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‎Today, 80% of customers say the experience a company provides is just as necessary as its products or services. Conversational customer support can provide more memorable experiences that keep shoppers engaged long-term.

And, conversational customer support doesn’t demand an endless investment of personal time. With the right tools and strategies, you can exceed customer expectations.

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What is conversational customer service?

Conversational customer support is an interactive approach to assisting customers with their queries and concerns. This communication style uses a range of channels, including live chat, messaging apps, chatbots, and even voice support, to engage customers in interactive and often real-time conversations across the customer journey.

The goal is to create a friendly and genuine interaction, which in turn enhances customer satisfaction, builds brand loyalty, and fosters long-term relationships with their customers. Consumers who rate a company's service as "good" are 38% more likely to recommend that company (according to the Qualtrics XM Institute). 

Advantages of conversational customer service vs. traditional

When you walk into a physical store, you expect the staff to be knowledgeable, friendly, and ready to assist you. 

The same principle applies to online shopping. However, traditional customer support often involves shoppers searching across a website for a contact center to make a phone call, where they’re then placed on long holds while waiting to contact a real human. 

Conversational customer support, on the other hand, offers immediate responses, operates 24/7, and uses natural language processing for a more efficient and convenient customer experience. In return, businesses see the following benefits: 

Faster responses, anytime, anywhere

Today's customers expect rapid responses. According to Hubspot research, 2/3 of customers expect a reply in under 10 minutes. Embracing a conversational approach and automating your customer support channels can help you meet these expectations. 

One way to achieve this is with Gorgias Automate, which allows you to offer 24/7 support and can answer up to 60% of your most repetitive tickets with a 0-second response time. 

More personalized experiences, more profits

Personalization is one of the most important pillars of conversational service. But “personalization” has become a bit of a blanket statement over the years, so what does it actually mean? 

Personalized customer support is about assisting customers based on their specific needs, preferences, and history with a business. It goes beyond generic responses and addresses customers on a personal level by using relevant data like purchase history and intent-based engagement.

That’s why it’s crucial to use a support platform that can pull relevant information about customers from the rest of your ecommerce tech stack (CRM, marketing automation, logistics), making it easier to automate tailored responses and give your agents all of the context they need to help customers efficiently.

Excellent customer service = more revenue

Conversational customer service isn’t just good for improving customer satisfaction scores; it’s also excellent for your bottom line. McKinsey research has shown that improving the customer experience has increased sales revenues by 2-7% and profitability by 1-2%.

Customers at Gorgias often see this kind of success. For example, skincare brand Topicals increased sales by 78% using conversational customer support. Specifically, the brand uses Quick Response Flows to automate answers to common questions, such as: 

• How should I use the Faded Serum?
• Where do you ship?
• How do I apply to the Ambassador Program?
• How do I find the right products for my skin type?

All of this takes place within a self-service chat. These chat flows also guide shoppers to additional helpful resources in Topicals' Help Center or product pages. If a customer still has unanswered questions, a customer support agent can take over the conversation and chat with them directly.

Cost efficiency through automation

Businesses often avoid personalized support due to perceived cost and time constraints. However, providing personalized service can actually increase customer loyalty and boost revenue.

Automation, intelligent responses, and customer knowledge bases abstract away the tedious, repetitive questions support teams get daily. This frees up their time, allowing them to focus on driving conversions through pre-sales support and building strong customer relationships. 

Take Stoov, the Dutch company known for its innovative heating cushions. A conversational approach to customer support helped Stoov achieve 10% in cost savings.

Thankfully, automation has come a long way since its earlier days. (We all remember those generic, one-size-fits-all answers that clearly came from a robot.) 

Some helpdesks like Gorgias offer more interactive automation, which provides personalized answers based on customer inputs and key phrases.

Multichannel accessibility

Conversational customer service can be seamlessly deployed across various communication channels, including websites, mobile apps, messaging apps, and social media platforms. 

Taking a cross-channel approach means businesses (and their customers) aren’t limited to a single mode of communication. Instead, they can engage with customers across various channels, catering to diverse preferences and enhancing overall convenience.

Again—offering customer support across various channels doesn’t have to be challenging to manage. 

Gorgias pulls in customer conversations from channels like email, SMS, Messenger, WhatsApp, and more to view and respond to customers in a single dashboard. Omnichannel communication demonstrates a company’s commitment to being present and responsive wherever their customers may be.

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6 conversational customer service channels

As you know, ​​one size doesn't fit all when it comes to customer service. Every shopper has their preference, so a blend of automated assistance and human touchpoints is necessary for exceptional customer support. 

Let’s talk about six key channels to leverage.

1) Live chat

Live chat is like having a helpful assistant available at the click of a button. It involves instant, text-based communication between a customer and a live support agent, accessible through a website or messaging platform. 

This approach provides immediate assistance, helps resolve issues promptly, and adds a personalized touch to customer interactions. 

One of our favorite examples is from Princess Polly. In its live chat widget, Princess Polly highlights several FAQs upfront. These are based on the most common questions the support team gets and help customers be more self-serve. Plus, it’s easy for the customer to get in touch with a live agent if they still need support.

2) Phone support

Phone support is the classic, tried-and-true method of customer service. Customers can call the business directly to seek assistance, ask questions, or resolve issues. Interaction happens in real-time with live human agents, creating a direct and personal connection.

