Optimizing Customer Service using FreshDesk Omnichannel

In the fast-paced world of modern business, providing exceptional customer support is no longer optional, it is a necessity. To excel in this critical aspect of customer experience, you need the right tool, and that’s where FreshDesk Omnichannel shines.

In a prior post (Pricing, Features and Reviews), we looked at the pricing, key features and user reviews of FreshDesk to provide guidance to professionals in their quest for a great customer service management platform. In this comprehensive guide, we will be exploring what FreshDesk is, its pros & cons, and why it could be the perfect fit for your customer support needs.

What Is FreshDesk And What Is It Used For?

FreshDesk is a powerful customer support and engagement platform designed to help businesses of all sizes deliver outstanding customer service. It streamlines customer interactions across multiple channels, such as email, chat, phone, and social media, ensuring a seamless and consistent customer experience. FreshDesk empowers support teams to manage inquiries, resolve issues, and build lasting customer relationships.

Is FreshDesk A CRM?

FreshDesk isn’t just a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool; it’s a comprehensive customer support solution that goes beyond typical CRM capabilities. While it does help you manage customer interactions, it’s more focused on providing tools for efficient ticketing, automation, self-service, and analytics to enhance your support operations.

FreshDesk Pros And Cons

Pros:

• Multi-Channel Support – FreshDesk centralizes customer inquiries from various channels, making it easy to manage.
• Efficient Ticketing – The FreshDesk ticketing system ensures no customer request is overlooked, streamlining issue resolution.
• Automation and Workflows – You can automate repetitive tasks and set up workflows to improve efficiency.
• Knowledge Base – You can empower customers to find answers by themselves with the FreshDesk knowledge base, reducing support ticket volumes.
• Reporting and Analytics – Gain valuable insights into your support operations with the reporting, helping you make data-driven decisions.

• Integration – FreshDesk easily integrates with numerous third-party apps, tailoring it to your specific organizational needs.

Cons:

• Learning Curve – Some of the advanced features on FreshDesk may require some time to master.
• Cost – While it offers a free plan, advanced features come with a price tag.

What Sets FreshDesk from Other Platforms?

What sets FreshDesk apart is its user-friendliness. It’s intuitive, making it accessible to both small businesses and larger enterprises. The ability to customize workflows and automate routine tasks is a standout feature.

Also compared to other platforms such as Salesforce, FreshDesk has the lowest total cost of ownership (see below).

	Salesforce Service Cloud [Enterprise]	Freshdesk Omnichannel [Forest]
Base Platform Fees (for 150 agents)	$270,000 (at $150 per user per month)	$250,200 (at $139 per user per month)
Live-chat (for 150 agents)	$135,000 (at $75 per user per month)	✅
AI-chatbots (for 3,000 sessions per month)	$90,000 (25 Included, additional at $100 per session per month)	✅
Knowledge Base (for 150 agents)	$135,000 (at $75 per user per month)	✅
Mobile App (for 150 agents)	$90,000 (at $50 per user per month)	✅
Self-service Portal (for 2,000 customer logins)	$48,000 (at $2 per login per month)	✅
API Calls (for 1,000,000 daily calls)	$27,000 (100,000 included, additional at $25 per month for 10,000 daily calls)	✅
Data storage (for 2 GB per user per month)	$18,000 (612 MB included, additional at $5 per month for 1GB)	✅
Total annual license fees	$813,000	$250,200
Implementation fees (including consulting, data migration, customization, integration, training, & onboarding)	$164,000	$15,000 (Plus plan)
Ongoing support & maintenance	$162,600 (at 20% of Net)	✅
Total cost of ownership for 3 Years	$3,090,800	$765,600

Additionally, the FreshDesk omnichannel knowledge base empowers customers to find solutions independently, reducing the support workload.

6 Ways FreshDesk Can Enhance Your Support Operations

FreshDesk offers a comprehensive array of features that can significantly enhance your support operations. Here, we will delve into six key ways FreshDesk can transform the way you provide customer support and help you deliver exceptional service.

Centralize and Streamline Customer Interactions

One of the most fundamental aspects of efficient customer support is the ability to centralize and streamline customer interactions. FreshDesk excels in this area by offering multi-channel support.

Whether customers reach out via email, chat, phone, or social media, FreshDesk consolidates all these interactions into a single, easy-to-manage platform. This ensures a unified customer experience and simplifies the process of tracking and responding to inquiries.

An Efficient Ticketing System

FreshDesk’s ticketing system is the backbone of your support operations. It allows you to create, categorize, and prioritize customer support tickets. Each ticket represents a customer inquiry or issue, ensuring that no request goes unanswered.

