This Year, Give Your Customers the Gift Of Great Holiday Support

November 20, 2018 | Categories: Business, Call Centers, Customer Support, eCommerce & Retail | by Tiffany

Holiday Support

Customer service can be particularly demanding during the holiday season. From November all the way through the New Year, businesses selling goods and services to consumers see a dramatic uptick in the number of people requesting help. A typically busy time of year for most people out there, these raised stress levels can directly translate into how the customer experience is perceived.

In addition to this, many customer service agents and other company reps are feeling that same stress, both from those they are serving and their own holiday experiences. So, what can we do to offer the same exceptional customer service and support during these particularly anxiety and stress-inducing times? The best place to begin is always to streamline, scale, and focus on self-service.

Tips for Handling Holiday Customer Support

In a recent blog post from Intercom, the team offers up some tips and best practices for dealing with customers during the holidays so everyone stays happy! Here are a few of our favorite tips from the article:

1. Automatically answer common holiday questions

Chatbots let you deliver fast answers 24/7 to the questions your customers are asking frequently – the ones that might be preventing them from making a purchase. For instance, studies have shown that shipping and delivery time influences 87% of shoppers’ purchase decision

2. Proactively help customers on pages where they experience friction, like the Checkout page

A study of more than 18 million eCommerce sessions found that nearly 74% of US online shopping carts were abandoned last holiday season. One of the best ways to help customers complete their order is by triggering a targeted, proactive message on the Checkout page, including the option to chat live with your support team.

3. Empower customers to resolve their own holiday issues with self-service

Today’s customers overwhelmingly prefer self-service. In turn, this lets you reduce time spent on simple issues and improve your holiday bottom line. For a B2C business, the cost of a self-service transaction can be measured in pennies, while the average cost of a live service interaction (phone, email or web chat) totals more than $7.

Read the rest of the tips on the Intercom blog. 

How to Get Set Up with Self-Service Holiday Support

Our friends at Zendesk provide the most succinct response to why self-service is so important during the holiday season, stating that “offering self-service is the new baseline for customer service and it’s also a key predictor of how effectively you’ll be able to contain costs as your business grows.” Additionally, “more than 20% of agent time is spent looking for info, but having a good knowledge base of content can aid agents with the information they need to better serve customers.”

With Zingtree, the process of creating, customizing, and hosting self-service support options for your customers and agent scripts during the holidays (and beyond) is incredibly easy.

Self-Service Decision Trees:

Pairing your existing FAQ and live chat with interactive decision trees is the best way to cover customer service during the holidays. By anticipating questions ahead of time and building a simple how-to or troubleshooter, you can help solve seasonal problems without the back-and-forth.

Learn more about self-service decision trees.

Agent Scripting Tools:

By preparing support agents with tried-and-tested interactive scripts and giving them the confidence to make judgment calls, every rep will be ready to address any customer concern, question, and issue during the holiday season with ease. Plus, Zingtree scripts link directly with Zendesk, Freshdesk, and other CRM platforms, so you can easily share session data to improve the customer service process.

Learn more about custom agent scripts.

Contact us to learn more or get started today!

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Configuring Okta Single Sign-on

November 15, 2018 | Categories: Integrations, Security | by Bill Zing

Okta Single Sign-on

If you’re looking for a way to get started with securing access to your trees via Single Sign-on, you’ll first need to have an Identity Provider to manage your logins. Okta is a great service – it’s easy to set up, and very popular.  This article will show you how to get Okta and Zingtree working together.

Set Up Overview

Configuring SSO requires Okta and Zingtree to share information with each other:

  1. Okta needs information about Zingtree.
  2. Zingtree needs information about Okta.

Once you have Zingtree and Okta successfully working together, you can limit access for authors and/or employees or agents.

For the setup, we recommend keeping two browser tabs open – one in Okta, and one in Zingtree.

Configuring Okta

To start, in the Zingtree top menu, go to Account, Single-Sign-on. You’ll see something like this:

 

You can switch between setup for Agents or Authors. Switch to Author setup by clicking this:

Switch back to Agent setup by clicking:

In the above screenshot, you can see the parameters (specific to your organization) to share with Okta. Let’s use this information to set up the Okta side:

  1. If you haven’t already created a free Okta account, do it now.
  2. Go to the Okta Dashboard.
  3. Click Add Applications under Shortcuts.
  4. Click Create New App.
  5. Choose SAML 2.0 as the sign-on method, and click Create.
  6. In the General Settings, give your application a name (like “Zingtree”), and click Next.
  7. Under SAML Settings, configure it as shown below.  For the Single Sign-on URL, use Zingtree’s Login URL. For the Audience URI, use Zingtree’s Entity ID.

