Guided Conversations - A Self-Service Platform in Zoho Desk

Guided Conversations - A Self-Service Platform in Zoho Desk

Guided Conversations - A Self Service Platform

From having to ask for information to switching to the self-service model, customer service has evolved a great deal over the years.
 
There is a group of customers who look for assistance before or after visiting your website, and there is another group who rely on self-service and are satisfied with it. Customer service is about addressing the needs of both groups of customers. In fact, improving ones self-service strategy can be a game changer. It can determine the quality of the customer support and improve overall customer experience.
 
Self-service systems are not limited to customers, more and more organizations are now empowering their employees to manage administrative tasks, onboard new recruits, acquaint them to new policies and software, and also helping them deal with customer grievances using such models.
 
These systems save time, are cost effective, enhance process efficiency, increase productivity of service agents, reduce customer waiting time, and provide personalized customer support that makes clients and employees feel valued.  
 
With Guided Conversations, Zoho Desk aims to provide an intuitive and conversational self-service platform to meet business and customer needs with greater efficiency. Guided Conversation, as the name suggests, leads the end-users through their journey by asking relevant questions, providing them with answers they are looking for, and steering the conversation in the right direction based on their responses.

Let's look at the scope of Guided Conversations (GC) with the help of a business scenario. 

Business Scenario

Prompt and accurate solutions to customer queries 

An emerging furniture company called Zylker Craft, which also deals with furnishings, has a huge customer base and offices in various locations.  Like any other business, customer retention and loyalty is important for Zylker. Increasing customer demands and the complexity of having a wide array of products brought in various queries from the prospects and customer which needed to be addressed promptly and accurately. However, it was noticed that a huge chunk of the queries could be resolved in a self-service channel. This volume of queries did not require support agents' interactions or involvement. 

With this information in hand, the Head of Customer Service, Eric, decides to build a self-service model that provides a smooth customer experience. Along with a team of customer service and support leaders, Eric implemented Zoho Desk's Guided Conversation. They put together a flow that was built using a low-code and easy-to-use builder. After publishing it on the website, if anyone was interested in self-assistance, this Guided Conversation chatbot was the way to go. What this meant:
  1. Customers could choose their own path instinctively and get the information and answers without the need to connect to a support agent.
  2. Support teams could save time that could be spent well on achieving complex resolutions and critical or high value deals. 

Let's take a look at what they implemented.


Improved customer service with self-service platform

An e-commerce company that deals with gadgets and mobile phones empowers its customers with a self-service platform. When customers visit their website, a chatbot welcomes them and asks for basic information, such as name, email address, phone number, and what do they need help with. Depending on the choice, the bot guides them to the appropriate path by asking right questions, prompting them to answer the necessary questions, and selecting correct options.

For example, if the customer wants to raise complaint for mobile phone, the bot will ask to choose the following:
  1. Device type
  2. Issue: overheating, faulty display, faulty camera or poor battery.
  3. Action needed: Replacement or return and refund 
Based on the customer's responses at each step, the bot will direct them to the right path and help them resolve problems on their own. 
This is how the self-service portal will look like. 

Scope of Guided Conversation in Other Businesses

The above scenarios are few examples amidst the plethora of possibilities. Guided Conversation has the scope to implement and be of assistance in various other business cases.
  1. Booking a holiday destination along with the options to cancel booking or request for refunds.
  2. Registering a service request for a consumer product.
  3. Creating a way for your employees to register their request, grievances, suggestions, and feedback.
  4. Opening a checking account at a bank and other online banking tasks.
  5. Requesting a table reservation, take-away, valet parking, and more such services at a restaurant.
  6. Collecting service feedback.
  7. Capturing visitor information at official events and user conferences.
  8. Providing general assistance to the prospects who visit the website with the required information.
  9. Applying for a job position and scheduling an interview appointment.
  10. Helping students register and choose courses in their institution.
The scope is endless.

Working with the Guided Conversation Flow Builder

Conversations are built using the Flow Builder, which is an intuitive and user-friendly interface. The builder provides an option to add a variety of blocks that display a set of messages, images, and other information based on the customers' input. This interactive guide can be easily published on the company's website to provide a self-service platform to the visitors.
With GC, businesses can achieve better time management, provide personalized customer service, and offer appropriate solutions to customer.
Building a Guided Conversation Flow involves the following steps:
  1. Selecting the department and entering basic details, such as the name and description of the flow.
  2. Adding blocks and variables to the flow.
  3. Publishing the flow on website.
  4. Associating flows with ASAP and GC Widget.
Before we start building the flow, let's take a look at the fundamental components in the Flow Builder.

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