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MarTech Interview with Mike Myer, Founder and CEO at Quiq

Posted on Lauren Winder

MarTechSeries has featured Quiq’s founder and CEO, Mike Myer, in this insightful Q&A conversation as part of their MarTech’s Interview Series.  In this fun Q&A style chat, Mike discusses his progression as a technology leader to the founding of Quiq where he identified “a huge gap between the way consumers could communicate with companies and how they communicate with family and friends.”

For businesses considering messaging as a part of their mobile marketing technology stack, Mike outlines several use cases across a variety of industries that demonstrate how Quiq is used from pre- to post-sales and support, truly revolutionizing the way in which customers and businesses engage and build relationships.

Read the full interview on MarTechSeries and get inspired as Mike tells his story and his vision for the future of customer engagement.  If you want to know how he’s been so successful, one-word, ‘Persistence!’

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Quiq Named one of 2019’s Best Tech Startups in Bozeman

Posted on Allyson Scott

For the second year in a row, Quiq has been featured as one of the best tech startups in Bozeman. The Tech Tribune started the series with the mission to “recognize and honor the most exemplary young companies all across the country, companies that too often do not get a well-deserved turn in the spotlight.” The full list for Bozmena, MT  can be viewed on The Tech Tribunes site, 2019 Best Tech Startups in Bozeman.

The Tech Tribune considered the following factors when choosing companies, including but not limited to:

  • Revenue potential
  • Leadership team
  • Brand/product traction
  • Competitive landscape

Additionally, all companies must be independent (un-acquired), privately owned, at most 10 years old, and have received at least one round of funding in order to qualify.

About the Tech Tribune

The Tech Tribune delivers the latest technology news, in-depth technology articles, and insights on the hottest technology startups all over the world.

About Quiq

Quiq makes it possible for any company to deliver a world-class customer experience using business text messaging. Quiq’s messaging platform enables companies to use their existing landlines to send and receive messages to their customers via SMS/text messaging, live chat, social platforms, and in their own app.

See A Demo Today

Brinks Home Security Customer Success Video

Posted on Mike Zinne

Brinks has been using messaging for almost 2 years now. In that time, the company has improved agent efficiency by automating routine interactions, realized double-digit increases in customer satisfaction, and experienced more engaged customers.

Watch this short video to peek under the hood at Brinks Home Security. Learn the many ways the company is using Quiq messaging and how this channel is making an impact throughout the organization.

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Brinks Home Security Makes Headlines with Messaging

Posted on Mike Zinne

ZDnet’s recent coverage of Brinks Home Security “Home security firm moves one in 10 customer service calls to Quiq mobile chat channel” highlights the company’s customer-centric motivation that drove the adoption of messaging for home security. The article states that Brinks “wanted to use a communications channel that would be chosen by its million customers to connect with the brand.” And connect they did. The article reports that Brinks has seen at least 1 in 10 of their customers switch from making phones calls to using messaging.

Brinks realized that their customers needed more convenient options to engage with their brand. It wasn’t hard to see messaging as the channel that could provide that and more.

Texting offers immediacy and convenience, highly desirable traits when it comes to engaging with the provider of your security and home automation system. But the requests that Brinks receives over messaging aren’t just the urgent kind. The company also receives messages from customers who need help troubleshooting a major issue or to just replacing batteries in their hardware.

When asked what motivated the company to look to messaging as an engagement channel, the company’s response clearly captured their commitment to delivering a superior customer experience with leadership stating “…We wanted to provide a channel that put the format back in the customer’s control.”

The switch is paying off in a number of ways. The article quotes Chief Customer Office at Brinks, Jay Autrey as saying “By adding the messaging channel, we have seen a double-digit improvement in customer satisfaction, improved agent effectiveness, improvements to the bottom line, and a more engaged customer experience.”

Brinks and ZDnet aren’t the only ones who predict more consumers and companies will prefer to engage with brands via messaging. Other industries such as education and financial services are rapidly adopting messaging to connect with their customers as well.

Read the full article on ZDnet.

How to Choose the Best Live Chat Software for Your Business

Posted on Max Fortis

A software investment of any kind takes due diligence, and purchasing live chat software should be no different. The live chat experience that you provide reflects the quality of your brand as a whole, which makes it critical to only use the best website chat software possible. When potential customers visit your website and want to get in touch with you, business messaging channels, such as live chat, are the fastest and easiest methods available.

Every live chat solution, in its simplest form, should make it possible for your company to connect with your customers while they are on your website. But that doesn’t mean every live chat solution is right for your business. In this post, we’ll take a look at how you can determine which website chat software is best for your business.

Determine Which Features are Important to You

There are some universal features you should expect when investing in any software such as:

  • Implementation guidance that can help you on a successful start and use of a product,
  • A history of reliability to avoid being plagued by downtime, and
  • A commitment to security, such as being SOC II compliant.

These features are just as important when purchasing live chat software. You’ll also want to consider answering questions about why you need a business messaging solution like live chat and what type of experience you want to deliver. Here are a few questions to consider:

  • Where do people get hung up on my website? Do they need the most help searching for products, understanding pricing, booking an appointment, or placing an order?

Some companies choose to have chat available on specific pages, while others offer chat on every page. The live chat solution you choose should be able to provide both options.

  • Do I want to offer a reactive chat experience and let customers reach out whenever they need help or do I want a proactive chat experience that invites customers to chat with us?

No one will know your business better than you do. There is no one-style-fits-all for live chat. Ensure that you have the option to provide proactive or reactive chat to your customers.

  • Do I want to customize the look of my chat?

Your live chat should be a reflection of your site and your brand, so make sure you work with a platform that allows you to customize colors, greetings and other details within the chat experience to fit the look and feel of your company.

Answering these questions are a good and basic foundation for choosing the best live chat software for your business. Let’s take a look at some of the more advanced features of live chat that you’ll want to consider.

Critical Aspects of Successful Business Messaging Software

When customers visit your site and fire up your chat feature, they’re looking for a quick response time and quality service. No one wants to send off a message to a business and wait until you get a chance to get back to them. If that was the case, they would have sent an email.

Some wait time before chatting with a human might be acceptable, but why make it the rule when it could be the exception? A modern chatbot messaging solution allows instantaneous and high-quality responses that can seamlessly greet customers, gather information, and point customers in the right direction or even hand the conversation off to a human.

The ability to start a conversation, determine the intent, and route the conversation to the appropriate person, all before a human agent accepts it, make intelligent chatbots a non-negotiable attribute for any web chat software. Chatbots can offer suggestions based on customer feedback or route your visitors to the appropriate human agent if need be.

But chatbots are only one aspect of a multitude of advanced features to consider. Chat technology has evolved and now offers features that deliver a better experience for the customer and the agent. For example, Quiq’s messaging software can tell your agents which page your visitors are on when they click to chat with you, present their entire chat history with your company, and even monitor how the conversation is going based on sentiment analysis.

Look for Rich Messaging Solutions

Nowadays, communicating online goes far beyond text-based chat alone. Short videos have become a language in and of themselves, and entire conversations can be carried out through emojis. Chat software that includes rich messaging capabilities allows you to raise the bar when it comes to business chat, and offer more fun, immersive, and interactive experiences.

With rich messaging, you can complete transactions, schedule appointments, and even send rich media to engage your customers in a deeper way. Look for a web chat software that supports rich messaging so your business messaging can stand out.

Choose Capable Analytics

Business messaging can give important insights into what’s working and what’s not when it comes to products and promotional strategies. The data you gather from your company chats can be critical to developing new strategies and adjusting business processes.

The ideal web chat software should allow you to report on conversations, queues, or agent performance – human or bot. Look for a platform that lets you export your data or even integrate it into an existing business intelligence platform.

Only Settle for Asynchronous

Customers can’t always afford to stick around until the conclusion of a chat conversation. Asynchronous messaging platforms allow conversations to pick up where they left off, so they don’t have to endure the inconvenience of a chat conversation timing out and then restarting a new conversation. Your live chat solution should deliver a frictionless experience for your customers and allow them to set the pace of the chat. Quiq Messaging provides asynchronous communication across all supported channels, so even if your customer has to step away or gets distracted from the chat conversation, they can pick up right where they left off.

And the Winner Is…

When we take into consideration all of the factors listed above, there emerges one clear winner in the chat game. Quiq offers an all-encompassing messaging solution for businesses looking to drive conversions and provide more capable customer support. We’ve only scratched the surface on what Quiq can offer here — robust analytics, asynchronous conversations that provide a frictionless experience, and solid security all fall within the scope of this powerful platform.