  8. Click Next to finish the SAML setup.

Configuring Zingtree

Now, let’s get some information from Okta:

  1. In Okta, click Applications from the top menu, and go to Applications.
  2. Click the new Zingtree application we created.
  3. Click Sign on, then View Setup Instructions. Keep this page open in a browser tab.
  4. Now go back to the Zingtree tab, and click Edit Identity Provider Data.
  5. For the Zingtree Entity ID, use the Okta Identity Provider Issuer.
  6. For the Zingtree Login URL, use the Okta Identity Provider Single Sign-On URL.
  7. Copy the Okta certificate into the Zingtree certificate field.
  8. Click Save Identity Provider Settings.

OKTA Setup for Embedding

If you’re embedding trees in another page, or using an integration via Zendesk, Salesforce, Freshdesk or other apps, you may also need to tell OKTA allow for CORS requests. OKTA describes this here.

Here’s how to setup CORS:

  1. In your OKTA admin, go to Security, API:

  2. Go to Trusted Origins, and click Add Origin:

  3. Set the origin URL to https://zingtree.com, and tick both Type options.

  4. Click Save.

Testing Your SSO Setup

Once you’ve set up your Identity Provider and Zingtree for SSO, you can test from Zingtree as follows:

  1. In Zingtree, go to Account, Single Sign-on.
  2. Click the orange Test Agent Login or Test Author Login button at the lower right of the page.

From here. you can test logging into Okta from Zingtree.  If you’re already logged in, the test will just return your email or another identifier from Okta.  If you’re not yet logged in, the Okta’s login screen will appear, and then you will be returned to the Zingtree SSO test page after logging in.

Enabling SSO for Agents/End-Users

Once everything is working, in Zingtree go to Account, Single Sign-on. Click Enable Agents:

Next,  you need to restrict access to each tree as follows:

  1. Go to My Trees, and select the tree that you want to require SSO login.
  2. Click the Settings tool, and you’ll see something like this:

  3. Check Require Single Sign-on (SSO) Login to Access.
  4. Click Update Settings.

Note: Once SSO is set up, any new trees created will have SSO required by default.

Enabling SSO for Authors

Once SSO for authors is set up and working, you’ll need to enable it as follows:

  1. Go to Account, Single Sign-on.
  2. Click Switch to SSO for Authors.
  3. Make sure Enable Authors is checked.

One More Step: You also need to add authors to your organization via Account, My Authors. They will not be required to use a Zingtree login to gain access, but this also validates them as a person who has access to your organization’s trees.

Configuring Okta for Embedding or Pop-up Overlays

By default, Okta doesn’t allow logins from iFrames. You can override this as follows:

  1. In Okta, select Settings, Customization.
  2. Make sure Allow iFrame Embedding is selected.

Any questions? Don’t hesitate to reach out. 

This article was originally published in 2017 and has been updated for accuracy. 

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How to Embed a Decision Tree on Your Website

November 8, 2018 | Categories: How To, WordPress | by Bill Zing

Interactive decision trees are most helpful and easily available to those who need them when included directly in your website. We made it easy to complete that ideal flow of customer interaction and self-help with options to embed your Zingtree decision trees wherever you may need them.

1. Embed Zingtrees into any web page

– Log in to your Zingtree account and go to My Trees.

– Tap on the decision tree you want to be embedded, then Publish.

Screen Shot 2016-02-15 at 9.44.04 AM

– You’ll see a few options for publishing your tree, including an embed code that you can paste directly into any web page, like this one below.

– Go to Advanced Embed Options to see how your Zingtrees look with different options in real-time, such as buttons vs. panels.

2. Add a pop-up decision tree as a clickable button.

You can also include decision trees on your site with a button, called a “pop-up overlay.” You can easily customize the button color, text, and look of the trees, and include multiple trees on one page. Here’s just a few examples:

    
 

3. Use the Zingtree plugin for WordPress

Simply download and install the plugin to your WordPress account to quickly add Zingtrees to your website anytime!