Did you know an annual study on buyer behavior shows that 59% of consumers prefer the traditional medium of phone calls to reach customer support representatives?

In other words—yes, shoppers still use phone support, and it can be beneficial for you to offer it.

You can also manage phone support with the rest of your channels under one roof using Gorgias. For example, Try The World, a gourmet subscription service, uses live chat, email, and phone support as its three primary support channels. 

"Another big time-saver is the fact that chats, emails, and phone calls are united under one customer view. This way, when a customer calls, we immediately see previous conversations with them."
- Amanda, Customer Support Manager, Try The World

After switching to Gorgias as its helpdesk to centralize all support queries, the team also integrated the helpdesk with Chargify and Shopify to pull in subscription and order data. All this information is readily available for each support agent — whether they’re providing support via phone or live chat. 

This approach transformed Try The World’s efficiency — as a result, the team increased ticket handling from 80 to 120 per day while reducing response time to just one business day.

3) SMS and WhatsApp

Messaging apps like SMS and WhatsApp have become integral parts of our daily communication. Both of these channels are helpful for brands that want to offer “on-the-go support.” 

While these two channels are great for marketing purposes, they’re also perfect support channels. Think about it: SMS always has the highest open rates and is one of the most convenient ways for shoppers to connect with the brands they love.

As a support channel, you can complement your SMS marketing efforts. A good example of this is from Printfresh. The Printfresh team uses SMS often to share updates with customers. Customers can also use the same number to text the brand back and ask any support-related questions. 

4) Email support and ticketing systems

While not instant like live chat, email and ticketing systems allow customers to submit inquiries or issues, which support agents address in an organized manner. Automated responses and ticket tracking enhance the efficiency of this method. 

You may be wondering, how is email support conversational? First off, conversational support doesn’t always have to be in real-time. 

Sometimes, providing well-thought-out, detailed responses via email or tickets can be equally effective, allowing customers to digest information at their own pace. 

When you’re pairing these responses with personalized information (perhaps you already know the customer’s size, preferred tastes, or skin type), you’ll be able to respond effectively and guide customers through their decision-making.

Love Your Melon uses this approach with customer service email and social media support. Pulling Shopify variables into Gorgias, the team enables Macros to streamline personalized responses. 

Aside from using usual variables in canned responses, such as the requester's name, email, or the support agent’s name, Macros allow users to add information pulled from Shopify. These order-specific variables include the order ID, the tracking URL of the last order, the delivery status, the shipping address, and many others.

With this single strategy, Love Your Melon can answer 25% of tickets automatically, reducing response time from 10 minutes to a few seconds.

5) Social media support

For the most part, social media support is straightforward: it involves engaging with customers through social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. 

You can take this strategy one step further by responding to comments on these channels—all under the same roof that you handle other conversations.

Shinesty uses Gorgias to address their Facebook ad comments. And since they’re using automated responses to answer common questions, the customer support team has more time to get creative with responses to social comments (which has driven more conversions for the brand). 

The best part? Your CS team doesn’t all have to share a single login anymore 😉

“The Facebook ad commenting has been very interesting. People have been converting right there, thanks to a simple social interaction.”
- Cody Szymanski, Customer Experience Manager, Shinesty

6) Self-serve portals

Customer knowledge bases might not involve direct human interaction, but they provide customers with a conversational interface to find information, troubleshoot problems, or access FAQs independently. 

These portals are designed to be user-friendly and intuitive, empowering customers to find solutions on their own. 

Tools like Gorgias’ Quick Responses via Gorgias Automate or article recommendations in live chat enhance the conversational aspect, allowing self-service portals to feed into chat interactions and make the experience even more engaging.

BrüMate's Help Center is a good one to get inspiration from. BrüMate addresses two common customer queries at the top of the page: returns policy and product compatibility, ensuring quick answers without scrolling.

In case customers aren’t on the knowledge base, the same FAQs are featured in the brand’s live chat. These direct customers to answers immediately, but they can still reach out to talk to someone directly if they need to.

“We have a great help center that attracts tens of thousands of monthly visitors who are then redirected back to the main site and in this circular motion where we don't want those customers to drop off." —Colin Waters, Director of Customer Experience at The Feed & former Associate Director of Customer Experience at BrüMate

Implement conversational customer service in 7 steps

Now that you know it’s easier to manage conversational customer support with the right tools, here are seven steps to implement this strategy without extra effort from your team.

1) Centralize customer interactions with a helpdesk 

Surprisingly, more brands than you realize are handling support by logging in and out of multiple channels. Imagine how much time you would save if you could see every email, phone call, comment, and ticket under one roof.

The first step to conversational customer support is setting up a helpdesk. Centralizing customer interactions allows your team to view message histories across all channels in one unified interface. 

With over 65+ integrations across the ecommerce tech stack, Gorgias gives teams a comprehensive view of customer interactions and data, eliminating guesswork and enhancing efficiency.

2) Automate repetitive queries

Save your agents from repetitive typing. Apply automation tools like rules to share templated responses (called Macros in Gorgias) across support channels, speeding up responses and ensuring consistency. 

