Hiring a Zendesk Implementation Partner
The customer experience is becoming an increasingly important aspect of business operations. Keeping your customers happy and satisfied is the key to success — and customer support software plays a critical role in this.
If you’re still relying on disjointed communication channels like phone calls and email to run your customer support operations, then you’re probably experiencing issues like poor response times and backlogged tickets.
By integrating leading customer support software, such as Zendesk, into your business, you can turn issues like these into a thing of the past. In this guide, we’ll tell you everything you need to know before implementing Zendesk into your business.
What Is Zendesk?
Zendesk is a cloud-based customer support software that allows businesses to connect their various support channels (such as phone call, email, social media, website) to a central platform. By logging all your customer interactions in one central location, Zendesk makes it easy to provide a top-notch customer experience.
With Zendesk, you can:
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Keep track of support requests
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Answer questions quickly
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Monitor agent performance
Zendesk uses AI-powered tools like chatbots and intelligent triage to resolve requests quickly and efficiently. If you have been noticing problems such as slow response times or tickets getting lost, you owe it to your company and your customers to give Zendesk a shot.
Optimize Customer Engagements with Zendesk Chat
Enhance your customer service interactions with Zendesk Chat. This powerful tool allows your support team to communicate directly with customers in real-time, providing immediate assistance and boosting customer satisfaction. Whether you’re looking to resolve issues faster or engage customers more proactively, Zendesk Chat offers the features you need to streamline your communication processes effectively.
Dive into our introductory guide to discover how Zendesk Chat can transform your customer service approach, helping you maintain continuous, convenient, and context-aware dialogues with your customers.
What is Zendesk Used For?
Zendesk is a cloud-based customer support platform that centralizes your various customer service channels—phone, email, social media, and your website—into one accessible location.
This consolidation ensures that every customer interaction is logged and managed efficiently, providing a superior customer experience. With Zendesk, businesses can:
Let’s take a look.
But how does Zendesk compare to other platforms and what advantages does it have over competing support tools?
- Track Support Requests: Easily monitor all customer inquiries and ensure nothing gets lost in the shuffle.
- Respond Quickly: Accelerate response times with streamlined communication tools.
- Monitor Performance: Keep a close eye on how support agents are performing and where improvements can be made.
What are the advantages of Zendesk?
It’s not uncommon for businesses to struggle to meet customer expectations. In fact, X percent of customers report that their last interaction did not meet their expectations. One of the main reasons behind this is because businesses often still rely on traditional methods of customer support such as phone calls and email.
But the nature of customer interactions is changing and brands need to integrate their customer service software with new support channels and integrations. Phone calls and email simply do not cut it in today’s world.
You probably already know this, but have struggled to find software that your business can quickly adopt with increasing operational costs. This is where Zendesk comes in. Zendesk is an easy-to-use solution that centralizes your support inquiries and makes customer issues easier to manage.
Here are some of the benefits you can expect from adopting Zendesk:
Centralized Customer Support
Zendesk consolodiates customer inquiries from various channels (email, chat, phone, social media, etc.) into a single platform, making it easier for agents to manage and resolve tickets efficiently.
Multi-Channel Support
With Zendesk, businesses can offer support across multiple communication channels, allowing customers to engage through their preferred methods.
Automation and Self-Service
Zendesk’s automation features and self-service options reduces response times and decreases the workload on support agents.
Customization
Zendesk can be customized to suit the unique needs and branding of each business.
RealTime Reporting and Analytics
Zendesk provides detailed reporting and analytics tools that offer insights into support team performance, customer feedback, and other key metrics.
Integration Capabilities
Zendesk integrates with numerous third-party apps and tools to provide a more comprehensive view of customer interactions.
Knowledge Base Management
Zendesk offers a knowledge base where customers can find solutions independently without needing to contact support for simple issues.
Community Support
Zendesk’s community support feature allows customers to interact with and help one another. This builds a sense of community around a brand and reduces the load on support agents.
Security and Reliability
Zendesk prioritizes data security and reliability, ensuring that customer information is protected, and support operations remain uninterrupted.
Zendesk’s advantages lie in its ability to centralize customer support efforts, improve efficiency, and enhance customer experience. It helps businesses deliver better support and build stronger customer relationships that ultimately drive customer loyalty and satisfaction.
Master Efficient Ticket Routing
Take control of your customer support workflow with our Mastering Zendesk series. This in-depth guide covers everything from the basics of setting up your ticket routing to advanced strategies for ensuring that every customer inquiry is directed to the right agent, right away.
