Robin – Serve Your Customers Online

Robin is a customer service application developed specifically for online retailers. Robin combines all the most important aspects of a company’s customer service initiative – which usually includes improving communication with clients, answering questions, and encouraging satisfied customers into write online reviews – into one application that works on the desktop, iPad, or iPhone.

Start improving the way you deal with customers online by signing up for a free account. Robin is made up of four main elements: the dashboard, channels, conversation, and collaboration. Begin your journey by visiting the channels section and adding a ‘contact’ tab to your online store. When customers click that tab, a contact form will pop up and the appropriate salesperson at your company will be notified. Robin also makes it easy to monitor Twitter conversations and insert yourself when users mention your business by name. All of these communication mediums are tracked on each employee’s dashboard page, where you can view your workload and see who still needs a response from you – both internally and externally – on one main screen.

Internal communication is just as important as external communication on Robin. The web-app facilitates group collaboration and helps teams communicate without resorting to time consuming phone calls or ’CCed emails. Overall, Robin is an excellent option for online retailers looking for an all-in-one solution for their customer service needs.

Practical Uses:

• Respond to customer queries in less time
• Divvy up work with your colleagues
• Insert yourself into Twitter conversations about your company
• Collect reviews from satisfied customers

Insider Tips:

• Retailers can post widgets on their websites to show off excellent customer reviews
• Robin works on the iPhone and iPad
• Robin learns which employees are best at answering which types of questions
• Merchants can choose from a pre-paid or subscription-based pricing model

What we liked:

• Teams can use Robin for internal communication, as well as external
• Robin gives businesses an easy way to ask for feedback from customers
• The more a company uses Robin, the better the app gets at routing queries to the correct employee
• Businesses can take advantage of social media by inserting themselves into conversations on Twitter

What we didn’t like:

• Users with Android phones can’t take advantage of all of Robin’s mobile capabilities

Alternatives:

• Conversocial – http://www.conversocial.com
• Desk.com – http://www.desk.com
• Freshdesk – http://www.freshdesk.com
• Zendesk – http://www.zendesk.com

Company Info:

• Launched: January 2012
• Privately Held
• Headquarters: The Netherlands
• Founded by: Patrick Speijers, Wilco Rietberg and Wim Veninga
• Web site: http://robinhq.com

Costs:

• Pre-Paid plan is € 249 for 1,000 conversation credits, or € 499 for 2,500 conversation credits
• Subscription-based plan is € 199 for 1,000 conversation credits, or € 399 for 2,500 conversation credits