Zendesk has announced Proactive Messages, a platform for delivering proactive conversational experiences and requests.
The solution allows users to scale contextually personalized CX interactions across multiple communication channels.
According to Zendesk’s 2023 CX trends report, roughly 77 percent of business leaders recognize that more “profound personalization tools” can benefit CX teams greatly, thanks to improved retention.
Additionally, Zendesk’s report claims that 70 percent of consumers complete more purchases from firms that leverage easy-to-use conversational CX experiences – such as a Proactive Messages-ready chatbot.
Proactive Messages by Zendesk also helps users resolve purchase challenges directly via a customer engagement channel.
The Zendesk report says that approximately 64 percent of customers will spend more with a brand if they can resolve issues within a CX channel.
Moreover, the innovation aims to keep customers engaged during the buying journey, significantly increasing customer satisfaction.
Early-adopter Aja Varney, Director of Global Customer Engagement at Spartan Race, spoke on the benefits of Proactive Messages:
By having an agent reach out to customers proactively to address any questions or other obstacles to purchase (or even just say hello!), we determined our Spartan customer was 60 percent more likely to purchase than if we did not engage with them.
“I am extremely excited for this capability to be available within messaging as we switch to offering a more conversational and streamlined experience to our customers,” Varney concluded.
More on Proactive Messages by Zendesk
Proactive Messages by Zendesk contains a trove of features for enterprise end-clients to create custom CX services.
For instance, the solution provides users with support for automated processes that analyze user behavior and interaction history. The feature allows the user to update customers automatically with order updates like delays and scheduled maintenance.
Moreover, the service has tools such as custom greetings, guided onboarding, and announcements, which help to drive customer engagement, acquisition, and retention.
Proactive Messages by Zendesk also leverages targeted messages and personalization data – including user events and past interactions – to secure increased sales and conversion rates.
According to Jon Aniano, Senior Vice President of Product of CRM Applications at Zendesk, CX leaders are attempting to balance investing capital into reliable customer support solutions while meeting “high customer expectations.” He added:
By adopting a solution of self-service, automation and agent assistance, customers get immediate answers while agents can focus on more complex tasks. Zendesk comes pre-configured so it is easy for admins to schedule when and how often messages will be sent from an agent or bot.
Aniano also said that “it’s time” for businesses to realize the value of engaging CX services, like Proactive Messages, due to its rich ability to connect clients and customers.
The Senior VP added that getting ahead of CX issues before they appear means businesses can reduce operational costs.
Finally, Proactive Messages by Zendesk can assist with distributing customer-facing notifications about shipment delays or recommendations for replacement products. According to Aniano, personalized CX services can potentially lead to “increased customer satisfaction and a measurable impact on revenue.”
Distributing and Scaling Proactive Messages Content
Available within the Zendesk platform, the solution also integrates with Sunshine Conversations for all its platform users.
The Sunshine Conversations integration provides brands with a messaging platform that simultaneously sends Proactive Messages and content to numerous customers, including service disruptions and marketing promotions.
Zendesk also makes its messaging service available via its Business Associate Agreement suite. The integration allows clients to use Proactive Messages as a HIPAA-enabled service to meet related goals and obligations using Zendesk’s new CX service.
The Future of Zendesk
2022 proved a turbulent year for Zendesk, which was acquired by an investor group for $10.2BN, following its failed purchase of Survey Monkey.
Initially, Zendesk turned down acquisition requests worth roughly $17 billion, but following stock crashes of leading technology firms, the firm accepted a lower $10.2 billion offer just months later.
In July 2022, Zeus Kerravala, Founder and Principal Analyst at ZK Research, explained that the low valuation and acquisition of Zendesk is a “warning shot” to the industry.
“You think back to a couple of years ago, there were all these unicorns that were private companies valued at $1 billion, $10 billion dollars, and things like that. There was a lot of late-round investing done as well,” said Kerravala.
“Zendesk got a $10 billion valuation in their last round. So, I suspect if they [Zendesk] were reevaluated today, it wouldn’t be $10 billion, not because there’s anything wrong with Zendesk.
We are in this weird phase; you can almost look at it as a bubble, where investors are rewarding growth more than anything. For a lot of companies, especially the smaller ones that saw crazy valuations, they need to rethink their business model and take a look at how to grow profitably, not just grow expenses.
Since, many vendors have heeded Kerravala advice, bracing as the economic downturn hit the CX space.
Yet, this downturn has not slowed down Zendesk’s innovation, as it aims to to pull itself up from a competitive marketplace with fresh CX solutions.