When you’re ready to discover the true potential of business chat for your enterprise, schedule a demo today.

How Smith Thompson Handles Multiple Customers at a Time

Posted on Mike Zinne

In business since 1978, Smith Thompson provides home security, wireless monitoring, and pest control. The company is proud to say that it is entirely US-based, requires no contracts, and they do everything in-house. From sales and installations to monitoring and service, this Plano, Texas-based company takes care of its customers from beginning to end.

Company employees are always looking for ways to make it easier for customers to protect their homes, families, and businesses. Even when they are on vacation.

During a vacation ski trip in Jackson Hole ski resort in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, VP of Sales, Ryan Thompson. noticed that the resort was using a text feature on their mobile app. The resort also uses Quiq to provide immediate help to ski resort guests and answers all types of questions about ski rentals, weather conditions, and even which lifts are open – all through the messaging channel.

Discovering Messaging

When Ryan saw how Jackson Hole Resort used messaging to effortlessly communicate with their guests, he was impressed with the ease and convenience this service offered and knew right away it was something he needed to look into for Smith Thompson.  As VP of Sales, Ryan recognized that no one wants to call a company and sit in a hold queue.

Ryan wanted a more welcoming way to engage with customers who otherwise might be hesitant to reach out because they think they are going to sit in a hold queue only to talk to a salesperson in a high-pressure situation. Smith Thompson doesn’t work that way and views messaging as the channel that would allow consumers to quickly and easily get the information they need to make a no-pressure buying decision.

“Consumers want the ability to take the conversation with them wherever they go.”
– Ryan Thompson, VP of Sales, Smith Thompson

The shift from handling thousands of calls daily

handle more customers with messaging

Before implementing messaging, Smith Thompson handled one to two thousand calls a day. Phone calls may fluctuate based on the season, but there is a pretty steady influx of daily email and phone calls handled by just the company’s service agents. After a quick implementation of Quiq, phone calls rapidly started to move to the messaging channel.

Similar to the phone calls received, half of the conversations are service related with the balance being sales inquiries. The company expects to see messaging conversations increase as more customers look to get their new system installed during the spring and summer before heading out on their own vacations.

In addition to phone and email, there was also the occasional Facebook message. Before Quiq, the direct messages received on Facebook didn’t fit into the normal workflow. Agents had to log into the company’s Facebook platform to handle these inquiries. Now, when agents log into Quiq, they can handle and resolve messages received from multiple channels – SMS/text, web chat, and Facebook – all in one place.

When the busy season rolls around, Smith Thompson will be well prepared to handle a spike in conversation volume. With messaging, agents can handle multiple conversations at a time because of the asynchronous nature of this channel. Quiq’s Adaptive Response Timer, which automatically prioritizes conversations based on how quickly or slowly the customer is responding to the agent, is one of many features that helps customer experience representatives increase productivity and handle multiple conversations at a time.

Driving Sales with Messaging

In providing a convenient new channel for their customers and prospects to easily engage with them, Smith Thompson made their sales process better as well. Prior to messaging, customers who wanted to switch monitoring services would have to have a technician come out to see if the security hardware they already had installed was compatible with Smith Thompson’s monitoring services.

Now, when prospects call in and request to switch to Smith Thompson, they can simply snap a picture of their current hardware and send it to the agent during the messaging conversation.

The company reports that the messaging channel converts about 30%-40% of their conversations to sales.

What’s next

Smartphones have become a central part of consumer lives and the ability to control smart devices around your home, such as doorbell cameras and thermostats, has become an often standard part of home security. Smith Thompson recently introduced home automation to its line of products and services, waiting for the more stable second-generation home automation capabilities. The company has just started to promote the new line of services which include full smartphone control of its available locks, lights, thermostats, and cameras with plans to promote this new service more heavily.

Women standing looking at temperature control pannel

In addition to promoting its home automation products, the company would like to use messaging as a way to further differentiate itself in the marketplace. Smith Thompson promotes the messaging channel across its website, as well as on their mobile “Contact Us” page. Smith Thompson sees this feature as a way to set itself apart from competitors. The company has set itself apart from others in the market by making it easy to work with them and sees the ability to text for pre-sales consultation and post-sales support an extension of their ability to serve families. Smith Thompson plans to broadcast the new feature in upcoming ads.

Business Text Messaging for Credit Unions Covered in CUTimes

Posted on Lauren Winder

The Credit Union Times recently featured Quiq in their article “Ensuring Members Get the (Text) Message” crystallizing the need for text messaging adoption among credit unions. Across a variety of departments and use cases, credit unions are successfully engaging members for lending, collections/delinquencies, and marketing purposes.

Providing members with an easier, more convenient way to comply with requests from their credit unions has led to higher response rates. For example, Community First Credit Union has realized text messaging adoption rates among members as high as 94% while increasing the response rate of applicants by as much as 130%.

How Text Messaging Benefits Credit Unions & Applicants

Adoption of text messaging among credit unions is a testament to the cooperative spirit and shows an institution’s commitment to its member’s interests and overall experience. It’s also not bad for business.

Many credit unions adopt messaging to expedite some of the typical tasks within the loan process that tend to slow an application down, especially when communicating through channels like email, phone, and voicemails, including:

  • Requesting a picture of a pay stub for income verification
  • Signing disclosures and ancillary docs that loan officers can send to members for digital signatures
  • Sending applicants reminders with outstanding tasks
  • Discussing the next steps

While business text messaging for some industries, like retail, have already reached a point where it’s required, business text messaging for credit unions is still gaining momentum. The article presents some of the institutions that have found success with business text messaging like Community First Credit Union in Jacksonville, FL and Meridian Trust Federal Credit Union in Cheyenne, Wy. These credit unions have joined the growing list of financial institutions that use Quiq to provide their members with fast, convenient, two-way business messaging services.

Read the full article on CUTimes to learn more about business text messaging for credit unions. If your credit union is looking for a way to streamline the application process, while improving your member’s digital experience, contact Quiq to request a demo or try it yourself.

See a Demo Today

Texas A&M Graduates from Emails and Auto-Dialers to the Messaging Channel

Posted on Mike Zinne

Texas A&M, a public university located in College Station, Texas, has been providing students with quality education since opening its doors in 1876 as the state’s first public institution for higher education. Today, the school is home to over 68,000 students that benefit from its ability to drive innovation on campus.

But innovation isn’t just happening in classrooms and labs, it’s also evident in the way the school communicates with students. Emails had been the official way Texas A&M shared information with students. Realizing that students weren’t reading their emails, the school looked for alternative ways to reach their students beyond the email, phone calls, and auto-dialer they typically employed. A pilot with Quiq to test text messaging students was launched in June and the school isn’t looking back.

“Students are so glad they didn’t have to wait in a phone queue!”

Rachelle McDonald, Director of Customer Service

Successful adoption of messaging at Texas A&M

When asked about Quiq’s implementation and its integration into the schools existing CRM system, Oracle Service Cloud, Texas A&M’s Customer Service Team “didn’t remember even one problem or issue.” Now the school’s call center, which is staffed by 8 student workers, can handle both inbound and outbound texts from new and existing students.

“The student workers love using text messaging,” states Peggy Carey, Director of Student Business Services. The ability to add emojis makes conversations more personal and staff has found this channel to be much faster than phone calls.

The new channel has also been well received by students who appreciate not having to wait in a phone queue with questions. Students are pleasantly surprised that when they text in, staff can see their profile and past interaction history for more information.

Messaging use cases at Texas A&M

So far, university staff has seen an increase in response rates to some of the most common, but critical communications with students, such as reminding students to choose between locked and variable tuition rates or alerting students when they are at risk of being dropped from classes due to non-payment. Messaging conversations, which are usually resolved in 5 messages back and forth, has proven to be a fast and effective way to engage students, especially during busy times of the year.

Other successful examples of messaging at Texas A&M include:

  • When students are missing a photo for their required ID, the school sends an outbound message with a link where students can submit their photo. With messaging, the school has seen a 14% increase in the number of students who click on the message and comply.
  • Students are encouraged to sign up for direct deposit to receive refunds. This is also communicated through a link sent via text, which opens directly to the appropriate website. Every student that responds to this request saves the university the workload and expense of having to cut a check for disbursements, which costs about $3 per check.
  • When a student leaves the university with an unpaid balance, collections can send a message that complies with the Fair Debt Collection Practice Act instead of calling, seeing a much higher response rate.
  • New students are offered the option of locked or variable tuition when they enroll, allowing them to align their choice to their education plans.