And even after responding, you can automate more actions in your workflow. This could be to assign a ticket to an agent, add tags, or even cancel/refund an order right away.

Here’s an example of a Macro being used by the Darn Good Yarn team.

3) Prioritize urgent tickets automatically

Not all customer issues are equal. To solve this, implement rules that automatically prioritize urgent or important tickets. By prioritizing different issues, you enhance customer satisfaction and demonstrate your commitment to resolving the most important concerns promptly.

For example, if you’re in the midst of a busy holiday season, you’ll want to prioritize tickets like address change requests over others. 

4) Route tickets based on agent specialization

Do you have a list of VIP customers? Or agents who specialize in certain products or support channels over others? 

Prioritizing tickets based on agent specialization is one way to increase efficiency so your agents can use their expertise to help shoppers quickly. This also enhances problem-resolution efficiency. 

Consider creating dedicated views that consolidate inquiries so specific agents see only what’s relevant to them. 

5) Empower agents with rich customer data

According to Salesforce research, 63% of consumers expect businesses to know their unique needs and expectations. 

By equipping your agents with valuable insights into customer history and preferences, your agents can personalize interactions and foster meaningful conversations. 

Gorgias pulls in customer information like past order history, support tickets, social media comments, or subscription status. Agents can see all of a customer's past history with a brand in one place when they’re talking with them. This allows support teams to get the full picture of every customer they’re chatting with. 

6) Provide proactive pre-sales support and engagement

One way to be conversational in your customer support is to anticipate customer needs and reach out proactively. That means sharing self-service resources like a help center or FAQ page. It also means addressing pre-sales questions that might be blocking them from making a purchase or making the right purchase. 

BrüMate accomplishes this by featuring an interactive product finder quiz in its customer knowledge base: 

7) Make it easy for customers to engage with agents

Remember, offering conversational support is only effective if it's easy for customers to reach out. 

You can do this by prominently featuring support CTAs across your site, from product pages to emails and footer links. Every transactional email can subtly highlight how to reach support, ensuring customers know how and when to engage. 

Make customer support conversational with Gorgias

Conversational customer service bridges the gap between face-to-face interactions and online transactions. But it’s not just about addressing customer concerns; it's about creating meaningful connections and positive experiences, which are essential for customer retention and brand advocacy.

A key part of a conversational support strategy is simplifying the complexity of handling multiple channels. Every customer interaction and data point needs to live under one roof. Otherwise, it’s too difficult for teams to manage.

This is exactly what Gorgias does. We don’t want brands to have to settle for ordinary customer experiences. Your support is your foundation, and it should be easy to manage.

Sign up for free here to see how you can get more conversational with customers.

TL;DR:

• Helpdesk automation uses both AI and automation to handle recurring tasks and reduce manual work done by agents
• Using an automated helpdesk results in better customer satisfaction, decreased ticket volume, and higher revenue
• Ensure your automated helpdesk has features like chat, one-click answers, an order management portal, and article recommendations
• The top helpdesk automation solution is Gorgias, an automated helpdesk made for ecommerce merchants at all levels

Customer service helpdesks are essential for managing customer conversations, but support teams are looking to increase efficiency beyond being organized. Answering customer questions is the easy part for agents — the main challenge lies in making manual tasks like typing up responses faster. This is where helpdesk automation comes in.

The top helpdesks have automation features that solve issues without agents needing to sift through complex documents or advanced settings. Helpdesks shouldn’t only streamline the customer experience, they should also simplify the process of delivering that service.

This guide will explore the benefits of helpdesk automation, pinpoint the must-have features of a helpdesk, and highlight the leading automated helpdesks. By the end, you’ll be ready to put helpdesk automation into action and trim out the extra tasks from your workflow.

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What is an automated helpdesk?

An automated helpdesk is a customer service tool that uses automation and AI to synthesize customer messages from various channels. The goal of automated helpdesks is to handle repetitive tasks, like categorizing and routing support tickets, so agents have fewer manual tasks to do.

The Gorgias Helpdesk is an example of an automated helpdesk made especially for ecommerce merchants. Notable features include:

• Rules. Processes, such as ticket tagging or rerouting, are automatically activated when certain conditions are met.
• Macros. Pre-written response templates that can be reused for recurring customer interactions like WISMO requests.
• Inbox. Omnichannel communication is prioritized with email, SMS, voice, and social media messages in one inbox.
• Quick Responses. Automated one-click Q&A interactions on Chat. 
• Flows. Interactive Chat conversations powered by automation. 

Why more companies are adopting helpdesk automation

Helpdesks are brilliant tools by themselves but truly shine once combined with customer service automation. The time saved from automation leads to a significant drop in resolution times, and a boost in CSAT scores and revenue. Let’s take a closer look.

Resolve customer issues instantly

If you run an online store, you’re familiar with replying to the same messages about your shipping policy, returns, and products day in and day out. The beauty of helpdesk automation is how it handles frequently asked questions with self-service resources, like a knowledge base, that are available 24/7 and allow customers to get instant answers outside of business hours.

Give your agents bandwidth to focus on trickier tickets

When you remove copy-pasting answers from your customer service responsibility list, support agents get time back to engage with high-value shoppers who are either loyal customers or at risk of churning. With more time to focus on complex tickets, response times will be faster, and customers happier.

