Transforming Customer Support with AI: Freshdesk Webinar

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction
2. Rapid Growth and Increase in Customer Base
3. Impact on Support and Handling of Tickets
4. Options Considered: Aggressive Hiring versus AI Automation
5. Choosing the Source and Type of Tickets
6. Omni Channel Route and Focus on Live Channels
7. Chat Overtaking Email Channels
8. Analyzing Portal Tickets and Categorizing
9. Automating Level 1 Support with AI
10. Revamping the Knowledge Base and Content Optimization
11. Introduction of Bite-sized FAQs
12. Medium for Delivering Content: Freddy as a Bot
13. Freddy Version 2: Features and Benefits
14. The Agent Assist Bot for Consistency and Guidance
15. Email Bot for Deflecting Level 1 Questions
16. Thank You Detector to Avoid Reopening Tickets
17. Using Sentiment Journey for Proactive Customer Support

Article

How AI Automation Transformed Support at Freshdesk: A Case Study

Supporting a rapidly growing customer base can be a daunting challenge, but for Freshdesk, it was an opportunity to rethink their approach and explore the potential of AI automation. In this case study, we Delve into how Freshdesk effectively handled the increase in ticket volume by implementing AI solutions and optimizing their knowledge base.

Introduction

Freshdesk, a leading customer support software provider, experienced significant growth from 2014 to the present day, with their customer base increasing six-fold. While this growth was undoubtedly positive for their business, it posed a unique challenge in terms of support. The surge in customer volume directly impacted the number of tickets that needed to be handled on a yearly basis. However, Freshdesk saw this as a good problem to have, as it prompted them to explore the best ways to address this rapid increase.

Rapid Growth and Increase in Customer Base

The exponential growth of Freshdesk's customer base was a testament to their product's popularity and success. With such a substantial increase in customers, it became imperative to find efficient ways to handle the rising number of support tickets. One evident solution was to ramp up hiring and expand their support team, which they did by growing from a single-member team to an 85-member team within seven years.

Options Considered: Aggressive Hiring versus AI Automation

While hiring more support agents seemed like a logical choice, Freshdesk also recognized the potential of AI and machine learning in transforming their support operations. The capabilities that AI offered, coupled with discussions with their product and ML teams, made it clear that investing in AI was a promising direction to explore. To move forward, Freshdesk needed to answer two critical questions: which source and type of tickets to focus on for automation.

Analyzing Source Split and Focusing on Live Channels

Freshdesk conducted an in-depth analysis of the ticket sources, which revealed a significant shift in favor of live channels such as chats, emails, and phone calls over traditional email channels. The portal tickets, comparatively fewer in number, emerged as the ideal choice for AI experiments. Further analysis of the portal tickets helped categorize them into L1 (simple how-to questions) and L2 (troubleshooting or technical assistance) tickets. It was discovered that nearly 45% of the portal tickets fell under the L1 category and were easily resolved within a few interactions.

Automating Level 1 Support with AI

Armed with data-backed Insight, Freshdesk set its goal to automate L1 support using AI. The objective was twofold: to free up support agents for more complex tasks and to provide customers with quicker responses for simple queries. This strategic approach aimed to streamline support operations and enhance overall customer satisfaction.

Revamping the Knowledge Base and Content Optimization

Before proceeding full steam ahead with AI automation, Freshdesk realized the necessity of optimizing their existing knowledge base. The old solution articles, compiled over several years, were riddled with redundancies, overloaded with content, and lacked a coherent structure. The revamping process coincided with the introduction of the new Mint UI, providing an opportunity to revamp the articles to cater to both customers and bots.

Introduction of Bite-sized FAQs

As Freshdesk analyzed the L1 queries they received, they realized that many answers were buried deep within solution articles, making it difficult for customers to find the Relevant information. To overcome this hurdle, Freshdesk came up with the concept of bite-sized FAQs. They addressed direct customer questions with simple, concise answers, making it easier for customers to access the information they needed.

Medium for Delivering Content: Freddy as a Bot

With the optimized content ready, Freshdesk needed a medium to deliver it to customers seamlessly. Enter Freddy, the bot—an AI-powered solution designed to assist customers in finding answers to their queries. Freddy replaced the new support ticket option in the support portal with an "Ask Freddy" button. The bot would introduce itself and attempt to help the customer. If it couldn't provide an answer, it would prompt the customer to Create a ticket. However, Freshdesk soon discovered that the effectiveness of AI relied heavily on the data it learned from.

Freddy Version 2: Features and Benefits

Freshdesk introduced Freddy Version 2, incorporating user feedback and enhancing its capabilities. Users could challenge the bot's knowledge by adding or editing information, allowing for real-time updates. This version also introduced insights and reporting, offering valuable metrics to measure the bot's performance.