So What’s Next?

The university has seen a lot of students respond to messaging, but they believe there’s more room to grow. Texas A&M admits to taking things slowly with messaging at first, having initially promoted messaging through outbound texts only. Within two months the school added a “Text SBS” button to their website, so students could text directly from there. Now, the university is ready to push the channel further by promoting the “text us” feature on other mediums and expand on the success they’ve seen. For example, Student Business Services plans to promote the option to text on the emailed billing statements. They also plan to present students with the option to send a text message instead of waiting on hold in their IVR.

Along with added promotional efforts, Texas A&M plans to increase communications over the messaging channel, to both broad and targeted audiences. This summer, when online photo submission becomes a requirement for students, the school will push the message via text to all students. Targeted efforts include informing graduating students when their diploma will be held due to non-payment and notifying students to sign up for direct deposit to receive Title IV student aid funds that have been returned.

Texas A&M continues to push innovation past the walls of the classroom to deliver excellence beyond the athletic fields by offering messaging as a way to better engage with students. The school has realized great success in communicating time-sensitive information to new and existing students and doesn’t plan on looking back.

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6 Reasons to Use Business Text Messaging

Posted on Max Fortis

It’s no secret that texting is the preferred channel of communication for most consumers. The ease and convenience of text messaging aren’t lost on any generation. While volume and velocity may differ from the Millennials and Gen Z populations versus Baby Boomers, most would agree that text is best.

Popularity and ubiquitousness aside, there are other reasons that a business should use business text messaging to engage with their customers. In this post, we’ll take a look at 6 of the best reasons companies benefit from a business text messaging service.

Business Text Messaging Benefits

1.Customers expect it

In our post “7 Reasons Why Customers Want to Text You,” we dove into the reasons why customers want to text you, and many of these reasons boil down to one thing: customers want to communicate however they want, whenever they want. More than ever, consumers feel empowered by all of the services at their fingertips, and their patience is dwindling for hold music and restrictive hours of operation.

In other words, customers want to be the ones who call the shots. No one wants to jump through hoops to connect with customer service. Though it may lack the presence of a human voice, text messaging is the perfect channel for users who want instant gratification.

The new world language is instantaneous and emoji-rich, so your business better speak it.

2. It’s easy

Yes, texting is easy for your customers. Most consumers usually have a mobile device within arm’s reach 24/7, and sending and receiving texts doesn’t disrupt their day. “But, what about me? How does it make it easier for me?” a lot of business owners and managers ask. Well, grab a seat and get comfy—this could take awhile.

      • Easy to engage

Since messaging is so popular, engaging with your customers happens with less friction.   Whether you’re receiving inbound texts from customers who want to buy something or to book an appointment, or sending outbound messages to customers to inform them of their order status or to remind them of a promotion, information exchanged to and from your customers happens on their preferred channel, which means you can build stronger relationships to fuel brand loyalty and higher revenue.

      • Easy to implement

Quiq’s implementations typically take days, not weeks. Quiq, for example, can be used as a standalone product, but even integrations into CRM platforms like Salesforce.com, Zendesk, and Oracle Service Cloud, can take place with our pre-built integrations, giving employees the ability to send and receive text messages within a company’s existing CRM system.

      • Easy to train

As easy as it is to implement, it’s just as easy, if not more so, to train employees. Since most employees use messaging on a daily basis, the learning curve looks more like a Nebraska plain versus a Denver mountain. Employees, like the customers they engage with, share texts, emojis, and links on a daily basis, so there’s little disruption to day-to-day operations as they’re learning a system.

      • Easy to manage

Many companies worry about staffing the messaging channel and fret about managing another point of contact with their customers. A business text messaging platform, like Quiq, alleviates these concerns. Quiq brings all of the SMS/text messages, as well as messages received on web chat and social media platforms, into one intuitive screen. Employees don’t have to hop from system to system rather, employees handle multiple simultaneous messaging conversations all within the Quiq desktop.

3. It will actually save you time

Business text messaging can make your operations more efficient. Features like pre-built responses and chatbots make collecting data and sharing information easier. Chatbots, for example, can guide every step of the customer journey, from initial contact to final feedback. They can also route users to the appropriate agent.

Pre-built responses, also known as snippets, help employees quickly send canned messages like greetings or answers to frequently asked questions. Snippets are also a great way to share information that may be lengthy and cumbersome to type, like a return policy or details about a promotion.

4. You can do more with what you have

One of the primary uses of business text messaging is the instant access customers can have to customer service resources. Whether they text you off-hours or during holidays, chatbots can point them toward articles that might help to answer their questions. If the problem is beyond the scope of what can be solved through a chatbot suggestion, a support ticket can be opened up using the details from the message or chat.

With customer satisfaction being the aim of any good business, providing a channel for consumers to get in touch with you whenever they like goes a long way in keeping them satisfied. This also means being available on all of their preferred channels, whether it be through Facebook Messenger, a chat button on your website, or through a simple SMS text. Let your customers know that you’ll be there when they need you.

5.Get your messages read

While sending out marketing emails can be like walking the razor’s edge between the spam and promotions folders, text messages are almost always read. In fact, some estimates put SMS read rate at 98%. Email, on the other hand, might get you a measly 10%.

This is not to suggest you start spamming every number in your database Instead, when a customer buys something or subscribes to your service, ask them if they would like to receive updates via text. You can communicate order updates and other notifications via text and they can easily reply back with any questions or feedback.

6. Get feedback, fast

At the conclusion of a sale or after a customer has been trying out your product for a while, a business text message is a great way to get feedback from them. It’s fast, convenient, and less of a hassle than filling out a survey. Simply asking a customer to rate a recent purchase via text is more likely to get a response than an email would since the read rate is so much higher (as noted above).

Business text messaging at its best

Not all text messaging platforms are created equal. Quiq has built the leading asynchronous messaging software, allowing customers to connect with companies across today’s most popular business text messaging channels such as SMS, live chat, Facebook and within their own app. When customers can connect with your business how they want and when they want, they will be more satisfied.

To unlock the potential of text messaging for your business, request a demo today.

5 Ways Rich Messaging for Customer Service Transforms Customer Expectations

Posted on Max Fortis

Remember when using acronyms like LOL, BRB, and BTW were the only way to express yourself on a text message? For a clever few, with a little time on their hands, the use of textual characters morphed into a new form of art to help convey a message. Who knew everyone would use it to communicate visually ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Fast forward a few short years and you’ll find the insurgence of rich messaging has us sharing the kind of rich media we could only dream about back then.

Rich messaging allows companies and customers to exchange hi-res images, videos, gifs, and even complete sales transactions all within a text messaging conversation. Rich messaging, aside from providing a more modern messaging experience, has the power to change the expectations of your customers. In this post, we’ll look at 5 ways rich messaging is transforming customer expectations for customer service.

Rich Messaging Basics

Although we’ve provided a pretty in-depth primer on rich messaging in a previous post, we wanted to remind you of the basics before we dive too deep into how this new way of messaging is changing the way customers are engaging with companies. Here’s what you need to know.

First, rich messaging is a new standard of text messaging that’s already been adopted by Apple and Google, plus a lot of well-known brands like Overstock.com and Brinks Homes Security. Much like SMS, which is the simple text message limited to 160 characters that most people are used to, rich messaging provides customers and companies a way to exchange concise messages over mobile devices. That’s the messaging part. Unlike SMS, rich messaging allows messages over 160 characters, high-resolution images, videos, and a whole suite of other features that make it a better experience than a simple SMS message.

Rich messaging isn’t just about images though. Rich messaging is really about meeting customers’ expectations of convenience. High-resolution images and videos help to convey a message, but that’s only part of the story. The ability to complete transactions within a message or present customers with suggested responses, enabling them to reply to an agent with a tap of a button, adds elements of speed and ease to interactions that consumers expect.

As customer expectations of service continue to increase, rich messaging will help shape their expectations. Here are 5 ways rich messaging for customer service will change customer expectations.

5 Transformative Ways to use Rich for Customer Service

1. Provide responses better and faster than phone and email

There is no doubt that today’s consumer is busier and on-the-go more than customers were even a decade ago. They expect rapid responses and want to communicate one-to-one with businesses – all on their terms. We can thank the digitization of everything from media to services for shaping consumers’ on-demand expectations.