Drive more revenue by turning questions into sales

Automation is a proven way to drive more revenue, not just a quick fix to smooth out the wrinkles in your support workflow. Working with 30 brands, Gorgias found that brands that automated 30% of their customer support tended to generate around 8.7% of their companies' revenue.

6 key automation features your helpdesk needs

Automation is common in many helpdesk software, but the key is to focus on how the automation features can speed up support tasks. 

Below are six essential automation features a helpdesk should have. 

1) Chat

What is it? A website chat window for customers to get automated or real-time answers. The chat window’s visibility can differ on each webpage.

The manual task it replaces: Exiting the brand website and using a different channel (like email or social media) just to contact a brand’s support.

Why is it important? If the process of getting help is too complicated, customers are forced to switch to competitors with simpler solutions. But when you provide a clear way to receive support, customers get faster responses, are better informed, and more inclined to make a purchase.

The best part about Chat is it gives shoppers the option to either receive a quick, automated answer or chat with an agent if they prefer real-time assistance. 

Success story with Gorgias: RevAir implemented Chat and increased response times by 93% and revenue to $76k per quarter.

2) Quick Responses

What is it? One-click question-and-answer scenarios that occur in Chat. Quick Responses are not powered by a chatbot and use pre-set answers to reply to users.

The manual task it replaces: Responding to frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Why is it important? Quick Responses is your solution to 24/7 support when agents aren’t available. Giving customers a low-stakes method of asking questions lets them experience a more pleasant and low-pressure shopping journey. 

Success story with Gorgias: ALOHAS nearly tripled growth by automating 83% of support with Chat and Quick Responses.

3) Order Management

What is it? An in-chat order portal that lets customers track, cancel, and return their orders without contacting a support rep.

The manual tasks it replaces: Resolving where is my order? tickets, order return and cancellation requests

Why is it important? Customers who ask order-related questions typically have one of two goals: to track the status or change the status of their order. Basically, order management tickets aren’t unique and can be easily handled by automation. When you provide answers to your customers’ top priority (their purchase), you deflect a ticket from entering your inbox while improving customer satisfaction.

Success story with Gorgias: Topicals implemented Chat to reduce returns and ended up deflecting 69% of tickets from manual agent intervention.

📚 Read more: 12 best shipping software tools for ecommerce stores

4) Chat Campaigns

What is it? Promotional messages in Chat that activate when visitors interact with your website.

The manual tasks it replaces: Spending money and time finding new customers, promoting storewide discounts and sales, upselling and cross-selling

Why is it important? Finding new customers is more expensive than retaining the ones you already have. Chat Campaigns acts as a virtual salesperson, making sure sales, promotions, and products are getting the attention they need. Even when agents are offline, Chat Campaigns work overtime to capture every visitor, effectively reducing cart abandonment, website bounce rate, and lost sales.

Success story with Gorgias: Glamnetic’s exit intent Chat Campaigns increased sales by 49%.

5) Autoresponders

What is it? AI processes that declutter your email inbox of spam and easily answered inquiries 

The manual tasks it replaces: Deleting spam emails, answering WISMO tickets, sending tracking links, and processing refund requests

Why is it important? Autoresponders handle routine inquiries such as order status or refund requests. This improves customer service response times and frees you up to focus on more complex issues that require a human touch. You can also gain insights into the effectiveness of your automation strategies with Autoresponders, allowing you to monitor what customers need more or less of.

Success story with Gorgias: Stoov leveraged insights from ticket information and increased CSAT to 4.9 with 10% cost savings.

6) Article Recommendations

What is it? An AI-powered recommendation tool that resolves questions with relevant Help Center articles

The manual task it replaces: Responding to product-specific inquiries

Why is it important? Answering product questions can get long, especially if agents are manually typing the same explanations and instructions over and over again. By offloading this repetitive and laborious task to AI, customers receive consistent and detailed answers, while agents focus on resolving one-of-a-kind tickets.

Article Recommendations combines the knowledge power of AI and your own Help Center to give customers accurate and personalized solutions. This allows curious shoppers to receive complete information about your brand and products since articles can include images, videos, and links.

Success story with Gorgias: TUSHY gained 25% in revenue from leveraging pre-sales education including the use of Article Recommendations.

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The top 6 automated helpdesk options

Within the diverse range of available options, there are five standout helpdesk platforms renowned for their remarkable features: Gorgias, Zendesk, Kustomer, Freshdesk, Help Scout, and Shopify Inbox. Let’s take a closer look at what each helpdesk offers.

1) Gorgias

Price: Starts at $50/month; billed per ticket

Best features: The only ecommerce-focused helpdesk, powerful and easy-to-use automation features

As more businesses rely on ecommerce platforms to offer their products, Gorgias stands out as the best helpdesk for merchants at all levels.  Gorgias offers seamless integration with major ecommerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and Magento and centralizes customer data and conversations within the platform. 

Combining it with the AI-powered Gorgias Automate makes it a top contender for customer support teams seeking to streamline the customer experience and maximize the power of automated workflows. Gorgias Automate checks off all the boxes with foundational features like Quick Responses, Order Management, Chat Campaigns, Autoresponders, and Article Recommendations.

