
Begin together with your highest-volume incoming requests. Have a look at the questions and points driving probably the most reactive assist quantity, and use them as a roadmap for ticket prevention. The place doable, section these insights by buyer lifecycle stage so you’ll be able to goal the appropriate proactive tactic to the appropriate section on the proper time.
Create a strong QA system. Proactive assist solely works when it’s correct and dependable. Meaning high quality assurance, not only for assist conversations, but in addition in your information base, product excursions, and in-app messages. Make sure that articles are updated, messaging is obvious, hyperlinks are usually not damaged, and any variables or personalization fields are pulling the right knowledge each time.
Make sure that your adjustments scale back friction moderately than add it. A proactive program shouldn’t create yet one more place in your staff to verify or one other software to seek the advice of when dealing with a easy ticket. Test in commonly with frontline teammates, and collect suggestions to grasp what’s working, what’s slowing them down, and what might be improved.
Construct a suggestions loop with prospects. To be proactive, you want visibility into what prospects wrestle with, what they worth, and the place they nonetheless have questions. You’ll be able to seize this by fast CSAT or buyer effort surveys after resolving assist requests and likewise by light-weight thumbs-up-thumbs-down suggestions prompts on the backside of your assist middle articles or product replace emails. Response charges could also be low, however the individuals who do reply usually floor insights that lead immediately to higher proactive assist.
Getting began on implementing proactive customer support
With these rules in thoughts, you’re prepared to start out constructing your personal proactive customer support program. A easy solution to start is to select one high-volume ticket theme or a standard churn cause and discover a solution to handle it proactively, earlier than prospects want to succeed in out or they quietly drop off.
That may appear to be providing a check-in name when a buyer’s utilization is declining so as to perceive their use case and to verify their setup is aligned. It is also an in-app message pointing prospects to a much less apparent setting they usually miss (particularly in the event you don’t have the sources to revamp the UX immediately).
On the similar time, don’t attempt to automate every part, and don’t deal with “eliminating incoming tickets” as the top purpose.
Excessive-priority, delicate, or distinctive points are sometimes moments the place human assist issues most. When one thing goes flawed, prospects nonetheless worth actual connection, and an empathetic response can go a good distance in constructing belief and loyalty.