By leveraging rich messaging, businesses can provide their customers with the same type of on-demand support that on-demand products deliver by removing some of the friction around engaging with a company. For example, if a customer searches for a company on their iPhone that has implemented Apple Business Chat, they can immediately start a messaging conversation simply by tapping a “message” icon in the search results. No need to call the company. The customer can simply message what they have to say.

2. Share media that tells a story

Rich messaging isn’t just a pretty face, or GIF rather. The ability to share videos, recordings, hi-res images and yes, even GIFS has been a gamechanger. The ability to share rich media, up to 10MB per message to be exact, makes it easier for agents and customers to help with purchases or troubleshoot issues.

For instance, customers who want to shop around for a new security system can send a picture of their current hardware to see if it’s compatible with the prospective company’s monitoring or if they’ll need to purchase new hardware. This eliminates the need to schedule an appointment for a technician to come to their home to see their current setup, which means less time and hassle for the customer.

3. Allow customers to complete transactions

Rich messaging is all about making the entire experience with your business as convenient as possible for your customers. There are a plethora of use cases and industries where the value is evident, but none so much as retail.

From browsing for a product to buy to completing transactions, rich messaging can help companies support customers through their entire purchase lifecycle. Helping customers navigate a site or find options within a product assortment can easily happen without the customer switching channels.

With rich messaging, customers never have to leave the messaging channel to complete their transaction. Instead of shoppers clicking around to check out, agents can send transaction cards, where customers purchase through a secure cart.

4. Enable customers to make reservations

It’s not just retailers selling tangible goods that can benefit from rich messaging. Services, consulting, travel and hospitality, or any industry where booking an appointment or making a reservation is important should be interested in using rich messaging.

For example, a hotel can a send reservation card to prospective guests allowing them to make an instant booking. The key word being instant. According to Statista, online travel sales are expected to hit a staggering 755.94 billion U.S. dollars in 2019, with mobile travel sales making up 95 billion U.S. dollars.

Going to travel agencies and booking by phone has become a memory only a dwindling few can recall. Travel and hospitality have set the precedence for making reservations. After all, if you can book a houseboat in Bali for 6 months from now from your phone, shouldn’t you be able to schedule your local lawn service next week with the same amount of ease? Making online reservations, with a focus on mobile reservations, a feature is more crucial than ever for companies that care about increasing revenue.

5. Give customers peace of mind with identity verification

Robo-callers with scam offers and bulk SMS messages from shortcodes that can’t be identified are becoming more commonplace. Consumers are becoming more aware and wary of such behavior and won’t hesitate to block numbers or type “Stop” to avoid receiving further communication.

Rich messaging gives your customers peace of mind that they are talking to the trusted brand they intended to engage with. With rich messaging, companies go through a rigorous verification process. Once verified, the company can use their official brand name, colors, logo and font in their messages.

Rich messaging adds another layer of trust to customer service communications. Regardless if the customer receives an outbound message from your company on their Android device promoting a new product or they send in a text message to troubleshoot an issue with a product on their iPhone, they’ll have the confidence that the information they share is private, secure, and going to the right place.

Rich Messaging Behind the Scenes

In addition to all of the features mentioned above that make rich messaging a better experience for your customer, the ability to understand how your messages perform allows companies to understand and improve engagement behind the scenes. Quiq’s messaging platform gives you key metrics for messages that were sent, delivered, failed, and responded to

Rich messaging doesn’t have to be limited to text messages either. Clients using Quiq are able to provide rich experiences to users across chat and other business messaging channels as well. This means that companies can provide content-rich, personalized experiences across SMS/text business messaging, web chat, social, and even within their own app when using Quiq. Ready to take transform your customer service with rich messaging? Schedule a demo to see Quiq’s messaging platform in action.

Forrester Webinar: Connecting with Customers Through Messaging and Bots

Posted on Lauren Winder

Consumers’ Expectations Around Engagement

Today’s consumers’ expectations around engagement have driven companies to “up-level” their accessibility and responsiveness. In this on-demand webinar, Kate Leggett, Principal Analyst at Forrester Research joins Mike Parish, of Brinks Home Security, to discuss how to connect with customers through messaging and bots.

As the leading expert on customer relationship management (CRM) and customer service strategies, Kate shares deep insights into the consumer behaviors that are shaping how many of the leading brands leverage messaging and bots to better engage with their customers. Mike Parish, Director of Experience and Service design at Brinks Home Security reveals the results and surprises of implementing messaging and bots.

About Quiq

Quiq makes it easy for customers to contact a business via Messaging, the preferred channel already in use with our friends and family.  With Quiq, customers can now engage with companies via SMS/text messaging, Facebook Messenger, Web Chat, In-App,and Kik for help with their pre-sales and post-sales questions. Learn more about Quiq today!

See a Demo Today

Top 5 Business Messaging Use Cases

Posted on Max Fortis

Business messaging is the way connected consumers prefer to engage with you. They are mobile and busy and need to reach you on their terms. If they need to ask about the status of their order, they’re going to want to text you. If they need help navigating your website, they are going to use live chat.

As the number of channels that customers want and expect to engage with your company grows, the possibilities for companies to impact customer experience in a positive (and negative) way increases exponentially. In this post, we provide 5, plus one bonus, must-do business messaging use cases that companies need to leverage today to up their customer experience game.

Business Messaging Works Smarter

First, let’s consider why business messaging has become the preferred way for companies and consumers to engage with one another. Sure, the fact that everyone has a mobile device helps and that they use messaging apps to communicate with friends and family more frequently than any other function on their phone doesn’t hurt either. But, it’s not just the pervasiveness and convenience of messaging.

Business messaging also allows for more efficient and streamlined conversations. There are valuable business messaging features that make it easier to engage with digital-first consumers. These features bring the best of older engagement methods, like the immediacy of phone calls, to messaging conversations, while casting off the parts that just don’t work anymore, like long wait times.

Take, for example, the ability for agents to get help. Call centers use call monitoring to listen in on agents and even join calls in some instances. This functionality allows managers to observe calls and intervene if the agent needs help.

Business Messaging offers the same ability for managers to silently monitor messaging conversations and intervene if necessary. With messaging, these features get the added upgrade in the collaboration department. Instead of the agent having to put the caller on hold to ask for assistance, agents can ask for the help of peers or a manager without the customer even knowing. This is just one example of the many business messaging use cases that make digital customer engagement a better experience.

Business Messaging Use Cases

1. Convert shoppers into buyers

Quiq Messaging helps convert tentative shoppers into customers. Clients like Tailored Brands, owners of Men’s Wearhouse and Jos A. Banks, uses Quiq to help customers to choose the right suit, place an order, answer promotion questions, or set in-store appointments. If a consumer wants to make a purchase but has a question, it needs to be easy to get an answer right away.

Back in the day, many companies implemented web chat for just this reason. However, the majority of website visitors today are on mobile devices and web chat simply isn’t the best option for a mobile phone.

Why not make it as easy and comfortable to contact your company as it is to text with friends? Quiq clients have seen a higher conversion rate from text messaging than any other channel (over 5 ppts higher than web chat and 8-14 ppts higher than email and phone calls).

2. Shift phone calls to text

Quiq Messaging can help significantly reduce your contact center costs by converting phone calls into messaging conversations. In fact, Brinks Home Security reduced phone calls by 10% just by adding messaging. By converting a phone call to a text, the conversation is moved from the most expensive channel to the least expensive channel and the customer will actually be happier. Hey, let’s face it, they didn’t want to make a phone call in the first place, but they needed help right away.

Just add the option to text to your phone system (IVR). If they call in, your customer will hear something like this when they contact you:

“An agent will be with you shortly. If you’d rather text with an agent, press 1….”

When the customer presses 1, they immediately receive a text message to start a conversation directly with an agent, resulting in a cost savings of 80%! Customers will be more satisfied because they prefer to text and you’ll be more efficient. Win-win!!

3. Provide post-sales service

Even though most consumers have their phone in their hand or within reach 24/7, business messaging goes beyond SMS/text messaging. Factors such as your target market demographics and the nature of your business can influence the channel your customers prefer to reach you. Younger consumers may look for you on Twitter, while Gen X buyers expect to see you on Facebook.

With Quiq, you can meet your customers wherever they are to provide service and support however and whenever they need it. Quiq can open one or all of these channels to your customers, based on your business requirements. No matter what channel the message originates from, your employees can manage, access, search, and report on conversations through one, unified, intuitive platform.