2) Zendesk

Price: Starts at $49/month; billed per user

Best features: Designed for enterprise companies, advanced reporting capabilities

Zendesk is favored by enterprise-level businesses for its excellent multi-channel support and strong reporting features like real-time data views and customizable dashboards.

However, while its specialty is raising customer satisfaction, users report dissatisfaction with Zendesk’s very own customer service due to unresponsiveness and difficulties with subscription changes. Despite these drawbacks, Zendesk's configurability makes it a valuable tool for larger businesses aiming to optimize their customer service operations.

3) Kustomer

Price: Starts at $89/month; billed per agent

Best features: Interface is easy to navigate, ability to add internal notes to tickets

Kustomer shines in organizing data and managing customer interactions. Though it may not fully meet the needs of ecommerce-based businesses, its strengths in streamlining support processes stand out. Users have noted some drawbacks such as a complicated search engine and limited mobile functionality. However, if a straightforward ticketing system is what you need, Kustomer may be the right fit. 

4) Freshdesk

Price: Starts free for up to 10 agents; billed per agent

Best features: Includes a free plan, innovative collaboration features for convenient ticket assignment

If you're a SaaS business, Freshdesk is a great pick, excelling in basic ticket management. Its ability to integrate seamlessly with non-ecommerce applications like Salesforce and Jira makes it valuable for tech companies. Large ecommerce stores, on the other hand, might find Freshdesk's features somewhat limited. 

Freshdesk's solid ticket management system, coupled with its user-friendly interface, makes it a top choice for SaaS businesses.

5) Help Scout

Price: Starts at $20/month; billed per user

Best features: Intuitive user interface, extensive knowledge base and documentation features

Help Scout excels in managing inbound customer emails with its feature-rich toolset. Recent enhancements like help docs and video embedding have improved its functionality. However, workflow automation still needs improvement and can lead to unintended mass email responses. 

The limitation of features like real-time chat on higher-tier plans and subpar support experiences are its weaknesses, but its streamlined email support and knowledge management make Help Scout a strong option for teams that rely on email support.

6) Shopify Inbox

Price: Free for Shopify users

Best features: Native Shopify helpdesk solution for Shopify merchants, user-friendly interface

Shopify Inbox is favored by Shopify store owners for its excellent customer communication and user-friendly interface. Users appreciate its ability to centralize conversations and enhance customer engagement, which is great for brand-new merchants. 

However, some find the initial learning curve challenging, with concerns over limited reporting features and inconsistent message notifications. Nevertheless, its cost-effectiveness and efficient customer engagement tools make Shopify Inbox a great pick for customers who don’t want to leave the Shopify environment.

Gorgias is the ultimate automated helpdesk for ecommerce

Gorgias stands out as the only helpdesk designed explicitly for ecommerce businesses. Boasting an incredible 4.3/5 stars on Shopify, it offers unparalleled integration with major ecommerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce. Its suite of features is powered by advanced AI, streamlining ticket and order management, support workflows, and customer communication. 

For ecommerce businesses looking to elevate their customer support experience, look no further than Gorgias. To see how Gorgias can transform your customer service, book a demo today.

TL;DR:

• A Help Center is an article database for customers to get the answers they need without contacting a support team
• Create relevant Help Center articles by monitoring statistics like customer contact reasons, ticket intents, and CSAT scores
• Leverage SEO by including relevant keywords and internal links in articles
• Gorgias Automate can help promote your Help Center articles via on-site article recommendations

The Help Center is more than a database to make the lives of your agents and customers easier. It's also an ingenious way of creating brand awareness. By enhancing your Help Center's visibility, you carve new pathways for shoppers to discover your brand while solidifying your brand's reliability with loyal followers.

This guide delves into practical methods for increasing your article views and turning your Help Center into a dynamic hub with Gorgias. We’ll look at the basics of a Help Center, how to structure it based on statistics and SEO, and how to share it across multiple channels.

What is a Help Center? 

A Help Center is a knowledge database of articles addressing common questions about your products, services, and brand. It empowers customers to find solutions on their own without needing to contact your customer service team. 

A Help Center can include how-to articles, policies, answers to frequently asked questions, and more. Each article can also be supplemented with images, GIFs, and videos to better guide customers toward solutions. 

Two strategies to make your Help Center stand out

Boosting your Help Center's visibility involves two key elements: understanding customer concerns to create relevant content and using SEO to increase article views.

Focusing on your customers' specific needs and questions allows you to provide articles that directly address their concerns. 

Let’s delve into the two strategies you can use with Gorgias.

Strategy 1: Understand customer concerns to create relevant articles

The first step to creating Help Center articles is understanding your customers’ problems. Identifying their concerns ensures your content aligns with what questions need clarification.

Here are five ways to uncover customer concerns with Gorgias Statistics:

1) Monitor Ticket Tags

Tags are labels for categorizing tickets by topic or customer intent. Regularly reviewing tags helps identify common customer inquiries. Generally, the more a tag is used, the greater the need for clarity on that topic. 

On Gorgias, navigate to Statistics -> Ticket Insights -> Tags to see tag usage frequency. This view gives you an overview of popular tags. You can also adjust the view by filtering by app integration, channel, and date range. 

💡 Pro Tip: The most frequently used tags can help inform what articles you should include in your Help Center. Based on the screenshot below, it would be smart to create articles about FAQs and a Price Match policy. 