Examples:

To embed a Zingtree into your web page, enter a short code like this with the ID of your tree:

[ zingtree id=”148196706″ ]

To display in “panels” style and add persistent buttons to the bottom of each page:

[ zingtree id=”148196706″ style=”panels” persist_names=”Restart|Submit Ticket” persist_node_ids=”1|5″ ]

To hide the name of the tree, and the back button:

[ zingtree id=”148196706″ hide_title=”yes” hide_back_button=”yes” ]

You can visit our FAQ for more information on embedding and available short code parameters.

Need more help? Just ask our resident experts!

 
This article has been updated to include pop-up overlays.

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Freshdesk Agent Scripting App

November 4, 2018 | Categories: Call Centers, Freshdesk, Zingtree News | by Bill Zing

Freshdesk

If you’re running live support or a contact center with Freshdesk, you’ll want to use the latest Zingtree Freshdesk app for Agent Scripting. This update supports the new Freshdesk Mint interface and helps guide live agents to solve problems and follow processes.

With a single button click, your decision trees appear like this in Freshdesk:

Note: This app will appear in the Freshdesk App Marketplace soon, but here’s how to install it today.

Get Started

Install this custom app in Freshdesk as follows:

  1. Go to your Freshdesk Admin, and click on Apps (under Helpdesk productivity).
  2. Click the Custom Apps tab, then New Custom App.
  3. Click Add New App. Then choose Custom App.

  4. Download the app from here.
  5. Now, choose the file you just downloaded, and click Upload App File.
  6. Enter a name for the app, and any other required information. Then click Publish.

Freshdesk may take up to 30 minutes for your app to be available.

Install and Configure your App

Once uploaded, you can install your new app as follows:

  1. Click the Admin icon, then Apps.
  2. Click the Custom Apps tab.
  3. Click Get Custom Apps.
  4. Choose the app you just uploaded.
  5. Click Install.
  6. Configure your app (see below) and click Install.

There are two settings for your app:

  • The tree ID of the tree you want to appear first (required). The default just shows all the data variables passed into Zingtree.
  • An option to send data from your Freshdesk ticket to Zingtree. If you enable this, you’ll be able to show information from the ticket in your decision tree or do automatic branching using Logic Nodes.

Using the Agent Scripting App

When viewing a ticket, click the Zingtree button at the top:

The decision tree you configured will appear:

Features

Zingtree decision trees are easy for anyone to use immediately. But there are a couple of bonuses under the hood you will appreciate:

  • Pause and Resume: When you reload a ticket and click the app button, the decision tree will return to the last place visited. In addition, you can click the History link to see what transpired previously. This is really helpful if a call is dropped, or if a ticket is transferred to a new agent.

  • Agent Feedback: At the bottom right, you’ll see the Agent Feedback button:

    Your agents can click this to send comments back to the authors of the tree. This is a great way to continue to improve your knowledge base, and also involve your agents in the publishing process.

 

 

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Streamlining HR with More Automated Business Processes

November 1, 2018 | Categories: Business Process Management, Zingtree News | by Tiffany

The global shift into utilizing automated processes in business is well underway; optimizing procedures for every department of your business is a highly critical factor of success. Streamlining business processes in a way that can reduce steps, lessen mistakes, and help guide employees on the correct path every single time is an investment that’s well worth it – this is exactly why we created our own Task Manager tool to help enhance these daily, repetitive business processes.

Human Resources is one such department within organizations that should always be included in the shift to greater, more involved automation. Because these roles so heavily rely on following strict procedures, enacting the correct protocols, and ensuring that every detail is in place, HR is the perfect candidate for benefitting from a more streamlined way of doing things. In this article from Forbes, the author dives into how automation and streamlining of business processes can solve some of HR’s biggest challenges today.

Attracting and retaining top-notch talent is one of the top factors influencing success for organizations in the 21st century. As a result, HR has become your most important departments, and it’s crucial to ensure that it’s properly resourced. Unfortunately, most business can neither afford nor find a well-staffed HR department.

The fact is that most HR processes are still very manual and document-driven, and HR specialists waste too much time on administrative paperwork. By automating these processes, streamlining operations, optimizing workflows and cutting out waste, your HR employees can spend more time focusing on what they’re passionate about: people.

The good news is that with its administrative processes like employee onboarding and time tracking, HR is particularly ripe for automation.

The main idea we’re trying to emphasize here, with help from this piece, is that HR is a perfect department to be optimized through more automated and streamlined processes via interactive decision trees. With repeated tasks like onboarding new hires, time-tracking, approvals, and more, almost every facet of the job can be improved.