4. Increase response rates

Business messaging is the way to get a consumer’s attention and response. If you seek to increase response rates to promotions or notifications, then sending an outbound message is the way to go. Considering most text messages have a 98% open rate and are read within 3 minutes of receipt, it’s easy to assume that your message won’t be lost in a sea of subject lines or mistakenly filtered as spam. Plus, recipients can be easily segmented so that only targeted, relevant, and timely promotions are sent.

Even industries like financial services have realized an increase in response rates. Credit Unions, like Southern Chautauqua Federal Credit Union, have seen an increase in collection recovery because they’ve made it easier for members to respond to loan collection notifications with inbound text replies.

5. Gain efficiency

Business messaging, by nature, increases efficiency because employees can handle multiple conversations at once, unlike a 1-to-1 phone call. Messaging has a higher concurrency, regardless of what channel the customer chooses to reach you over. This is due, in part, to shorter more concise messages that are sent over SMS or live chat for example. Efficiency can also be attributed to the asynchronous nature of messaging conversations that allows employees to address other customer conversations while waiting for responses.

Bots, also known as chatbots, can boost your agent productivity even further. A couple simple use cases for bots would be to greet customers, capture data to route the customer to the right agent or department, and close the conversation with a feedback survey. These are tasks that can usually be done prior to a human agent getting involved with a conversation.

6. BONUS TIP: Decrease inbound calls with notifications

Quiq Messaging makes notifications 2-way, allowing consumers to respond. Everyone is familiar with shipping and other notifications delivered via SMS. However, very few companies have the ability to allow customers to reply and to open up a conversation.

Quiq Messaging can send notifications and handle responses just like any other messaging conversation. Why is this important? Proactively informing customers of eliminates inbound phone calls by 10-15%.

Here are a few examples of reasons why 2-way outbound messages that are having huge impacts across a myriad of industries:

Retail Brand: “Your order has been delivered ”. Text us back if you have any questions. Thanks!!”
Customer: “Hi, I received the wrong color. Is this something you can help me with.”

Higher Education: “As an incoming freshman, you need a student ID card. Please click here to take a photo and have your card created.”
Student: “Thanks. I haven’t received any response on my financial aid application. Who should I contact?”

Credit Union: “Good morning. Your loan payment is past due. Please click here to make a payment.”
Member: “Oh thanks, I was out of town and forgot to mail the payment. Can I pay online?”

Now Is the Best Time for Business Messaging

These 6 business messaging use cases are just the basics. They are the “table stakes” to compete for today’s customers who demand ease and convenience when engaging with companies. There are many additional ways to use messaging that will propel your business ahead of the pack.

As the demand for business messaging grows, you’ll need a messaging solution that can scale with your business and has the flexibility to work with your current and future business needs. Now would be a great time to set up some time to talk with Quiq. Schedule a demo today.

5 Ways Live Chat Drives Revenue

Posted on Max Fortis

Using live chat to drive more revenue is just smart business and plenty of companies have embraced this technology as a way to grow their top line. Live chat is always on and at the ready to greet website visitors, field inquiries from prospective customers, and connect consumers to the help they need. It’s really no surprise that live chat has evolved from “nice-to-have” on a website to a necessary feature. There are so many companies currently leveraging the power of live chat and seeing their numbers grow in terms of both revenue and new customers that we felt obliged to highlight 5 of the top ways live chat drives revenue. Looking for a way to build customer loyalty, increase customer retention and boost your average order size? Read on.

Key Stats on Live Chat for Business:

Before we jump into the meat of things, let’s start with a few statistics to whet your appetite on how live chat for business is driving more revenue. Consider these important stats that showcase how valuable this channel is to your business:

How Live Chat Drives Revenue

1. Live Chat Closes More Sales

Online chat provides the opportunity to speak with a customer when the interest in your product or service is at its peak. With chat, customers can get questions answered and concerns addressed before that interest waivers. According to sales consultancy firm, SalesforLife, chat delivers a 20% boost in sales conversions. This can be attributed to the immediate response to specific needs that move the prospect through the buyer’s journey. Consumers know there’s always some risk with a purchase. “Buyer Beware” hasn’t become a saying for nothing. But the ability to have a real-time chat conversation with a representative prior to purchase gives the buyer confidence in doing business with your company because they know help is accessible

2. Live Chat for Business Increases Customer Retention

Live chat is one of the most immediate forms of communication available to online customers. In today’s always-on-the-go world, people want to get answers fast. Your customers will not wait for hours to get an answer through outdated methods, like filling out a form on your website to submit a question and then…you guessed it, waiting for a reply to hit their inbox. When it’s all said and done, meeting your customer’s expectations of delivering fast, personalized service builds customer loyalty and the economics of customer loyalty definitely work in your favor. According to Harvard Business Review, increasing customer retention by as little as 5% can increase profits by 25% – 95%.

3. Live Chat Delivers a More Personal Experience

With the use of live chat for business, you can talk to your customers or potential customers on a much more personal level. Live chat allows you to ask probing questions, provide suggestions, and even offer complementary goods or services based on direct interaction with that customer. Consider this example: A mom is shopping for a bassinet for her newborn. Without any engagement, the customer may just add the item to their cart and checkout, Or, she may get frustrated with all of the choices and tire of reading reviews and look elsewhere. Now, consider the scenario with engagement from a live chat representative. After so many minutes on the product page, a chat window pops up and asks the customer “Can I help you find anything?”. The customer shares what she’s looking for and the agent helps her narrow down choices. In addition to helping her find a bassinet she loves, the representative suggests sheets and some popular sleepwear to add to the cart. This customer-centric approach leads to higher satisfaction rates not only because they are getting fast responses, but also because they are getting the answers that are specifically targeted to helping them with their questions. According to Econsultancy; 73% of their customers were satisfied when they talked engaged on live chat.

4. Live Chat for Business Builds Momentum

You did the work and drove traffic to your website. You’ve got consumers coming in and you need to follow up fast to keep the momentum going. If your shoppers filled out a form so they can be contacted, there’s always a chance that the customer may have failed to provide the right information or made a mistake when entering their contact information. What will you do then if you can’t follow up? You lose the sale. There’s also the chance that a competitor could catch your shopper’s interest while they’re waiting to speak to a representative who can help them make a decision.. Give your customers the opportunity to start a conversation in real-time, when they are most excited about learning more about your product or service and focused on you.

5. Live Chat Increase Order Value

Average order value (AOV) is a key metric to gauge how much revenue a company generates with each transaction. A growing AOV is an indication that either customers are buying larger ticket items per transaction or buying more items in a single transaction. Either way, life is good.   Live chat gives trained agents the opportunity to upsell and cross-sell and influence average order value. Agents can present complementary items or higher ticket purchases to consider. Many times, companies decide to implement chat so that help is available when customers need it and chat sessions are initiated when the customer requests it. In some instances, like what an item is added to a cart, some companies have implemented proactive chat to offer customers additional items they may find valuable.

What is Business Messaging and What Does It Mean for Your Business?

Posted on Max Fortis

What is business messaging, you ask? Oh, it’s only a way to get better customer engagement, attract more customers, and deliver a better customer experience is all. That seems like a tall order for something as simple and commonplace as messaging right? The truth is, the simplicity and reach of business messaging is what makes it so powerful for your business and preferred by your customers.

In this post, we’re going to define what business messaging is and what it isn’t. We’ll also highlight what business messaging means for your revenue growth, your customers, and your employees. Basically, everything that keeps your business going. Let’s get started.

What is Business Messaging?

First, let’s talk about messaging and get really clear about what business messaging is. Business messaging is a set of channels over which companies and consumers can communicate with each other. The most common messaging channel is SMS or text messaging. We’ve all had experiences with shipping notifications, marketing offers, promotional campaigns, and appointment reminders. These are the kinds of messages we typically associate with business messaging.

But business messaging isn’t just one-way and it isn’t just SMS/texting. Business messaging can happen on any digital channel where your customers already spend their time and it’s expected that dialog can flow both directions.  Here are a few scenarios that happen all the time:

  • A home security subscriber who needs help setting up their new video camera.
  • A shopper on your website who needs help finding a product and reaches out via web chat for help
  • A loan processing officer texts an applicant to send in missing paperwork to complete an application
  • Direct messages exchanged over social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Kik to provide one-to-one customer service
  • A heating and air conditioning company setting up an appointment to install a new unit
  • A retailer proactively communicating shipping and delivery information to consumers to help prevent an inbound phone call

Business messaging delivers the ease and convenience consumers have come to expect when they engage with family and friends to pre-sales and post-sales interactions with companies. In fact, 66% of consumers rank messaging as their preferred channel for contacting a company.