2) View Intent Statistics

Intent Statistics provide valuable insights into why customers contact support. By analyzing these statistics, you can understand the primary reasons behind customer queries. 

On Gorgias, go to Statistics -> Ticket Insights -> Intents to review the usage frequency of different customer intents.

This feature provides a clear bar graph view of customer concerns that are frequently mentioned in messages. You can also change the view using filters such as channel and date range.

3) Look into Contact Reasons

Another way to learn about your customers’ concerns is by looking at contact reasons. On Gorgias, Contact Reason is an AI-powered feature that identifies a ticket's contact reason from its message content. Reasons could range from cancellations and refunds to shipment issues and feedback. 

The Contact Reason is conveniently located at the top of each ticket, as shown in the image below.

4) Analyze low satisfaction scores and read negative feedback

While positive CSAT scores are gratifying, it's the negative feedback that truly helps improve your customer support.

To view Satisfaction scores on Gorgias, navigate to Statistics -> Support Performance -> Satisfaction. This section provides details on surveys sent, response rates, average ratings, and response distribution over three months. 

💡 Pro Tip: For deeper insights into CSAT scores, filter for scores of 3 stars or below. Analyzing lower ratings and their accompanying comments will help you pinpoint the exact topics your Help Center articles should address.

5) Create related articles from top-performing articles

Checking the performance of your articles can be the key to adding relevant articles to your Help Center while avoiding unnecessary topics.

On Gorgias, you can find individual article performance by going to Statistics -> Help Center -> Performance by articles. Articles are sorted from most viewed to least.

Here’s how to use article performance data to write relevant articles:

• 📈 Most viewed articles: These articles indicate the topics customers are most concerned about. Consider creating related articles that branch out from these top articles in order to increase information about a certain topic.
• 📉 Least viewed articles: These articles may be irrelevant to your general customer base, which means you can hold off on writing similar articles. On the other hand, these articles may also not be highly visible on your Help Center. Ensure customers can easily find them.

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Strategy 2: Utilize SEO to increase article views

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) isn't solely for your primary webpages. It's equally crucial for Help Center articles. Using SEO tactics in Help Center articles boosts their online visibility, but most importantly, they allow you to turn visitors into customers.

Here are some effective SEO strategies to apply:

1) Incorporate relevant keywords into articles

Using relevant and related keywords in an article can boost search visibility. Customers won’t always use the same search query, so anticipating their word usage will help capture all types of customers looking for your content.

On Gorgias, you can find out what keywords customers are searching for under Statistics -> Help Center -> Help Center searches. 

Here’s how to leverage search result data:

• Search terms with results: Use the most popular search terms as a guide for which keywords to include in existing articles.
• Articles clicked: Sometimes search terms will have zero articles clicked. This may mean users weren’t able to find exactly what they were looking for. Pinpoint the search terms with zero clicks and create articles accordingly.
• No search results: This is a list of keywords customers search for but don't find relevant articles for. Make sure to use these keywords in existing articles or create new articles for them.

💡 Pro Tip: Don’t forget to incorporate relevant keywords into your article titles, subheadings, and excerpts. There are two benefits to this: they make it easier for customers to quickly scan your content and enhance your brand's discoverability in search engines.

2) Update articles based on article performance

Again, data plays a crucial role in making your support and Help Center the ultimate resources. On Gorgias, the "Performance by articles" section allows you to track how well each article performs. Articles are sorted by view count, ratings, and the dates they were last updated.

Here’s how you can leverage the following types of articles:

• 📈 Most viewed articles: Feature your top-performing articles front and center in your Help Center to make them visible to customers looking for answers.
• 👎 Unhelpful articles: Update these articles thumbed down by customers as they may lack detailed and up-to-date information, internal links, and SEO. 
• ⌛️ Old articles: There may be a relation between poorly performing and outdated articles. Refresh your old articles accordingly.

3) Use internal links

Internal links are hyperlinks that point to other articles in your Help Center, creating a network of related content. This tactic helps to proactively address questions customers might not have considered, effectively reducing the load on your support team. 

Spread the word: share your Help Center articles across multiple platforms

To effectively increase the visibility of your Help Center articles, consider leveraging a variety of communication channels:

• Customer communications. Embed article links in customer interactions, such as order confirmations or support responses, to provide extra assistance.
• Email newsletters. Feature links to key articles in your marketing emails and newsletters to notify existing customers about your additional resources.
• Social media. Share your articles on social media to reach a broader audience and showcase your brand's expertise. You can also share them on forums and online groups to engage with potential customers.

Enhance Help Center performance with Gorgias Automate

Remember, a well-optimized Help Center is a powerful tool in building brand awareness and customer loyalty.

Do more with an AI-powered Help Center with the power of Gorgias Automate. Discover how our advanced tools can streamline your support processes and improve customer satisfaction. Book a demo today.

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TL;DR:

• First contact resolution rate is the percentage of support tickets resolved in one interaction
• How to calculate FCR: # of tickets resolved on first contact / total # of tickets * 100
• FCR doesn’t distinguish between successful and unsuccessful resolutions, nor does it tell you the reasons for a low or high rate
• You can increase FCR by automating responses, offering self-service resources, and automatic ticket triage

You know what customers love? When their problems are solved on the first try. 

