Zendesk Launches Embeddables to Make Customer Service Native to Mobile Apps
Customer service solution provider Zendesk has introduced several embeddable features for mobile applications that will enable users to inject native customer support capabilities into their mobile apps, Web apps, Web sites, and games. The features are available through Zendesk Embeddables, a new mobile software development kit (SDK), as well as a Web widget that will facilitate self-service for consumers.
With Zendesk Embeddables, anyone that accesses a help center will be able to submit and track a ticket, pull up a live chat, and use any other available support tools. Though this type of service previously required customers to leave the app and navigate to a separate support app or a support Web site, the experience will now be native to the app and take place within it to ensure a seamless customer service interaction, Sam Boonin, vice president of product marketing at Zendesk, explains.
The embeddables will benefit customer service agents as well, providing them with more context so they're better equipped to handle specific customer situations.
"Whether we're working with a game company, a Web company, or another client, they want to know how to add support features natively to the customer experience without creating friction," he says. In addition to great performance and a profitable revenue model, an effective customer feedback solution is one of the three key components of a successful app, and Zendesk's aim for its new set of embeddables was to "provide that last piece of the puzzle," according to Boonin.
Gartner predicts that by 2017, 35 percent of all customer support will take place on a mobile device. "We were seeing that customers prefered to have that support functionality built in natively, so we made it happen," Boonin adds. The embeddables are now available to Zendesk customers, and embedding the new Mobile SDK involves adding about a line of code.
Mobile game company GREE International, Inc., and real-time messaging company Slack were among the first customers to try the new features. "Engaging with players in-game is one of the key components for great customer service. Gamers don't want to leave the game to submit a service request or look up the answer to a question," Chris Tabasa, director of consumer operations at GREE International said in a statement. "Zendesk's mobile SDK helps us keep our gamers gaming, which is good for GREE and for our customers," he added.
Slack Director of Quality and Support Ali Rayl echoed Tabasa's sentiment. "Using the Zendesk API, our team has built a seamless support experience directly into our products. Our customers can now easily seek self-service help and submit requests in the same place they're collaborating. The Zendesk API is not only well designed for customers, but it's also crucial for our support operations," Rayl said in a statement.
Moving forward, Zendesk plans to continue innovating in the customer support space and building solutions that meet the needs of organizations both big and small. "Our goal has always been to provide solutions not just for large enterprises with big operations but for small and growing businesses too," Boonin says, "because consumers want seamless support regardless of the app they're using."
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