Zendesk’s ticketing system is designed to centralize and streamline customer interactions from multiple channels into one platform, enabling effective management and quick responses. By logging all customer communications in one place, it simplifies tracking and addressing support requests. Automation features prioritize and sort tickets to the right agents, reducing response time and improving customer satisfaction. Additionally, Zendesk’s analytics provide insights into ticket volumes, handling times, and agent performance, helping organizations refine their customer service strategies and achieve better outcomes.
Discover the best practices for ticket routing and how to apply them within your Zendesk environment to enhance both agent productivity and customer satisfaction.
Zendesk Alternatives
While Zendesk is a powerful tool for managing customer support, it’s beneficial to consider various alternatives that might better suit your specific business needs. Here are some other customer support software solutions that can be explored as alternatives to Zendesk:
- Freshdesk: Known for its intuitive user interface and flexible pricing, Freshdesk offers similar multi-channel support and automation features.
- Help Scout: Ideal for smaller teams, Help Scout provides a more focused and simplified customer service experience without overwhelming features.
- Zoho Desk: With its strong emphasis on context and AI-powered assistance, Zoho Desk is a cost-effective option for those needing advanced capabilities.
Each of these platforms has its unique strengths and may provide advantages depending on your organization’s size, industry, and specific requirements. For a more detailed comparison and insights into which solution might be best for your business, consider visiting our comprehensive guide on Zendesk alternatives and how they compare.
How long does it take to set up Zendesk?
The Zendesk set up process can pose several challenges due the complexity of the platform and the need to integrate with other customer support and business systems that you are using.
Zendesk is quick to set up when you have someone with knowledge and experience to guide you through the process. In case you don’t have that kind of expertise in-house, a Zendesk Implementation Partner can help you set up your Zendesk instance in a matter of days instead of months.
But before you get started, it is recommended that you take some time to formalize an implementation strategy to avoid unnecessary complications. Below are some things that you’ll want to consider before diving into the set up process:
Data migration
If you are currently storing your customer data in another system of CRM, you’ll want to make some decisions about data migration prior to beginning the setup.
Here are some questions to consider when preparing for a migration internally:
How much data needs to be moved?
The more data you migrate, the more you spend. Keep in mind that a successful migration does not involve moving everything from your current system to Zendesk.
What data needs to be moved?
You may want to delete or neglect items such as Irrelevant emails, expired events, spam tickets, unassigned tickets, and duplicate data.
How will we move the data?
You have several methods to facilitate your Zendesk data migration process. You should learn their specific pros and cons before settling for a given Zendesk migration method.
What will we do with the data we don’t move?
We recommend archiving that data rather than deleting it altogether. You’ll want to find a cost-effective storage solution that is more affordable than maintaining the previous environment.
Customization and configuration
Zendesk offers a wide range of customization options to align the platform with specific business needs. To avoid facing difficulties in setting up ticketing workflows, automations, triggers, and business rules, it’s important to have someone with an adequate understanding of Zendesk’s features and limitations involved in the set up.
Integrations
Integrating Zendesk with other business systems, such as CRM, e-commerce platforms, or internal databases, is crucial for a seamless customer service experience. However, just like with data migration, you’ll want to consider some possible challenges and develop an execution plan ahead of time.
Here are some things to consider:
Mapping out the business processes – Identify what processes need to happen and how they should happen. It’s important to get the right people involved; customer support leads and even sales leads should be involved and have a say in how CRM data is transferred between systems. For example, how should fields be mapped or synced between systems and does your team need access to this data in real time?
Implementation
The Zendesk API is mostly straightforward, but if you plan on custom coding, you’ll want to consider the risks. Custom coding can be more expensive and may pose complications when the code becomes legacy.
API
Authentication and access control can be difficult, as well as understanding the authentication process. API versioning and compatibility can also be a concern, as you need to migrate to newer versions, handle deprecated features, and ensure compatibility with existing integrations.
Not defining success
Change management and internal communication needs to be a top priority. To avoid internal friction and low adoption rates, It’s important to define success and communicate what the goals are from the very beginning so that team members and stakeholders understand how this will benefit them.
Here are four Zendesk integrations to improve customer service in 2024.
User adoption and training
Transitioning to a new customer support platform like Zendesk requires training and change management efforts. Thankfully, this is a relatively straightforward process.