Being able to resolve issues right away is a clear sign that your support team is on the right track to provide great customer experiences. 

To maintain that level of excellence and efficiency, you’ll need to understand first contact resolution (FCR) rate. 

In this article, we’ll deep dive into first contact resolution rate. You’ll learn how to calculate and monitor FCR, how to increase your FCR for better customer experiences, and look at what other metrics to monitor alongside FCR.

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What is first contact resolution?

First contact resolution rate is a metric that measures the percentage of customer support tickets that your agents resolve on the first interaction. 

Generally, this measurement is used in call centers, but it’s also considered one of the most essential customer support metrics in ecommerce.

Like a lot of customer support metrics, FCR also goes by a few names, like: 

• First call resolution rate
• First interaction rate
• Single reply resolution rate

Whichever name you prefer, the goal of the measurement is the same: understand how efficient your team is at resolving customer issues.  

The impact of first contact resolution on a support program

Time-consuming interactions erode trust over time and drive customers to shop with the competition.

According to The Effortless Experience, 96% of shoppers with a high-effort experience feel disloyal to brands afterward. 

By aiming to solve customer issues from the very first interaction, you can combat the escalation of poor customer experiences and use positive interactions to improve loyalty and satisfaction, gain repeat customers, and boost revenue to meet your bottom line. 

A guide to calculating first contact resolution

Let’s walk through the formula to figure out your FCR and look at an example. Then, we’ll unpack some challenges behind the FCR metric to make it as useful for your support agents as possible.

FCR formula

The formula to calculate first contact resolution rate is: 

(Number of support tickets resolved on first contact / total number of resolved support tickets) x 100 = FCR rate %

The goal is to have an FCR percentage that’s as close to 100% as possible. A higher FCR indicates how successful you are at solving tickets at the first interaction without follow-up questions from customers.

Example FCR calculation

Here’s what calculating FCR looks like using real numbers: 

(15,000 tickets solved on first contact / 20,000 total resolved tickets) x 100 = 75% FCR 

That means, on average, your team can solve 75% of support tickets on the first try.

The challenges of measuring FCR 

First contact resolution is a fantastic starting point to improve your support team’s resolution time. But, like most customer support metrics, FCR has some limitations. 

FCR doesn’t provide you the reason for a high or low rate

Simply knowing your first contact resolution rate doesn’t give you the whole story. 

A low FCR means you aren’t solving most problems on the first try but it doesn’t explain the root causes.

You’ll need to track other metrics that look into customer interactions more qualitatively, like customer satisfaction (CSAT).

FCR doesn’t distinguish ticket quality

Second, a high FCR isn’t an automatic indicator of a successful support strategy. The challenge lies in accurately categorizing tickets resolved in one interaction. This process can be complicated by instances where automated responses may be quick but unhelpful.

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4 tactics to increase first contact resolution rate

Here are four tactics you can use now to improve FCR performance and your customer experiences.

1. Provide support agents with customer service scripts

Your agents are your front line, and it’s important they’re armed with customer service scripts to resolve common issues efficiently. Scripts are pre-written responses that agents can use to avoid typing the same answers over and over again.

At Gorgias, we call scripts Macros. Gorgias allows you to personalize each Macro with customer information pulled from your integrated ecommerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce.

Deja Jefferson, CX and Consumer Insights Manager at skincare brand Topicals uses Macros “to help maintain brand voice while handling a high volume of customer service tickets.” As a result of this automation tactic, her team influenced 72% more revenue.

💡 Pro Tip: Exceptional customer experience depends on a robust customer service training program. Keep agent knowledge fresh with a knowledge base or Help Center of scripts. This way, agents can continuously upskill or grab information whenever they need it.

2. Automate responses to frequently asked questions

At Gorgias, we’ve found that automation increases both FCR and sales. 

An automation tool like Gorgias Automate can help resolve up to 30% of incoming tickets. With features like Quick Responses and Article Recommendations, customers can get answers to their questions without waiting to speak to an agent.

For example, luxury shoe and garment care retailer Kirby Allison used Gorgias Automate to deflect 30% of incoming tickets and boosted revenue from support by 46%. 

3. Offer self-service options to resolve simple customer inquiries

Chances are, a bulk of your tickets can be answered by customers themselves. In fact, 88% of U.S. customers expect a customer self-service portal according to a 2022 Statista survey.

On Gorgias, we solve this issue by giving merchants the ability to create a Help Center.

A Help Center is an article database that includes information commonly sought by shoppers, like product information, policies (like shipping, returns, or order cancellations), and billing and payment information.

Below, Loop Earplugs makes the customer experience seamless by linking to their FAQs in the top navigation bar of their website.

4. Categorize tickets automatically and route them to the most suitable agent

Resolving your low-priority tickets quickly is a surefire way to improve your FCR. It would be a full-time job if you had to manually prioritize and categorize your tickets. 

With a helpdesk like Gorgias, you can automatically categorize incoming tickets into low-, medium-, and high-priority based on customizable parameters called Rules. Better yet, Gorgias can take care of routing high-priority tickets to your most experienced agents to maintain customer retention. 