The Agent Assist Bot for Consistency and Guidance

Freshdesk recognized that even with rigorous training, their support agents occasionally required hands-on assistance during customer interactions. To ensure consistency and provide guidance, they implemented the Agent Assist Bot. This AI-powered tool prompted agents with the next best action and guided them towards ticket resolution, bringing a new level of efficiency to their support team.

Email Bot for Deflecting Level 1 Questions

Freshdesk understood the importance of addressing customer questions promptly, especially those that fell under the L1 category. To reduce customer wait times, they developed an Email Bot that targeted these specific queries. By suggesting relevant solution articles directly to customers through email, Freshdesk minimized the need for tickets to be created and routed to support agents.

Thank You Detector to Avoid Reopening Tickets

An issue faced by many support teams was the inadvertent reopening of resolved tickets due to out-of-office emails or thank-you messages. To tackle this problem, Freshdesk implemented the Thank You Detector. This AI-powered feature analyzed customer responses and determined whether a reply should reopen a ticket or be treated as a mere expression of gratitude. The automatic categorization of responses reduced the impact on metrics and ensured a smooth support experience.

Using Sentiment Journey for Proactive Customer Support

Freshdesk recognized the importance of understanding customer sentiment in each interaction. By mapping customer emotions and sentiments in a graph, their Sentiment Journey feature offered supervisors valuable insights to address frustrations or concerns earlier. This proactive approach allowed Freshdesk to enhance the overall support experience and prevent potential issues from escalating.

Freshdesk's journey with AI automation not only transformed their support operations but also improved overall customer satisfaction. By investing in optimizing their knowledge base, implementing AI-powered bots like Freddy and Agent Assist, and effectively leveraging various AI features, Freshdesk achieved impressive ticket deflection rates. Through constant monitoring, nurturing, and measuring metrics, they Continue to refine their support system, ensuring a seamless and efficient customer experience.

Highlights:

• Freshdesk's customer base grew six-fold from 2014 to the present day.
• The increase in customer volume led to a surge in support tickets.
• Freshdesk explored two options: aggressive hiring and AI automation.
• Analysis revealed a shift towards live channels, with chat surpassing email support.
• Automating L1 support with AI allowed agents to focus on complex tasks.
• Knowledge base optimization included bite-sized FAQs for easier customer access.
• Freddy, the AI-powered bot, replaced the new support ticket option in the portal.
• Freddy underwent constant improvement with user feedback and real-time updates.
• Agent Assist Bot brought consistency and guidance to support agents.
• Email bots targeted L1 queries, reducing customer wait times.
• Thank You Detector prevented reopening tickets due to unnecessary replies.
• Sentiment Journey provided proactive customer support Based on emotions.

FAQ:

Q: What is Freshdesk? A: Freshdesk is a leading customer support software provider.

Q: How did Freshdesk handle the increase in ticket volume? A: Freshdesk explored options such as aggressive hiring and AI automation to handle the surge in ticket volume.

Q: Did Freshdesk focus more on live channels or traditional email support? A: Freshdesk noticed a shift towards live channels, with chat overtaking traditional email support.

Q: How did Freshdesk automate level 1 support with AI? A: Freshdesk identified the portal as the ideal source for AI automation and categorized tickets into L1 and L2. Around 45% of portal tickets were simple L1 queries, which were easily resolved.

Q: How did Freshdesk optimize their knowledge base? A: Freshdesk revamped their knowledge base by eliminating redundancies, reducing overloaded content, and introducing a structured approach. They also implemented bite-sized FAQs for easy access to relevant information.

Q: How did Freshdesk deliver content to customers? A: Freshdesk used Freddy, an AI-powered bot, as a medium to deliver content to customers. Freddy replaced the new support ticket option in the portal with an "Ask Freddy" button.

Q: What other AI-powered bots did Freshdesk introduce? A: Freshdesk introduced the Agent Assist Bot, which provides consistency and guidance to support agents, and the Email Bot, aimed at deflecting level 1 questions.

Q: How did Freshdesk prevent reopening of resolved tickets? A: Freshdesk implemented the Thank You Detector to analyze customer responses and determine whether a reply should reopen a ticket or be treated as a mere expression of gratitude.

Q: How did Freshdesk utilize sentiment analysis for proactive customer support? A: Freshdesk used Sentiment Journey to map customer emotions and sentiments in a graph, providing supervisors valuable insights to address frustrations and concerns earlier.

Q: What were the results of Freshdesk's AI automation efforts? A: Freshdesk achieved a ticket deflection rate of 12%, which increased to almost 30% when considering the total deflection. The portal's contribution to ticket volume reduced from 12% in 2017 to 5% in 2019.

Q: What were the key learnings from Freshdesk's AI automation experiment? A: Freshdesk learned that content creation and nurturing the bots are crucial. They emphasized the involvement of support system owners, diligent metric measurement, and understanding the learning curve of customers.