What Messaging Means to Your Customers

Your customers want to message you.  Research conducted by Market Strategies International has found that consumers are looking for a company to:

  • Meet them where they already are – on mobile, social, and on the web
  • Proactively reach out to them with relevant products and services
  • Make it easy to do business with you

Quiq Clients like Overstock, Office Depot, Pier 1, and Brinks Home Security have discovered that messaging is an indispensable solution to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. These innovative companies have implemented Quiq Messaging to open new channels of communication with their customers – available wherever and whenever they need it.

CONVENIENCE: Messaging means that customers can reach out to you on any channel they already spend their time on like SMS, Facebook, and live chat when they’re on your website. It also means that your customers can respond to conversations with your company at their pace – as it fits in with their busy lives – versus stopping everything to make a call. With messaging, they can respond and engage in 5 seconds, 5 minutes, or 5 days.

EASE:  Customers keep their mobile device within arms reach at all times. Business messaging makes it easy for customers to shoot off a message whenever they need and then get on with their life. They don’t have to wait until they are in a quiet place to call or vigilantly watch their email for a response.

FLEXIBILITY: Messaging means flexibility to your customers. Customers have the real-time response of a phone call with the ease of reference that an email provides. That flexibility around their busy lives is more than a welcome mat. It’s more like the red carpet and it’s what differentiates companies among competitors and turns prospects into customers.

What Messaging Means to Your Revenue Growth

Increasing revenue is the number one thing that companies focus on. Every strategy and tactic is a means to that end. Often, companies will consider introducing a new product line or service or increasing prices as a way to bolster revenue.

Sure, those paths could lead to higher revenue, but they definitely aren’t the easy way to go. Developing a new product or product line can be a big time and money investment accompanied by the risk that customers won’t buy. Price increases provoke the ire of customers and may even cause some to turn to competitors.

Ah, but let’s not forget, there are people out there who want to buy what you already have. Oh, and don’t forget your established customers who could come back more frequently. Many companies now look at customer experience as a way to attract more customers and increase the frequency in which they purchase. This is where messaging makes the biggest impact.

Messaging makes it easy for consumers to engage with your company when, where, and how they prefer. Prospective buyers can have questions answered with ease, speed, and convenience. Returning customers get timely service and support at their moment of need, which means, they’ll be back for more and will tell others how great you are.

Consider these examples and how your business can help customers move closer to purchase with business messaging:

  • Service companies win when their prospects are able to get the answers they need to make a decision on a provider. Prospects can book an appointment to receive an estimate easily with business messaging. Messaging avoids delays and missed calls that can drive consumers to take their business elsewhere.
  • Companies in the travel and hospitality industry use messaging to provide a premium experience from the very first interaction. Questions on weather conditions and cancellation policies are answered quickly so that potential guests can ease right into the booking process with peace of mind.

What Messaging Means to Your Employees

In any other day and age, allowing customers to engage with your company through so many channels would have been overwhelming. But it’s not that day and we’re past that age. In today’s modern messaging world, Quiq makes it easy for employees to manage conversations.

In fact, Quiq Messaging can help optimize agent performance by providing advanced productivity features that improve the customer experience. With Quiq, employees are able to handle multiple messaging conversations at once, thereby increasing their efficiency and reducing the cost to serve.

There isn’t any downtime for training. Adding business messaging is a pretty flat learning curve for your employees. They are likely using messaging in their daily lives and are familiar with sending and receiving messages. The only difference is they’ll have an easy way to manage conversations.

All messaging conversations are managed within a single, unified desktop with features that help employees prioritize conversations, monitor customer sentiment, and make every conversation more personal and effective. Employees can feel empowered to provide the best customer experience possible.

Business Messaging Means Business

Business messaging makes a significant impact on two ways to grow your business – get new customers or have your existing customers buy more.

  • Attract new customers – Make your business accessible so that it’s easy to do business with you.
  • Keep existing customers happy  – Empower your customers to get service 24/7 through business messaging. Make it easy for customers to address questions and issues that may arise after the sale and they’ll be more likely to come back again.

The key takeaway here is that business messaging isn’t just good for your business. It’s a main ingredient to the secret sauce that can keeps your business running successfully. Ready to see Quiq Messaging in action? Sign up to try it right now for free or have one of our experts walk you through a custom demo.

Live Chat Best Practices for Exemplary Service

Posted on Max Fortis

Don’t deliver good customer service. Aim for the exceptional service that sets you apart from your competition. Customers demand convenience, speed, and ease when they need to engage with a company. When it comes to live chat, it’s critical to provide an experience that welcomes the customer to engage with your brand.

Live chat serves as your front line to the customer on your website. This messaging channel allows you to engage with your customers at their point of purchase for higher conversions. With live chat, customers can reach your brand at their convenience and receive the pre-sales support or post-sales service they need. This article gives you the 11 live chat best practices to deliver the ultimate customer experience.

11 Live Chat Best Practices to Deliver the Ultimate Customer Experience

#1: Be Transparent With Your Availability

While larger brands may have a customer support team working 24/7, other businesses may have limited hours. If you’re one of the companies that limits the hours of support, make sure that you simply disable live chat when your team is unavailable or when your company is closed. Quiq’s chat feature allows you to remove the chat bubble on your site during non-supported hours.

If your chat function isn’t available 24/7 and you prefer to receive after hour messages, tell your customers that you’ve received their message and let them know when you will get back to them.

#2: Choose the Right Place For Your Chat Button

To ensure that your customers know you are easily reachable through chat, one of the best live chat best practices to implement is to place the chat button on the bottom right side of the screen. You should also make sure that the button isn’t too big. You don’t want it to be a distraction. You will, however, want to use a bright color, so your site visitors have a visual indicator that it’s there.

While you don’t want your chat to be a disruption to your customer’s experience on your site you don’t want them to stall for too long in their process searching for help. Sometimes, your customers may need an invitation to start a conversation with you. You can offer proactive chat based upon predetermined criteria such as time spent on a page, page view history or customer segment.

In addition, you should place the chat button on every page of your website, not just the home page. You never know when your customers may have a question or need your help.

#3: Collect Information Upfront

Make it easy for employees to provide a more personalized experience to your customers by collecting a little information upfront. Use a short web form to collect information. This information can be used to route incoming conversations to the best queue or employee. Not only that, this extra information will help your employees identify the customer and the nature of their inquiry immediately instead of having to spend valuable time asking for it. Knowing full name, account number, topic category, or order number will help your team know who they are talking to and allow them to get a jump on helping the customer faster.

#4: Personalize The Experience With Images And Emojis

Today’s connected consumers gravitate to modern chat platforms that allow them to send hi-res images, videos, gifs, and emojis. These are the elements that make live chat conversations more personal, expressive, and fun.

Quiq allows your team to share images, videos, gifs, and to enable approved emojis so that messaging conversations always stay on brand. Customers and agents can use all of these visual elements within chat conversations to provide better context and to more effectively resolve inquiries.

#5: Always Be Ready To Respond

Customers want answers fast and at their pace. That’s one of the reasons they’re avoiding the phone and having to be tied to it. With live chat, customers can send messages in at their pace, whether they do so in 3 minutes or 3 hours. Companies can set service level agreements (SLA’s) so that everyone understands what an acceptable response time is for customers when they do reach out.

Quiq helps employees meet those SLAs with our Adaptive Response Timer (ART). This feature not only provides visual cues to notify employees when a conversation needs attention but it also automatically prioritizes multiple conversations based on how slow or fast the customer is responding to messages. This is critical because chat agents tend to handle 5 or more conversations at one time. Staying on top of the right ones is easy with Quiq.

#6: Never Get Disconnected

Your customers are busy and at times, may need to step away from a chat conversation. Sometimes, it’s only for a few minutes while they check another tab on their desktop. At other times, it may be a lot longer. When customers don’t respond after a certain time limit, most chat platforms will “time out” of chat sessions requiring the customer to initiate a new chat session and start their entire process from the beginning.

Unlike many traditional chat tools, Quiq’s chat platform is asynchronous, which means conversations never end and never have to be restarted. This avoids customer frustration of having to restart a chat conversation and agent uncertainty when a customer goes dark. Customers can return to the chat conversation whenever it is convenient for them. This conversational continuity gives your agents and your customers peace of mind.

#7: Present The Chat Conversation History

Sure, some customers may only need to contact you once, but there are some who need to reach you on a more frequent basis. It’s important that a record is kept of all the past chat interactions you’ve had with a customer. This conversation history serves as an excellent reference point and helps agents or employees know what kind of issues the customer may have encountered previously and the guidance they were given.

