For organizations in the B2B technology space, customer support has always been paramount to business success.
While once upon a time that meant having technicians available from 9-5 and having an issue resolved within a week or two, today, expectations are higher than ever.
Just consider some of these stats:
- 90% of customers rate an “immediate” response as essential or very important when they have a question. (HubSpot Research)
- More than 70% of consumers believe that companies should collaborate on their behalf so they don’t have to repeat information to different representatives. (Zendesk)
40% of consumers cited “multiple options for communicating” as the most important feature of a company’s customer service department. (Business Wire)
Modern customers demand timely assistance, relevant solutions, and service options that suit their preferences. Fortunately, customer expectations are not the only thing that has evolved.
Business tools that support customer engagement and support have advanced considerably over the years and these tools provide the means to meet these growing expectations.
Customer support software is an obvious example of these tools, and having a customer support platform to aid your support processes is a must-have these days.
But why stop there? Exceeding customer expectations should always be the goal, and to do that, customer support platforms empowered with the collaboration tools of CRM can be a real differentiator.
What is CRM?
CRM (customer relationship management) is a software toolset that assists businesses with the day-to-day management of their people (customers and employees), work processes, products, and projects.
Once thought of primarily as a sales tool, CRM has evolved to address the needs of many different business aspects, including marketing, customer service, and HR.
Through the use of advanced automations tools and data centralization, CRM software can help your business improve communication (both internal and external), work more efficiently, and track performance.
Using CRM to empower customer support
CRM platforms can serve as a centralized hub for all customer information and make that information easily accessible to support agents.
This can improve collaboration by ensuring that everyone involved in customer interactions has access to the same up-to-date information.
Let’s dive a little deeper to get a better understanding of the potential benefits CRM can provide.
Improving Customer Support with CRM Collaboration
CRM platforms can serve as a centralized hub for all customer-related activities. Your marketing, sales, and support teams can all work together in one virtual location, improving cooperation and collaboration through:
- Real-time communication- CRM platforms enable customer support agents to communicate with their colleagues in real-time.
This can take the form of in-platform messaging, notes and records that are updated in the system automatically, or notifications and reminders that can be sent manually or automatically depending on the circumstance.
This functionality allows support agents to seek advice, share insights, and collaborate on complex customer issues.
- Internal notes and comments- CRM systems enable users to add internal notes or comments to customer records.
Customer support agents can use this feature to share critical information, updates, or context about ongoing customer cases, ensuring that everyone involved is well-informed.
This can also be used to share information about known issues, workarounds, and messaging so everyone is aligned and on the same page.
- Cross-team coordination- Your customer support team often needs to partner with other departments such as product development to address customer issues comprehensively.
A CRM system can provide a platform for cross-functional collaboration, allowing the right stakeholders to be involved while ensuring privacy and security are strictly maintained.
FreeAgent CRM can help you empower your customer support processes
FreeAgent CRM is designed for today’s world of work and our robust toolset is ideally suited to supporting the varied work processes of modern businesses. FreeAgent is:
- Easy to use: FreeAgent works like you expect modern apps to work, providing a user experience that feels fresh and familiar. Teams love working in FreeAgent, leading to high adoption and greater ROI.
- User-configurable: FreeAgent can be configured by you to work the way you do. This means you don’t need outside support to add a form field, adjust a CRM automated workflow, or try out a new process.
- Customizable: With FreeAgent, apps, forms, and configurations are all completely customizable, allowing you to capture and connect your data in any way you like.
To see FreeAgent in action, get a demo, and discover for yourself how FreeAgent can help you have workdays full of impact.