With features like automated ticket assignment and ticket routing, your support team can efficiently manage and resolve customer issues, resulting in quicker response times and improved customer satisfaction.

Automate Repetitive Tasks and Workflows

Automation is the key to maximizing efficiency in customer support, and FreshDesk excels in this aspect. You can automate repetitive tasks, such as ticket assignment, escalation, and follow-up, freeing your support agents to focus on more complex issues.

Workflows can be configured to align with your specific business processes, ensuring consistency and adherence to best practices. Automation also helps in reducing human error and ensures a more streamlined support process.

Empower Customers with a Knowledge Base

Self-service is a growing trend in customer support, and FreshDesk empowers you to embrace it with a user-friendly knowledge base. Create a repository of articles, FAQs, and guides that address common customer questions and issues.

When customers can find answers on their own, it reduces the volume of support tickets and allows your team to focus on more critical and complex inquiries. FreshDesk’s knowledge base not only improves efficiency but also enhances the overall customer experience.

Gain Valuable Insights with Reporting and Analytics

To continuously improve your support operations, you need data-driven insights. FreshDesk offers a robust reporting and analytics suite that provides valuable metrics and KPIs, with this feature you can track response times, resolution rates, customer satisfaction scores, and agent performance.

With these insights, you can identify trends and areas for improvement to refine your support strategies and optimize the customer experience.

Tailored Integration to Suit Your Needs

Every business is unique, and FreshDesk recognizes that by offering seamless integration with a wide range of third-party apps and tools. Whether you need to connect with CRM software, e-commerce platforms, or communication tools,

FreshDesk’s flexibility ensures that it can be tailored to your specific requirements. This adaptability allows you to create a support ecosystem that aligns perfectly with your business processes.

Practical Tips For Using FreshDesk Effectively

For organizations that have already adopted the FreshDesk support platform, we will be exploring some practical tips and best practices for using the platform effectively to add more value to your support operations,

Customize FreshDesk to Your Workflow

Tailor FreshDesk to match the specific support processes that exist within your organization. Customize the ticket fields, statuses, and workflows to align with your team’s needs.

Train Your Support Team

Provide thorough training to your support agents to ensure they are well-versed in using FreshDesk’s features. This includes ticket management, automation, and knowledge base updates. Conduct regular refresher sessions to reinforce their knowledge.

Ticket Categorization

It is recommended to categorize tickets based on issue type, urgency, or department. This helps in routing tickets to the right agents and prioritizing critical issues.

Define Your Service Level Agreements (SLAs)

Establish SLAs for response and resolution times. FreshDesk allows you to set these parameters and monitor compliance to ensure timely support.

Use The Automated Ticket Assignment Feature

Leverage automation rules within FreshDesk to assign tickets automatically to the most appropriate agents based on predefined criteria, such as issue type or agent availability.

Additionally, automate repetitive tasks like ticket routing, sending follow-up emails, and setting reminders. This reduces manual workload and enhances efficiency.

Create a Knowledge Base Strategy

Regularly update your knowledge base with FAQs, troubleshooting guides, and articles. Ensure that it remains a valuable resource for both customers and support agents.

As your products or services evolve, make sure your knowledge base stays current, as outdated information can lead to customer frustration.

Implement Self-Service Options

Empower customers to help themselves by encouraging them to use the knowledge base. This can be done by prominently featuring the knowledge base on your website and in support communications. You can also include links to relevant articles in the knowledge base in automated responses.

Monitor Analytics and KPIs

Regularly review FreshDesk’s analytics to track your team’s performance. Pay attention to metrics like first response time, handling time, resolution time, and customer satisfaction scores with the omnichannel dashboard. This empowers you to monitor your team’s performance across channels in real time.

Integrate with Other Tools & Systems

Explore FreshDesk’s integration options to connect it with your CRM, email, or other relevant software. This can help in syncing data and providing a more comprehensive view of customer interactions.

Collect Customer Feedback

Encourage customers to provide feedback on their support experience by enabling the customer survey feature in FreshDesk. This feature allows you to embed customer satisfaction surveys in your support tickets. Use survey data to make necessary improvements and show customers that their opinions matter.

Offer Multilingual and omnichannel Support

If you have a diverse customer base, consider providing support in multiple languages through FreshDesk’s language support features. It is also essential to ensure that all customer inquiries from various channels are treated with the same level of priority and consistency. FreshDesk’s multi-channel capabilities can help achieve this.

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In today’s fast-paced world of customer service, FreshDesk is your secret weapon. It’s not just a tool; it’s a game-changer. With its multi-channel support, efficient ticketing, automation, knowledge base, analytics and much more, it’s the solution you need to deliver exceptional service.

Ready to revolutionize your support? Click below to learn more about FreshDesk and transform your operations today.