Quiq presents the entire chat conversation history to the agent, along with the most recent inquiry. Let’s say a customer starts a conversation with one agent, walks away during the conversation and comes back while that first agent is on break, the newly assigned agent will have the same latest interaction, as well as past interaction history, presented.

#8: Provide A Seamless Experience

From time to time, one of your employees may not know how to answer a specific question from the customer. So, they will need to transfer the customer to another team member. When this happens, you need to guarantee that the customer doesn’t have to explain her question or problem all over again. The new team member should have access to the previous conversation and simply continue the conversation.

Quiq’s transfer and collaboration features allow employees to ask for help behind the scenes from peers or managers. Customers can be easily transferred to other team members with or without them even knowing. Anyone invited to help with the conversation can see the entire history of the conversation and any additional information available on the customer. These features create a seamless experience for your customers while optimizing efficiency.

#9: Provide a Seamless Human-Bot Experience

Bots have gained a lot of attention lately, and with good reason. Bots have become time-saving customer experience superheroes helping companies serve customers more efficiently. From greeting customers to helping troubleshoot issues to soliciting feedback, bots are being used in a myriad of ways.

Consider using a bot to automate some of your redundant live chat processes to reduce the time and money it would take for an employee to do the same thing. Simple and repetitive tasks, such as gathering an order number, updating an address, or even finding the right department to route the customer to, can all be done via bot.

Deliver a seamless experience where humans and bots co-exist peacefully within conversations. Quiq treats bots and agents both like first class citizens. Bots can welcome customers and gather additional information for routing or in order to have an order proactively pulled up on an agent’s desktop. Agents can transfer to a bot during an active conversation and the customer doesn’t even need to know. The bot can collect a few pieces of information and then return the conversation to the agent. During that time, the agent can be assisting other customers. Bots will help you reduce the time to serve your customers and delight your agents as well.

#10: Use Sentiment Analysis

Use sentiment analysis to understand how customer conversations are going. This is particularly important for companies that may have a large number of chat conversations to manage. Managers can see at a glance which conversations are going well and which may be at risk.

Quiq uses simple visual cues that identify if customers mood shifts during a conversation. Agents and managers can quickly see if a conversation needs extra attention or needs to be prioritized.

#11: Ask For Feedback At The End

Your customers’ feedback or opinion about how the live chat interaction went is definitely a best practice. You trained your team members to provide the best service they could but the ultimate test will be what your customers thought about their overall experience. This is a timely way to know that you’re on the right track, as well as a great way to continuously improve your live chat experience.

Live Chat Is Your Front Line

It wasn’t so long ago the only way customers could get in touch with a company was by picking up the phone and calling. Now, with live chat and messaging options, customers can simply click-to-chat with a representative who can provide the pre-sales support or post-sales service they need.

Being available to your customers at their “moment of need” is where businesses turn visitors to their website into customers who love their product and service and rave about their experience. Live chat may be one of the first interactions your customers have with anyone from your company. Make sure you leave a great first impression by implementing these 11 live chat best practices.

Customer Spotlight: TodayTix

Posted on Mike Zinne

TodayTix is no stranger to bringing more accessibility to experiences. The company started with the goal to provide effortless access to shows. Since launching in 2013, the company has brought theater to a new audience of theatre goers with “thoughtful service at each moment along the way”. There’s no waiting in lines or rushing for last minute ticket sales here. TodayTix provides the convenience of buying theatre tickets online with just a few taps of a button.

As TodayTix continues to see growth in subscribers and sales, it has also seen an increase in inbound calls. TodayTix looked at chat as a way to reduce calls while providing customers the ease and convenience of another channel. Today, the New York-based company uses Quiq’s Chat and SMS/text messaging channels to provide their customers with the kind of 21st century communication they were seeking.

Prior to implementing chat, TodayTix provided support through phone (80%) and email (20%). Since opening the messaging channel, the company has seen a drop in approximately 1,000 calls per month and a decrease in emails. James Potter, Senior Guest Services Manager at TodayTix, says that customers appreciate the quick response they get via messaging versus email.

“We were surprised to see a lot of our repeat customers move over to chat. Many of them have an .aol account, so it was interesting to see that shift.”

– James Potter, Senior Guest Services Manager

After just one day of training and some adjustments to the integration of the their existing Salesforce instance, the company was up and running with messaging. TodayTix still looks to their FAQs to help customers, but placed chat on their support page in the event that any of the 2,500 weekly visitors may need additional help.

The guest services team, which usually consists of 3 to 5 people, love that they are able to see a preview of what the customers are typing, in order to get a head start on helping them. They also love that they can handle multiple cases at one time, with the ability to handle up to 5 conversations simultaneously.

While the majority of questions TodayTix agents handle via messaging involve canceling or modifying an order, the company has also been able to improve their concierge service. For a small fee, customers can have tickets hand-delivered to them 30 minutes prior to the start of the show. Since the company sells internationally, and many times to tourists who don’t have access to their email, messaging helps coordinate delivery if meeting times or locations have to change on the fly.

What’s Next

The company has been pleased to see an increase in their NPS scores rising from the low 60’s to the high 70’s in large part due to messaging. It appears that customers aren’t the only ones noticing how the company uses technology. In 2018, TodayTix was named as one of Deloitte’s 2018 Technology Fast 500. The honor recognizes the 500 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech companies in North America.

TodayTix would like to take messaging further and implement the chat feature in their app too, as many of their customers are on mobile devices and engaging via the app. The company is also interested in enhancing their IVR by adding an option that would allow customers to initiate a text-based conversation instead of waiting on hold. These improvements will continue TodayTix’s ability to offer thoughtful service for every customer engagement.

How to Use Simple Automation to Streamline Customer Conversations

Posted on J.R. Rettenmeyer

Customer expectations have grown surrounding the three most important aspects of customer experience: convenience, ease, and speed. Incorporating simple automation into customer conversations that exceed these expectations has proven to be the solution for Quiq’s clients. Quiq is focused on helping brands engage in conversations with their customers over messaging, the preferred channel by, well, everyone. Quiq’s messaging clients have taken advantage of features like “bots” and “snippets” to streamline customer conversations that are repetitive in nature to help save valuable employee time, making them more efficient.

The key to success for the companies deploying automation for employee-to-customer conversations is the calculated use of Quiq’s automation features that not only optimize productivity but subsequently improve the customer’s experience. Now, before you start thinking that automating customer conversations leads to soulless interactions and customer frustration (yes, we’ve sat in one too many phone queues), let’s focus on just one automation feature that is making the customer’s experience better – snippets.

What are “snippets” and how do I use them?

Snippets are pre-built responses to common questions that can be accessed by employees with a few keystrokes. Snippets eliminate the need to retype the same answer to the same questions. and can be fully customized for your unique workflow.

At Quiq, we developed our product with the experience in mind, not just that of your customers, but for agents and employees too. We developed snippets to make it easier for employees to share greetings, ask follow up questions, and address common questions like “What’s your return policy?”. With snippets, employees can create custom responses tied to common questions using shortcut keys, thus reducing the time it takes to look up information and share it with customers.

Snippets can be created at a company level as well, not just by agent. Company-level snippets ensure that information shared across the organization is consistent and accurate. If, for example, you have a promotion running Monday through Friday that you’d like reps to share, a snippet containing details or a link to the promotion will guarantee the same message is shared. Now, let’s say the promotion date is extended to Sunday, the snippet can be quickly updated and then everyone immediately has the same up-to-date information.

Another feature that allows employees to increase efficiency while improving customer service across all channels are Quiq Replies. Quiq Replies are the suggested responses that allow customers to answer common questions with a tap of a button. Quiq Replies are visual presentation of what the customer will see and are created as snippets to keep the conversation moving on both ends.

Share pre-built “rich messages” within snippets

Employees and customer service reps used to save answers to frequently asked questions on a digital notepad that they would pull up and then just copy and paste answers. Quiq has taken these plain text, flat responses and gives you the ability to easily create rich messages.

Rich messages take plain text and add captivating visual elements like images, buttons, and suggested replies to bring context and interaction to every conversation. Quiq allows you to build your own rich messages and to even share those as snippets.

Want to see for yourself? See Snippets in action.

