5 Essential Tools for Increasing the Customer Experience

Do we really need to make a comprehensive introduction about the importance of increasing customer experience and keeping your clients satisfied?  

No, we really don’t. Because if you are reading this, then you already know why you should keep your customers happy. What you are not sure is how to do it.

Well, there are a number of different solutions for increasing customer experience: some companies opt for expensive but effective call centers and live chat systems, while others choose slow but cheaper old-fashioned emails and message systems. There are many options -- but which one is right for you?

Many software tools are available on the market, each one with its own pros and cons. After thorough research and user recommendation analysis, we have taken upon ourselves to make a brief list of the top five tools for increasing customer experience. All of them have free trials or free licenses that will allow you to test them before choosing the right one for your business.

5 Essential Tools for Increasing the Customer Experience

• Freshdesk

Freshdesk is a help desk software suitable for companies that prefer a lean approach.

The IT help desk exists to quickly resolve technical issues and incidents, as well as users' immediate needs. It can stand separately or be part of a larger service desk operation.

With Freshdesk you can automate multiple processes and manage multiple groups, workflows and escalation procedures. This web-based app comes with a self-service portal, a knowledge base, and community forums so customers view the status of their tickets, as well as discuss solutions and ideas. Freshdesk includes multi-language and multi-timezone capabilities and comes in five pay-as-you-go price plans which can go up to $89 per agent monthly, depending on available options and size of your business.

• ServiceDesk Plus

Unlike Freshdesk, ServiceDesk Plus by ManageEngine is -- as its name states -- a service desk software.

In comparison to a help desk, the term “service desk” is considered to be more broad, strategic and cross-organizational. Focused on business rather than solely users' needs, a typical service desk manages incidents, service requests, and handles the communication with the end users.

Therefore, compared to help desk software such as Freshdesk, ServiceDesk is more comprehensive and complexed. ServiceDesk software offers asset tracking, incident and contract management, purchasing, self-service portal and knowledge base. Normal and ITIL editions are available in three flexible plans depending on your company’s size and needs -- standard, professional and enterprise.

• Conversocial

Many people have contacted diverse companies for various reasons via Twitter or Facebook, and had their issues resolved in a matter of minutes -- all it took was a few taps on the phone screen. And since the number of users is increasing daily, keeping constant tabs on social media is paramount when it comes to maintaining positive customer relations.

Customer service has expanded on social networks as well. Therefore, applications such as Conversocial will keep you up to speed. By allowing the app to perform intelligent ticket and issue prioritization, you can manage all of a company’s social media interactions on a single screen. Conversational also offers useful collaboration features such as team-based routing, internal notes, approval systems, collision controls and unified queue. Users have commended its easy-to-use and well-organized interface, as well as the prioritization system of incoming messages across channels. However, the cost can be rather high for some -- it starts at $149 a month per user.

• Active Collab

If your company is handling digital projects, a management tool such as Active Collab can help you stay organized and on track, while simultaneously including clients in the process.

Handling digital projects usually implies managing teams, delegating tasks and keeping a budget and deadlines on track. It will sometimes, however, imply handling clients and their needs as well. Even though different clients have different needs, most of them have two things in common: they will want regular progress reports, and they will want their feedback to be taken into consideration.

For that, you can choose Active Collab: a powerful yet simple project management software for creative agencies that enables you to fully include your clients in the process.

• First, invite them to join a project so they can track work progress, as well as the time and money spent.
• After that, assign them to a certain role and give them more permissions (like the ability to create tasks), or restrict their access and hide sensitive topics, files or discussions when needed.
• Finally, make an invoice and bill them for your effort -- swiftly and easily.

With Active Collab you can track time spent on the project, organize tasks easily, and simplify collaboration within the team as well. Th errice plan for this project management tool starts at $25 and goes all the way to $299 per month, depending solely on the number of team members that will be using it.

• Live Help Now

Asurvey conducted by Mattersight Corporation found that 85% of millennials prefer face-to-face interaction with coworkers. The same study shows that the similar number of them are dissatisfied by customer service and support from certain companies, mostly because there was no possibility of live interaction. One of the respondents stated: “They didn’t offer an option to call and talk to someone. It was Web only, and my problem wasn’t featured among troubleshooting options.”

And while certain companies expect you to leave your question in written form, others have implemented live chat support -- some of them by choosing Live Help Now.

LiveHelpNow has scored 9.75 out of 10 on the Toptenreviews.com website and has proven to be the software of choice for small and growing businesses that want to improve their customer experience. This application consists of four core components: live chat system, trouble ticket system, support system with knowledge base management and callback management system. It will help you to increase customer satisfaction, reduce support costs and drive online sales more easily. LiveHelpNow pricing starts at $21 and depends on components you choose, as well as the number of operators that will be using it.  

Final words

Just in case you need a reminder, increased satisfaction, higher referral rates, reduced churn, and gain of competitive advantage and differentiation are the reasons why you should maintain customer experience and keep their expectations high. So choose a proper tool and choose it wisely, because service is no longer just a separate, final phase of the customer lifecycle. It has become an important aspect of the business which, if done right, will allow you to easily gain new and retain old customers and clients alike.