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January 22, 2013

FreshDesk – A Social Spin on Help Desks

ss-freshdesk

Who decided that help desk software had to be boring? With FreshDesk, companies can bring life back into their customer support centers. The web-application offers social tools that staffers can use to help customers via Facebook, Twitter, and email, along with a “gamification” feature that gives people a chance to score points and trophies for answering customer queries.

Improve the customer experience on your own website by signing up for Freshdesk and integrating the application into your current workflow. Incoming emails from customers will automatically be converted into support tickets, as will certain mentions on Facebook and Twitter. These support tickets can then be categorized, prioritized, and assigned to the appropriate customer support staffer automatically using a Freshdesk tool called Dispatch’r. Complicated tickets can be split into two, and similar tickets can be merged into one. Staffers who aren’t sure how to solve a particular problem can refer to the suggested solutions Freshdesk posts alongside each support ticket. The application automatically searches for relevant solutions or workarounds based on the text contained in the ticket, and lets agents insert their own content or URLs to customize its suggestions before forwarding them on to users. Agents can also streamline the workflow by relying on canned responses when replying to frequently asked questions, and by using “scenario automation” to automate common tasks.

Freshdesk really stands apart from competing apps with its gamification feature — dubbed the Freshdesk Arcade — which helps agents avoid boredom by turning every support ticket into a chance to win. Agents earn points based on the quality of their responses to customers, and they can earn badges for completing “Quests” set up by their managers. Top scorers can win virtual trophies, as well as recognition from their peers.

Practical Uses:

  • Streamline your company’s help desk workflow
  • Answer more customer queries in less time
  • Decrease the amount of work your customer service agents do each day
  • Reply to customers who post questions via Twitter or Facebook

Insider Tips:

  • Motivate agents by offering badges and trophies for a job well done
  • Customers can find answers to their questions in a company’s knowledge base
  • Agents can answer questions from their mobile phones using the Freshdesk app
  • Encourage customers to vote on which ideas should be implemented into the site

What we liked:

  • Freshdesk offers time tracking tools for support agents
  • Companies can create their own forums, where customers can answer each other’s questions
  • Agents can quickly convert forum questions into support tickets
  • Freshdesk offers a number of solutions for larger companies with multiple brands

What we didn’t like:

  • Nothing

Alternatives:

Company Info:

  • Launched: June 2011
  • Privately Held
  • Headquarters: Los Angeles, California
  • Founded by: Girish Mathrubootham and Shan Krishnasamy
  • Web site: http://freshdesk.com

Costs:

  • Sprout plan is $9 per agent, per month with annual billing
  • Blossom plan is $16 per agent, per month with annual billing
  • Garden plan is $25 per agent, per month with annual billing
  • Estate plan is $40 per agent, per month with annual billing

Comments

  1. THX for sharing. http://youtu.be/ihnPPo6gqWo

  2. The addition of gamification to the software is very interesting. Call center personnel are very often the front line positions in the company. this concept may help to diffuse some of the stress that is encountered. Very often, team members in these positions do experience both burn out as well as a high turn over rate due to sometimes high level of stress experienced. I do believe that Help Desk Software is indeed customer driven and will be subject to change based on what the customer’s needs and expectations are. Customer Service is often the key to set one company apart from another, and the implementation of a Help Desk could help make a company stand out above the competition.

  3. Glad that I have landed on a useful site. Recently read an article on FreshDesk, ,in which it was written, it will to bring life back into their customer support centers. Customers are given the highest priority in any business organization. Their satisfaction should be the company’s motive. Thanks for sharing. Regards

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