Snippets have been very thoughtfully designed to be easy to use and manage:

  • Employees can access snippets with keyboard shortcuts that are easy to customize and search for.
  • Snippets can be created as plain text or as rich messages.
  • Snippets can be shared across any messaging channel, defaulting to the most visually appealing format supported by the respective channel..
  • Managers can easily see what snippets have been created and exactly how they will appear to customers.
  • Snippets can be used at any point in the conversation to help the conversation progress more efficiently – beginning, middle, or end.

Ways to use snippets or automated responses to streamline customer conversations

Once implemented, automation features such as snippets can improve agent effectiveness, improve customer satisfaction, and differentiate your company. We’ve found this to be true across all industries and company sizes.

Greeting a customer at the start of a conversation and closing a conversation with a standard sign off are pretty obvious uses for snippets, but here are a few other ways snippets can be used by industry. Skim over these examples and you’ll probably find that many of these use cases are applicable to your company as well:

Retail

  • Where is my order (WISMO):Customers checking on order status is a common occurrence that can comprise 70-80% of calls during peak times, like the winter holidays. These types of inquiries may have tighter service level agreements, so the ability to quickly respond quickly is critical. Create a snippet with an embedded link to share and allow customers to track their order.
  • Return policy:Even if you have your return policy stated on your website, you may still get questions from customers who need clarification. Common questions include: “Do I need an RMA number?” or “What address should I ship my return to?.” Snippets ensure that answers to these standard questions have consistent answers. What’s more, employees can use snippets to build out questions to dig a little deeper into the customer’s issue such as “What’s the reason for the return?” or “Was there anything wrong with your shipment?”

Service & Subscription Companies

  • Password reset:Customers who have to log in to an account will appreciate easy access to help if they ever need to reset their password. Create a snippet with a link to your process or to a page that customers can use to reset their password.
  • Save/Cancel:If a customer is inquiring about canceling, you may want to create a snippet that helps the agent gather additional information from the customer to better understand the reasons they would like to cancel and to provide an offer to persuade the customer to stay. For example, if the employee determines price is the main reason for the cancellation, there may be another snippet with a special promotion for the agent to present.

Financial Services

  • Payment guidance:Again, snippets can be used at any point in a conversation. Customers engaged in a conversation about say, a late payment, may want to know where they can pay online. Send a link to quickly guide the customer to the right place.
  • Routing to the right department:Create rich snippets, such as the example shown below, to determine the nature of the customer inquiry. Quiq’s intelligent snippets aren’t just simple canned responses. Snippets with Quiq Replies can leverage the customer’s response and route the customer conversation to the appropriate agent or department.

Higher Education

  • Segmentation:In the same vein as the example above, higher education can use snippets to segment inquiries based off of student status. For example, A Quiq Reply can be used to determine if the person is a parent, prospective student, current student, or alumni. It could also be used to understand the topic of their inquiry in order to route the conversation to the right department.
  • Easy resource reference:Contact information and program details can be stored as a snippet and recalled with keyboard shortcuts. Faculty within Student Affairs, for example, can use snippets to keep a handy reference of the diverse range of programs and resources available to students. Whether students need help with tutoring or finding a support network, the information can be available with just a few keystrokes.

Travel and Hospitality

  • Customer orientation:If you have obtained permission to message a customer, you can use Quiq’s outbound messaging to point out available amenities at your resort after they have booked their stay. Instead of a resort having to list out popular add-ons, like a trip to their spa, available guided tours, or restaurants on site for each guest, a rich snippet can be used to help the customer find and book services that add value to their experience.
  • Follow-up survey:Employees can send follow up surveys to guests after their experience. Quiq allows agents to gather this information and take action immediately. If the guest in the above example had some issues during their dinner and gave their stay a 2-star rating, the conversation could be routed to the appropriate person to address the issue.

Conduct engaging and streamlined conversations with your customers

The simple automation examples presented above are a few easy ways to reduce friction for your customer. Quiq features like snippets and Quiq Replies help streamline the customer experience without losing the human connection that customers want.

Implementing automation doesn’t have to become an overwhelming task but it can have substantial results for your bottom line and customer satisfaction rates.  If you’re ready to improve productivity within your organization with a few simple automation within your customer experience, request a demo.

Brinks Home Security™ Monitors and Responds to Changing Market Demands

Posted on Mike Zinne

Q: What motivated Brinks to look at messaging as a way to connect with customers?

A:  More than 90% of all of our transactions were phone-based. Taking time to make a phone call was a rigid, inflexible pain point for our customers. We wanted to provide a channel that put the format back in the customer’s control.

Unlike phone calls, customers and agents are able to exchange and share attachments, links, gifs, and emojis making the interaction context-rich. These rich messaging interactions help agents understand the question faster and thus ensure customers quickly receive the help they need to resolve their inquiry and get on with their day.

ROI From the Start

Messaging has dramatically and positively impacted the contact center. The first thing to note was the fairly immediate shift of 10% of phone calls to messaging. There is also a significant difference in agent productivity. With phone calls, agents can only handle 1 at a time, but with text messaging, the agents handle from 4-6 unique conversations at a time. Even with an increase in the number of conversations each agent has, there has still been a 14 ppt.(avg.) uptick in CSAT. In fact, Brinks is watching the satisfaction rate with text messaging continue to climb, all while seeing staffing savings.

“In a short 5 months with Quiq, we converted 10% of phone calls to messaging, and we are on track to move 20% of our inbound calls to messaging.”

Mike Parish, Sr. Manager Customer Experience & Service Design, Brinks Home Security

Giving Control Back to Customers

Converting 10% of their inbound phone-based customer contact to a digital messaging experience in 5 short months, the company saw a noticeable difference in how customers and agents interact. Messaging allows customers to have conversations at their desired pace, while enjoying an experience that is as familiar as texting with family and friends.

Brinks proactively promotes and encourages their customers to engage with them via text messaging. Visitors to brinkshome.comare able to initiate a conversation with an agent through a “Text Us” link displayed prominently above the fold under “Contact Us”. Website visitors may also choose to engage by clicking the “Chat with us” icon on the lower right-hand side of the screen displayed on every page.

Phone with texts

As with any new software implementation, Brinks had a number of assumptions going into their exploration of the messaging channel:

  • Our customer base is older and will not utilize text
  • Customers want to call or email us, not text
  • Customers will want to text for this, but not for that

What Brinks discovered as a result of implementing Quiq Messaging was a reality that was a very pleasing contradiction to those beliefs.

Across their customer segments, text has continued to ramp, regardless of age-related demographics. In fact, the slowest month-over-month growth for the messaging channel has been a 135% increase, with the highest monthly increase at 329%. Not only has the messaging channel proven to be a preferred method of engagement, but agents handling the exact same contact types on the messaging channel as they did with phone with a higher average CSAT score.

Messaging Rollout Recommendations

Q: Based on your experience with messaging, what are some key takeaways you would share with CX leaders who are considering opening the messaging channel?

A: One of the biggest lessons learned from the messaging channel has been promoting the channel. It is important to leverage every engagement or touch point to help build awareness and grow a new channel.

That may mean promoting it via social media, outbound emails, newsletters, on the primary website, mobile website, and even in your IVR messaging. Just letting customers, who are calling in, know that they can hang up and text your brand directly will immediately shift calls to text messaging.

When promoting the messaging channel, Brinks also recommends that companies alter their campaign approach monthly, starting with awareness, next adoption, and finally growth. However, the most important thing to do is to avoid letting assumptions prevent success and to lean on your Voice Of Customer (VOC) data to drive you.

Focus on Continuous Improvements

In an effort to measure and continually improve on the digital experience, Brinks built out a short survey and implemented it by automatically sending a link at the close of each text message conversation. The survey questions emulate the main questions used to calculate customer satisfaction rates (CSAT) and Net Promoter Score (NPS). Issuing a satisfaction survey via text instantly yielded a 10% completion rate, which is a 60% increase over surveys delivered over traditional channels.

“Our messaging solution started out as an alternative to offload high call volumes and repetitive tasks, but now we have now expanded the implementation and smart routing throughout the entire enterprise.”

Mike Parish, Brinks Home Security

A smooth implementation of Quiq’s Messaging platform set the stage for the high adoption rate of messaging among agents and customers. Brinks has been pleased with how quickly their customers has embraced the messaging channel.

The company plans to continue promoting the channel so that at least 20% of their interactions are over messaging or web chat, as well as completing Quiq’s integration into Brinks’ IVR system and introducing automated SMS notifications for service updates. The company had originally planned to hit that 20% target in 12-18 months, but with the rapid acceptance and use of messaging by their customers, Brinks expects to hit that goal much sooner than expected.

 

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