Conducting quick internal training sessions and investing in ongoing support can ensure a smooth transition and minimize problems related to internal resistance, low adoption rates, and suboptimal utilization of Zendesk’s capabilities.
Getting Help With Zendesk Setup and Implementation
Platforms like Zendesk have the power to transform your customer experience, but only if they are implemented properly. While your team may be well versed in customer support and equipped to handle a myriad of requests, they aren’t always IT experts and the process of implementing Zendesk can be overwhelming.
This is where a Zendesk implementation partner can be helpful. Implementation partners will work within your organization to integrate the platform with the various other systems your organization relies on.
What is a Zendesk Implementation Partner?
The term “Zendesk Partner” is fairly self explanatory but there are some nuances to be aware of. A Zendesk Partner is a company or individual that is affiliated with Zendesk and has license to work with the platform.
There are different types of Zendesk partners, but Implementation Partners are the ones who will help you set up and implement Zendesk within your organization. While other partner types may focus on selling licenses or building apps, Implementation Partners are more like consultants who will assist with training, migrating, and extracting the most value from your investment.
There are three tiers of Zendesk partners. It isn’t important getting into the details of what each partner tier means, just know that Zendesk Premier Partners tend to have the most in-depth knowledge of the platform and are able to help with everything from quick implementation and basic setup to more complex implementations for enterprise customers.
What does a Zendesk Implementation Partner do?
Zendesk partners are independently owned businesses. This means that each partner will ultimately decide what services they offer and to what extent.
That being said, most Zendesk Implementation Partners will specialize in the implementation and customization of the Zendesk platform to fit your business needs.
Some of the core services most implementation partners will offer include the following:
Using APIs to integrate Zendesk into internal systems
Building out automations
Deploying knowledge bases
Streamlining omnichannel communications
Building a powerful customer experience overall
How To Find a Zendesk Implementation Partner
There are hundreds of Zendesk Implementation Partners out there. They are located on just about every continent, come in all different sizes, and offer different services. So if you need a consultant in a specific locale or one that has a unique skill set, you can narrow down your criteria however you want.
Here are some of the most reliable ways you can search for a Zendesk Implementation Partner that has the exact skills and qualifications to meet your needs:
Zendesk Partner Directory
The Zendesk Marketplace is a logical first stop. Here, you’ll find 300+ Zendesk Partners — more than 200 of which are Implementation Partners.
You can filter your search by various criteria, including:
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Services offered
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Region served
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Partner type
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Rating
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Keyword
Freelancer Marketplaces
Whether you have a quick one-off project or just prefer to work with a smaller operation, there are a number of independent or freelance Zendesk Specialists available for work. You can find them on various freelance marketplaces, such as:
Internet Search
Last but not least, a good old fashioned Google or Bing search will turn up a number of results for Zendesk Implementation Partner. The benefit of using internet searches is that it will take you directly to the company website where you can check out the services offered, download case studies, read blog posts, and more.
The only downside is that it is hard to filter these searches so you may have to sift through pages and pages of results to find the right partner.
Harness the Power of Zendesk AI
Embrace the future of customer support with Zendesk AI. Our tools leverage advanced artificial intelligence to automate responses, streamline ticket management, and enhance the overall efficiency of your support team. Learn how to integrate and optimize Zendesk AI in your operations to ensure that no customer query goes unanswered and every interaction counts.
For a deeper dive, join our latest webinar where we discuss strategies and insights for unlocking the full potential of Zendesk’s AI capabilities. Discover how AI can transform your customer service from reactive to proactive and predictive.
About Aktie Now
For more than seven years, Aktie Now has helped businesses implement scalable, efficient customer service solutions. As a Zendesk Premier Partner, we are experts in Zendesk implementation, optimization, and CX consulting.
Why Aktie Now?
Unlike other partners, Zendesk is all we do. Our deep knowledge of the platform allows us to solve even the most complex challenges with seamless, omnichannel solutions. Whether you’re looking for a speedy implementation or you’re facing a tricky migration, our flexible plans and processes can adapt to your needs.
Empower Your Customer Support Team with Expert Insights
Unlock the full potential of your customer support with our exclusive selection of eBooks and guides. Whether you’re looking to refine your customer service skills, master Zendesk automation, or effectively implement Zendesk in your organization, our resources provide you with the expert knowledge needed to excel. Take the first step towards transforming your customer service experience—download our comprehensive guides today!
Get in touch with our experts to find out how we can take your service to the next level.