July 2020 Summaries

The notion of storytelling has become a popular part of marketing, with companies seeking storytellers and CEOs using their stories to lead. However, this emphasis on storytelling glosses over the quality of personality that is crucial for building connection between brand and audience. Personality conveys values, morals, and inspires people, making it more memorable than just any story. Differentiating storytelling from personality in content is key, as not every piece of content needs to be a classic narrative shape. Content with a focus on plot can lead to neutral content that fails to engage readers. Instead, building atmosphere and using evocative details can create a stronger relationship with prospective customers. The personality of the brand should permeate every piece of content, making it memorable and resonant. By embracing their brand's voice, companies can ignite something beyond a business/customer relationship through empathy, strong opinions, established tone, and real experiences.

Customers expect a personal experience, with 80% of consumers more likely to do business with a company that offers a personal experience. Technological limitations no longer force businesses to choose between staying personal and being efficient, as messengers provide scalable conversational experiences. Business messengers enable companies to create a conversational customer experience that stays personal and efficient even as they grow. They use self-service, bots, and automation to answer customers' common questions and provide support when the team is busy or out of the office. Conversational relationships go beyond just support, influencing every touchpoint in the customer journey from acquisition to onboarding and support. Companies need a Customer Communications Platform like Intercom's Messenger to deliver personalized messenger-based experiences at every stage of the customer journey.

A simple framework for managers and teams can help ensure they focus on meaningful work and make progress towards their goals, even in a rapidly changing world. This framework involves setting clear goals across individual team members and allocating just five minutes each Monday and Friday to review and give feedback on these goals. By using this transparent and accountable approach, teams can avoid the task trap and focus on high-impact work that drives outcomes for the organization. The power of this framework lies in its simplicity, making it easy for everyone to adopt into their weekly rhythm and creating natural transparency and accountability, ultimately leading to strategic and high-impact work.

We're scaling great customer service without blowing the budget or killing the quality of the customer experience. To achieve this, companies must continuously innovate as they expand and adopt a modern support model that incorporates automation, self-service, and prioritization strategies. Increasing headcount is not necessary, as automation can strategically free up team time, empower customers to find answers quickly with convenient self-service channels, and prioritize the right customers. Continuous iteration is key to maximizing these benefits, and it's essential to maintain core values while adopting modern approaches. By choosing the right tools, companies can effectively automate tasks, drive customer self-service, and segment their team and customer base to scale their customer support without compromising on quality or experience.

Balancing a great customer experience with maximum team efficiency is crucial for support teams, as escalating demand can lead to burnout. To achieve this balance, support leaders should define what a great customer experience looks like for their business and experiment with first response time to see where they can gain efficiencies without sacrificing customer satisfaction. Automation can also be leveraged to empower the team by resolving 33% of customer issues and freeing up human agents to tackle complex queries. Building strong relationships with product teams is essential, as proactive problem-solving can prevent common questions from arising in the first place. By optimizing the Conversational Support Funnel - a combination of proactive, self-serve, and human support - businesses can create efficient, positive experiences at scale.

The article highlights the importance of reading in deepening expertise as a Customer Success Manager. It recommends three books: "The Trusted Advisor", "Customer Success: How Innovative Companies Are Reducing Churn and Growing Recurring Revenue", and "The Effortless Experience: Conquering the New Battleground for Customer Loyalty". These books provide valuable insights into building customer trust, measuring success, and creating an effortless experience for customers. They also emphasize the importance of personal connection, proactive guidance, and customization in customer relationships. By applying these concepts, Customer Success Managers can deepen their expertise, connect more personally and effectively with customers, and drive real business outcomes.

Intercom, a business messaging platform, has recently released over 45 new features and products, including Resolution Bot, Mobile Carousels, and a customizable messenger launcher. The company is committed to delivering value through innovation, reinvention, and improvement of its products. Intercom's CEO believes in building great products that solve important problems and deliver breakthrough value to customers. The company is investing heavily in research and development to ensure its products meet customer needs. Intercom aims to revolutionize customer support with a new Conversational Support Funnel framework and upcoming product capabilities. To help users get the most out of Intercom, the company has launched Intercom Academy and will soon introduce a community for customers to learn, share, and build relationships. With momentum growing globally, Intercom is committed to helping businesses and customers alike through its messaging platform.

The rise of conversational support is transforming the way businesses interact with their customers, providing a more personalized and efficient experience. This shift away from "good enough" customer support is driven by increasing customer expectations and the need for businesses to deliver high-quality resolutions. Conversational support enables companies to engage with customers through messenger-based experiences, reducing friction and increasing satisfaction, while also empowering teams to focus on high-value work, improving job satisfaction, and driving business growth. By embracing conversational support, every business can improve their bottom line and achieve a better customer experience.