April 2020 Summaries

During the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses have increasingly relied on automation to proactively communicate with their customers at scale. Conversations between businesses and customers spiked by 6% in the first week of March and another 8% over the next two weeks, with a significant increase in conversations mentioning COVID-19. Businesses used bots to initiate 68% of all conversations mentioning COVID-19 or coronavirus since February, with bot-initiated conversations reaching a peak during the week of April 5th. Automation has been crucial for businesses to manage demand and provide support to their customers and communities, with many companies leveraging proactive automation through the use of bots to address questions and concerns related to the pandemic. Proactive communication and automated customer support have helped businesses navigate the crisis more efficiently, allowing them to focus on serious or urgent issues while providing timely responses to rising queries at scale.

The Intercom platform is launching two new programs for app builders and service providers, the App Partner Program and the Service Partner Program. These programs aim to help businesses forge stronger relationships with their customers by partnering with Intercom. The App Partner Program provides sales, marketing, and technical benefits to partners who have invested in building quality apps for Intercom's mutual customers. Partners can unlock new opportunities, such as joint deals, featured app store listings, and co-marketing efforts. The Service Partner Program is designed for service providers like digital agencies, business process outsourcers, systems integrators, and consultancies, providing them with resources to become full-fledged Intercom experts, exclusive access to the partner portal, and commission earnings for new customers introduced to Intercom. Both programs aim to drive more revenue and better customer relationships by enabling partners to work closely with Intercom and its mutual customers.

As marketers, it's essential to understand that change is constant and businesses need to adapt quickly to survive. The current pandemic has dramatically changed customer behavior, and companies like Intercom are navigating these changes by focusing on customer impact, communicating proactively, adding value, stepping up to help others, and reviewing their product and marketing plans. A robust communications strategy should include proactive communication, self-service with bots, and human interactions in one-to-one conversations. Expecting change at every turn and planning to adapt is crucial, and understanding customers' new context is key to integrating insights into product and marketing plans.

Intercom, a product-first company, emphasizes the importance of design in its culture and ethos. The company encourages strong opinions and deeply considers them through testing and refining beliefs. Design thinking is explored through various articles, including "The Dribbblisation of design," which highlights the four layers of product design, and "The full stack design system," which discusses the value of a shared conceptual model and design resources. Effective collaboration and brainstorming are also discussed in "Design workshops that work: How to get better at brainstorming." The company's approach to interaction design is outlined in "Intercom's fundamentals of good interaction design," which provides nine key tenets for best practice. Overall, Intercom's focus on design reflects its commitment to building great products for its customers.

Our mission at Intercom is to make internet business personal, and knowing our customers is key to achieving this goal. Knowing your customers allows businesses to adjust their offerings based on customer needs, fostering loyalty and trust. This knowledge can be achieved through regular communication with customers, gathering feedback, creating accurate customer segmentation, and using the insights gained to shape product roadmaps. Effective customer communication involves asking open-ended questions, collecting actionable insights, and transforming feedback into tangible results. By understanding our customers, businesses can unlock their full potential and thrive in a competitive online environment.

The article provides advice and insights on customer retention, a crucial aspect of business success, especially in challenging economic times. The main illustration is Susan Payne, who has long been an expert on customer retention. The post highlights the importance of retention over conversion, with key takeaways from co-founder Des Traynor, including understanding net dollar retention as a single defining characteristic of a successful business. Strategies for low churn include crafting a retention messaging strategy, re-engaging customers, and using cohort analysis to improve retention patterns. Additionally, the article discusses the limitations of traditional retention messaging campaigns and offers alternative approaches that focus on building genuine relationships with customers. The post aims to provide valuable insights and advice for businesses looking to improve their customer retention strategies in the current economic climate.

A global pandemic is having a significant impact on customer support teams, with many experiencing high levels of stress and burnout. To help their teams navigate difficult conversations and avoid burnout, leaders are providing resources such as regular one-on-ones, emotional support, and training to manage complex conversations. They are also prioritizing mental health above KPIs, recognizing the impact of their team's work on customer loyalty and retention. Automation is being used to take care of repetitive tasks, freeing up support teams to focus on more complex conversations that require a personal touch. Leaders are encouraged to foster fun and connection with their teams, taking time to connect, laugh, and let off steam in order to keep spirits high and relationships strong. Ultimately, leaders need support too, prioritizing their own mental health and seeking help when needed.

We've been working from home for a few weeks, and our data so far indicates that we haven't seen any meaningful change to the pace of software delivery. We've relied on our tried and tested principles and approaches to building and shipping Intercom, which has proven to be the right choice. By not introducing new processes or bureaucracy, we've been able to maintain stability and keep shipping new features while also supporting our teams and customers during this challenging time. Our focus has remained on leveraging the familiar and reliable systems in place to optimize for "function" over "effectiveness".

Customer care in a crisis: How support teams are navigating shifts in volume, wait times, and CSAT` is a report that explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on customer support teams. The report reveals that nearly half of support teams have seen an increase in inbound volume, with B2B teams experiencing a 51% rise in requests. This surge in volume has led to longer wait times, with B2C teams experiencing a 70% increase and B2B teams seeing a 57% rise. The report also shows that customer satisfaction scores have declined, particularly for B2C teams, with CSAT scores dropping by 28%. Support leaders are responding proactively by leveraging help centers, automation, and proactive messaging to manage the increased volume and provide customers with reassurance. Despite these efforts, many support leaders believe their team's performance will be negatively affected due to the decline in morale and increase in work-related distractions. The report highlights the importance of supporting both teams and customers during this challenging time, emphasizing the need for transparency, empathy, and personalized communication.

At Intercom, people are considered the most important aspect of the company, with profits following as a result if people management is done correctly. The importance of people over product and profit was emphasized by former Netscape CEO Jim Barskdale and popularized by Ben Horowitz in his book "The Hard Thing About Hard Things". Key lessons from helping colleagues publish their insights on this blog have focused on people rather than product, including the idea that all behavior - good and bad - can scale. Face-to-face feedback is crucial for delivering effective feedback, and values are essential for building great products, as they provide a framework for decision-making and ensure that everyone is working towards the same goals. The company's R&D org has shared actionable advice on people management, including the importance of psychological safety in creating high-functioning teams.

The article reflects on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people's lives, highlighting the ways in which it has forced individuals to find new ways to connect and maintain community. The Intercom Content team shares resources and personal experiences that have helped them cope with the challenges posed by social distancing and remote work. They emphasize the importance of staying positive, taking care of mental health, and finding creative solutions to problems. The article also touches on the need for data-driven insights and expert advice in navigating these uncertain times.