There are several main benefits of automating these business processes for HR, as explained in the article, such as:

  1. Driving better employee engagement
  2. Reducing paper
  3. Closing communication gaps
  4. Collaborating to enhance productivity
  5. Reducing manual work
  6. Reducing email for speedier approvals
  7. Increasing focus on what matters — people

Attracting and retaining top-notch talent is a critical HR challenge in today’s workplace. HR automation has a lot to offer, yet many organizations have been too slow to adopt it. Will your HR department in 2020 still be mired in paper-intensive, error-prone and time-consuming manual processes? Or, will you use modern, low-cost platforms to automate and free the HR department to focus on what’s important: talent?

Read the rest of the article on Forbes. 

We’ve been providing HR, customer support, and other key organizational departments with the interactive tools needed to streamline procedures. With Zingtree decision trees for internal uses, teams can follow the most standardized and perfected processes in order to get more done with less energy, money, and zero error. And, with Zingtree task manager, you can streamline every repetitive process and task within one easy-to-use platform.

Try a working version of the Task Manager here and check out our demo video right here to see exactly how it works:

More articles about how to streamline and automate business processes:

Any questions? Get in touch with our team anytime!

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How Decision Trees for Insurance Can Simplify Policies & Procedures

October 29, 2018 | Categories: Business, Case Studies, Use Cases | by Bill Zing

decision trees for insurance

Having exceptional customer service isn’t reserved for typical B2C companies. In such a tumultuous and often scary industry (for consumers, at least), insurance companies and agents must also take a close look at how their customers are perceiving the assistance they are getting. Understanding is also a huge part of this customer experience. Why? Because insurance is complicated.

Improving Insurance Call with Decision Tree Scripts

For many insurance companies, automation is an angle that’s gaining traction for providing more streamlined and consistent customer service. Our partnership with EasyInsuranceScripts.com is a great example of how decision trees are being used to simplify.

Simply put, Ted Baker, the Founder of EasyInsuranceScripts.com, envisioned a more streamlined way to improve how independent insurance agents were being trained, guided through complicated conversations and policy selections, and processing claims. In an industry with so many small, yet important, details to be understood, these conversations and processes can become intimidating very quickly.

With our own knowledge and experience in simplifying the complex, we knew decision trees would be an ideal fit. Joining forces between Zingtree and EasyInsuranceScripts.com has allowed Ted’s services to offer the most comprehensive set of resources for independent insurance agents as a result.

“It’s amazing that I’m able to automate all of this for independent insurers,” says Ted. “For me, the ROI of decision trees is immediate. Introducing standardized decision tree scripts for insurance has allowed the insurers in my network to really thrive. With scripts for guiding conversations, interactive trees to train new agents, and the reporting that comes along with it, agents are able to provide a better customer experience that’s consistent and informative.“

Hard Numbers: Where the Data Fits In

While each insurance agent or organization may have varying experiences, industry knowledge is key in understanding how much this kind of customer service and care matters for insurance. McKinsey recently published an article on how focusing on improving customer experience has a direct effect on growth and profit in the insurance industry:

McKinsey’s global research across industries shows that improving the customer experience can do far more to drive profitable growth than raising advertising spending or lowering prices. Some executives may still see insurance as a low-engagement, disintermediated category, but analytics prove that in an industry where profits are highly concentrated, leading carriers are delivering customer experiences that inspire loyalty and attract new customers frustrated by their experiences with their current carriers.

Here’s a handy chart that helps to summarize how insurers must improve the customer journey:

 

A typical insurance carrier today delivers customer experiences via separate functions (marketing, distribution, underwriting, claims), using a website, sales call center, service department, and so on, most managed by different executives with different goals and metrics. This structure may have its purposes, but it overlooks the fact that from the customer perspective, the experience is often a single journey.

Real-World Example: Decision Tree for Insurance

Here’s a sample tree, derived from one of the Easy Insurance Scripts trees:

 

 

Have any questions? You can learn more about how to simplify insurance products and processes on our site or feel free to reach out directly.

This article was originally published on October 13, 2017.