For example, snack brand Chomps created a Rule that tagged customer tickets with an “Urgent” tag if their message included phrases like “cancel order,” “wrong,” or “update my address.”  

How FCR works with other important customer success metrics 

To give deeper context to your customers’ shopping experiences, it’s important to use FCR alongside other customer success metrics and KPIs.

Let’s look at how FCR works with key customer support metrics, like Customer Contact Rate, Average Response Time, Average Resolution Time, and Unresolved Ticket Rate.

Customer contact rate

Customer contact rate (CCR) looks at the percentage of customers who ask for help over a given time. It's an important metric that gives you a snapshot of your company's overall health.

Calculating CCR in combination with FCR will help you see how many people need support versus how effective your team is at deflecting lower-priority tickets.

Average response time

Average response time (AVT) or average reply time measures how long your support team takes to respond to a customer message.

90% of shoppers agree that an immediate response is important when they have a support request, so it’s crucial that you have as low an AVT as possible. 

The longer your response time, the longer it’ll take to get to a resolution. That’s why it’s useful to calculate AVT with FCR together. It’ll help show you the time it takes for an agent to respond, getting you even closer to a lightning-fast solution. 

Average resolution time

Average resolution time (ART) is similar to FCR in that it looks at your support team’s ability to resolve customer issues.

The difference with ART is that the metric looks at your team’s average ability to resolve issues, not just the first time.

A benefit of calculating ART is that you can understand how efficiently your team resolves higher-priority issues, like complicated returns, customer retention rates, or problems with loyal shoppers. 

Unresolved ticket rate

Unresolved ticket rate (UTR) lets you track and measure abandoned conversations and tickets that could not be solved. 

It’s critical to calculate UTR because unresolved tickets are a key indicator of unhappy customers — and unhappy customers can negatively impact your bottom line.

Calculating UTR can help you find gaps in your support strategy by locating tickets where a resolution is difficult and working to build a resolution for similar problems in the future.

Measure, track, and improve first contact resolution with Gorgias

If you’re stuck manually calculating first contact resolution, you’ll never have time to improve your strategy. 

That’s where Gorgias comes in. Gorgias Helpdesk automatically tracks and measures data like FCR so that you can focus on optimizing your strategy to provide a more positive customer experience. 

‍Sign up for Gorgias or book a demo to track and improve your first contact resolution rate today!

TL;DR:

• Gorgias is committed to transparency and has made its People Resources public
• Sharing internal resources sets new industry standards for workplace satisfaction and culture
• Gorgias's People Resources include manager handbooks, training sessions, salary processes, and more
• Founders, HR leaders, prospective employees, and job seekers can benefit from Gorgias's People Resources

At Gorgias, we're avid believers in transparency. You'll find us documenting processes diligently, asking for feedback frequently, and addressing concerns openly. This may be surprising and even unconventional to most, but after witnessing its long-term benefits on employee satisfaction and engagement, our team is set on continuing the practice.

As a natural next step in our commitment to openness, we decided to make our People Resources available to everyone. These resources include documents and processes that outline how we operate at Gorgias, including how we approach the compensation process, performance reviews, and more. 

We invite you to delve into our resources, whether you’re a founder or a job seeker.

Why we're sharing our People Resources

Our decision to share our People Resources is driven by a vision that sets new standards for transparency in evolving corporate practices.

How Gorgias benefits

By opening up our resources to the public, Gorgias positions itself as an innovator and thought leader in the industry. Allowing our processes to be read and critiqued by others outside of the company gives way to perspectives we may not have considered.

We view our People Resources as living documents and as we drive discussions about transparent work culture, the opinions and critiques of others will be a constant source of value for us to continue improving our processes.

How other organizations benefit

For other organizations, accessing Gorgias' People Resources serves as a blueprint for building a positive and engaging workplace. By publicizing our processes, we hope to guide companies to create safer and more honest work environments, which in turn will improve employee satisfaction globally.

What's inside Gorgias’s People Resources

Our People Resources encompass a wide range of materials, including documents, processes, and additional resources. Here's what you'll find:

• Manager handbooks: Comprehensive guides about what a manager is at Gorgias and how they can lead teams with confidence and empathy.
• Training sessions: Detailed modules for leaders that combine theory and practice with roleplay.
• Career growth tracks: Clear pathways for personal and professional development within the company.
• Salary and compensation process: A transparent outline of how we recognize and reward our team members.
• Team well-being: Resources dedicated to maintaining a healthy and supportive work environment.

Read more: Why we don't increase salaries each year based on performance

Who can benefit from our People Resources?

Our People Resources are designed with a wide audience in mind, ensuring that anyone interested in building a positive team environment can find value. Here's who can benefit:

• Founders: Learn strategies for building a strong foundation for your team.
• HR leaders: Gain insights into effective team management, development processes, and how to cultivate a thriving workplace culture.
• Prospective employees: Meet the team and get a sneak peek into what working with Gorgias is like.
• Job seekers: Whether you're considering a role with us or elsewhere, our resources can help you understand what to look for in a company's culture and philosophies.

Where to access our People Resources

You can find our public People Resources on Notion.

If you're inspired by what you see and want to join our growing team, we invite you to check out our current job openings.

We look forward to welcoming you to Gorgias, where we will continue building a transparent and innovative workplace.