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Updating Salesforce Cases from Decision Trees

October 21, 2018 | Categories: Integrations, Product Updates, Salesforce, Zingtree News | by Bill Zing

salesforce and zingtree

If you are launching Zingtree decision trees from within Salesforce, you have the ability to update the case record from any node of your tree. Here’s a summary of how to do it:

  1. Make sure your Agent Script button or link is set up according to this article.
  2. Add a Connected App to your Salesforce.
  3. Add the Salesforce Object Updater app to your organization within Zingtree.
  4. On any node in your tree, have the app trigger to update the case.
  5. Any Zingtree variables that begin with sf_ will update the corresponding field in Salesforce.

Adding a Connected App in Salesforce

To set up your Salesforce Connected App:

  1. Login into Salesforce and navigate to Setup, Create, Apps.
  2. Under Connected Apps, click New.
  3. Fill in the mandatory fields.
  4. Check the Enable OAuth Settings box.
  5. In the Callback URL field, enter this URL:
    https://zingtree.com/apps/salesforce/auth.php
  6. Under Available OAuth Scopes select:
    Perform requests on your behalf at any time (refresh_token, offline_access)
    Access your Basic Information (id, profile, email, address, phone)
  7. Your OAuth configuration should look like this when finished:

  8. Click Save and make a note of the generated Consumer Key and Consumer Secret. These need to be entered in the next step.

Adding the Salesforce Updater App

To add the App, do the following:

  1. Make sure you are logged into your Zingtree account.
  2. In Zingtree, go to Account, My Apps.
  3. Select the Salesforce Object Updater app.
  4. Enter your Consumer Key and Consumer Secret from the previous task.

    Click Continue.

  5. Allow access to your Salesforce account. (You may need to log into the account first.)

The Salesforce: Object Updater App will now appear in the list of Apps in My Apps.

Triggering a Salesforce Object Update

Once the App is installed in your organization, you can trigger a Salesforce update from any node in your tree.

  1. Edit the node in Zingtree where you want the update to occur. When this node is reached by an end user, the updater app will trigger.
  2. Under Apps/Webhooks, select your new app Salesforce: Object Updater.

     

  3. Click Save Changes.

 

Setting up Variable Names

As a part of your Zingtree session, you can collect data variables. Any variable that starts with sf_ will be used to update the corresponding field in Salesforce. For example, if you have a Salesforce field named description, a Zingtree variable named sf_description will be used to update that field.

Adding a Session Transcript

To include the Q&A history of the Zingtree session in a case field, you need to add a special field named Zingtree_Transcript to your Salesforce Cases.

In Salesforce:

  1. Go To Setup, Build, Customize, Cases, Fields.
  2. Scroll down to Case Custom Fields, and add a new field.
  3. The Data Type should be Text Area (Long). Click Next.
  4. The Field Name must be Zingtree_Transcript. Other parameters are your choice. See this example:


    Enter the other parameters, then click Next.

  5. Make the field read-only for all users, then click Next.
  6. Pick the Case Layouts where this information will be displayed, then click Save.

Troubleshooting

In case things aren’t working as you expect, here’s what to look out for:

  1. Changes to your case may not be reflected right away. Sometimes reloading the case (refreshing the page) will show the updates.
  2. If a Zingtree variable starting with sf_ has no field name counterpart in Salesforce, then the update will fail.
  3. You can check the Zingtree Event Log (Account, Event Log) to see all operations with Salesforce. This will show successes and failed updates, with error messages in case of failure.
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4 Reasons Why Marketing & Sales Need to Adopt Decision Trees

October 15, 2018 | Categories: Sales & Marketing, Use Cases | by Bill Zing

You’ll often hear us talk about how decision trees can save contact centers and support managers valuable time and expended energy, but did you know that this interactive toolkit can also benefit those in the marketing and sales world? With a simple question-and-answer flow, it becomes much easier for marketers and sales staff to boost their own productivity and efficiency, collect business-driving information and much more.

Here are just a few of the ways that building decision trees can boost your game.

1. Streamline Lead Qualification

Every B2B marketer and sales staff is well-versed in the importance of lead generation and qualification for the continued health of a business – without new interest being cultivated, a company simply cannot grow.

Placing these leads into a robust decision tree based on key classifiers for your ideal customer ensures that the most qualified leads are quickly delivered to the right person, for faster and more accurate follow-up. Including the types of content, communications and promotions to best serve to these potential new consumers, along with the correct flow of distribution for proper sales resources, is a great way to enhance the lead qualification process overall.

2. Build & Optimize Sales Funnels

It’s incredibly important, in any business or industry vertical, to focus on the customer’s complete path to purchase; the sales funnel is, in essence, a decision tree looked at in a slightly altered way. By designing your initial sales funnel (or any other process) in Zingtree prior to consumer use, you’ll quickly be able to spot and measure any inconsistencies or trouble areas through simple user testing. If your business or organization is struggling with their current sales funnel flow, creating and testing decision trees can vastly excel the improvement process.

3. Improve Procedural Standards

Following and improving corporate procedures, including procurement processes (acquiring or purchasing products/services from an external source), are another factor that should not be overlooked. By using decision trees to build internal codifying systems, getting employees to follow corporate procedures, and continually optimizing these processes, any company can effectively boost these procedural standards.

4. Narrow Down Designs

Marketers are always serious when design is involved; after all, how something looks is directly related to how a consumer perceives a product or service offering! Companies that use decision trees as part of a decision-making process can easily generate a Zingtree based on potential design (or copy) options to gather direct feedback on team preferences. Rather than communicating in longer form, a decision tree is ideal for collecting quantitative data to drive faster decisions.

 

Ready to get started? Sign up for a free trial or contact us to see how Zingtree can help improve your sales and marketing efforts.

This article was originally published on May 11, 2016, and has been updated for relevancy.

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5 Reasons Why Shoppers Might Hate Navigating Your Website

October 10, 2018 | Categories: Business, Customer Support, Knowledge Management, Sales & Marketing, Zingtree News | by Debbie McCormick

navigating website

Your customer-facing website is meant to be an environment that welcomes, informs, engages, supports, and converts. So why is it that most users only stay on the webpage they landed on for less than 59 seconds?

Everywhere you look online, you can find examples of websites and eCommerce stores that don’t necessarily meet today’s standards of customer ease-of-use. And, while a site visitor could have gotten their answer or information they were seeking within that single webpage in 59 seconds, it’s far more likely that something just isn’t working for your target audience. With eCommerce expected to hit $4.5 trillion in 2021 (Statista) and consumers’ risings expectations for flawless, seamless web experiences to browse and purchase your products or services, it’s more important than ever to pay attention to where your site may be lacking.

There could be any number or combination of reasons why customers might not enjoy navigating your website. We’re shedding some light on a few of the most common issues that eCommerce sites run into.

1. Your products and services are hard-to-find

Poorly-designed menus, hidden information, and clunky sub-categories are responsible for a huge amount of customer dread when it comes to navigating eCommerce sites. A whopping 41% of online shoppers cite this as being a reason for disliking a website; jumping through digital hoops to find what they’re looking for just doesn’t cut it.

Having a well-organized menu of web pages and easy-to-use product finders are a fantastic method for helping customers to help themselves and find just what they need. From selecting a pair of sunglasses to figuring out the best type of bike, Zingtree product finders are the easiest way to locate specifics among a robust product offering.

2. You have poor search functionality

Search is at the core of every eCommerce website’s ability to convert customers quickly and easily. Incredibly basic search functions that don’t even use filters to refine the results can be a frustrating experience. With a poor system fleshed out for searching products, support information, and other FAQs, customers will feel lost in your website and be much quicker to abandon ship.

The more complex your product or service offering, the more advanced your search functionality should be in order to keep up with customer needs. eCommerce search tools that are efficient and effective have shown to prolong a customer’s visit to your website and is far more likely to encourage a sale.

3. You haven’t optimized your site for mobile

It’s safe to say that mobile shoppers are now officially outnumbering desktop-only online shoppers. Mobile eCommerce sales account for 34.5% of total eCommerce sales in 2017, and that number is growing still. If your mobile eCommerce site leaves something to be desired, or if it’s completely non-functional, it’s time to make it a priority.

If a customer on a smartphone opens up your website to find and purchase a product, and that mobile site is difficult to navigate, loading slowly, or clearly not set up to support such dimensions, they will leave immediately and not come back. When making final purchases and using online bill pay, this becomes even more important to remain competitive.

Image via UserZoom

4. Your design leaves something to be desired

While we may teach not to judge a book by its cover, the look and feel of your eCommerce site means absolutely everything. In fact, many consumers won’t even make a purchase from a website they don’t feel has a trustworthy appearance. If your customers type in your URL and get launched into a UI from the early 2000’s, the urge to find somewhere more visually pleasing to do their shopping is inevitable.

Website design directly correlates with how customers determine whether they believe you to be a reliable, professional company. 95% of users indicated that a positive user experience is the most important factor when they visit a website (Econsultancy). In addition, Forrester has reported that your website’s conversion rate could increase by 200 to 400% with a well-designed interface.

5. You don’t have an FAQ

When any type of purchase is involved, customers will consistently have questions about shipping, returns, manufacturing, and other specific details of your business and its products. Having a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section that’s easy to locate, scan through, and find what you need saves your customer valuable time and improves your eCommerce site’s conversion rates.

Interactive FAQs and customer support decision trees were designed with this in mind, offering a powerful platform for customizing and publishing an in-depth, yet concise knowledge base of information. With an interactive element that’s simple to search through and find just what’s needed, customers feel empowered to solve their own problems without getting in touch with your eCommerce business directly.

 

Ready to learn about how Zingtree’s powerful toolkit can help you create interactive FAQs and product finders that will keep customers happy, engaged, and converting? Get in touch, be sure to check out our example decision trees, and read up about our solutions for eCommerce and retail businesses. 

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Create Freshdesk Tickets from Zingtree Decision Trees

October 6, 2018 | Categories: Customer Support, Freshdesk, How To, Product Updates | by Bill Zing

Does your company use Freshdesk to manage technical support?

If so, you can use Zingtree decision trees to reduce your technical support team’s workload. Customers can either self-solve their issue, or you can get a new ticket in your Freshdesk that includes all the information from their decision tree session. By effortlessly gathering background information from the customer via the decision tree, you save a lot of time by reducing back-and-forth messages.

Here’s how a ticket generated by Zingtree appears in Freshdesk:

Note how the ticket includes a transcript of the Zingtree session.

Click the button below if you’d like to try a demo tree that generates a ticket in our Freshdesk sandbox:

Setup Overview

It’s easy to set this up – here’s an overview of the process:

  1. Add a new Application to Zingtree for creating Freshdesk Tickets.
  2. Create a “Ticket Submitted” node.
  3. Create a “New Ticket” node to obtain the customer’s name, email, a ticket subject, a description, and optional custom fields.

Add a new Application to Zingtree for creating Freshdesk Tickets.

A Zingtree application can be called from any node. You’ll need to add the Freshdesk App first as follows:

  1. Log into your Zingtree account.
  2. Go to Account > My Apps.
  3. Select the Freshdesk: New Ticket App.
  4. Enter your Freshdesk API key and domain name. (Instructions are on the page.)

  5. Click Add Freshdesk App to save the new App.

Create a “Ticket Submitted” Node

When this node appears, a new ticket is added to your Freshdesk installation. This is the end result of pressing a “Submit Ticket” button inside the decision tree. You can create this node as follows:

  1. Go to Tools > Add Node.
  2. Add a new Content Node.
  3. Give the node a title, and any text you want to appear in the content area – like “Thanks for submitting a ticket” etc.
  4. Click the Apps/Webhooks tab.
  5. Click Add App/Webhook.
  6. Select the Freshdesk App you just created. You should see something like this:

  7. Click Save Changes to save this node.

Now we’re ready to link a ticket entry page to this “Ticket Submitted” node.

Create a “New Ticket” node

After your customer goes through the troubleshooting session, if they haven’t been able to resolve the issue, you can direct them to a node which collects the following info:

  • Name
  • Email
  • Subject for the Ticket
  • Description of the problem.

You use Zingtree’s Data Entry Fields to get this info. The field variables need to be named as follows:

name = fd_name
email = fd_email
subject = fd_subject
description = fd_description

  1. Edit the node where you want the customer to submit the ticket.
  2. Click the Data Entry Fields tab.
  3. Add fields for fd_name, fd_email, fd_subject, fd_description. When you are done, your Data Entry Fields will look something like this:

  4. You can also optionally add Custom Fields into the ticket. In the above example, we have a custom field named product in our Freshdesk installation. So the Zingtree equivalent is fd_cf_product.
  5. If you want to set the status and priority, you can also get variables named fd_status and fd_priority. This is optional.
  6. Click the Action Buttons tab, and add a “Submit” button to go to your submit ticket page.
  7. Save the changes to this node.

Summary

Examine this tree from the Demo Gallery to see a real live setup.

That’s how easy it is to create Freshdesk Tickets from Zingtree. Any questions, comments or suggestions for improvement? Talk to us!

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