In order to help empower the APAC tech startup ecosystem, we recently launched Perks: a curated selection designed to give e27 Pro members an access to top-class products and services with over US$10,000 worth in savings. In order to do that, we have partnered with some of the most amazing solution providers in the region.
We spoke to Kristen Durham, Startups VP for Zendesk, to get a closer look at their products and services and to help the community understand better how Zendesk can help them yield desirable results.
Can you describe what your company does? What industry you are in, who your target market is?
Zendesk is a service-first CRM company that builds support, sales, and customer engagement software designed to foster better customer relationships. From large enterprises to startups, we believe that powerful, innovative customer experiences should be within reach for every company, no matter the size, industry, or ambition. Zendesk serves more than 160,000 customers across a multitude of industries in over 30 languages.
How does your product/service help companies? What gaps in the market do your products bridge?
Our support products and sales management tools help meet the needs of our customers by delivering fast time to value through customer experience solutions that are empowering businesses to communicate reliably, authentically and seamlessly across channels. We’re also further building out our messaging solutions at a time when connected customer conversations are critically important.
Most importantly, our solutions are quick to implement, easy to use, and can scale to fit business needs. With Zendesk, it takes hours — not weeks — to get up and running, affording companies of varying sizes the flexibility and adaptability to quickly scale and meet fast-changing customer needs.
Can you give an example of how your product is being used by your customers? Any customer success stories you’d like to share?
The pandemic has put increased pressure on ticket volumes, and we’re serving clients in key industries such as airlines, retail, ridesharing, and travel and hospitality, aiding them through increased support, flexible payment terms and other means. Because the crisis has unfolded at varying paces and severity across APAC and the world, companies have also been impacted in different ways. Thus, our local teams continue to provide individualized support to our customers so they can better navigate these shifts. A few examples of how companies in APAC and around the world are using Zendesk include:
Supported by Zendesk, Singapore-based robo-advisory StashAway adopted the use of WhatsApp, which is now used for 60% of all incoming customer inquiries. Because of its easy accessibility and capability to reduce the first response time by half, messaging quickly became the preferred engagement channel for their customers. Today, despite challenges imposed by the pandemic, StashAway continues to give their customers peace of mind that they are always accessible by ensuring that they can meet customers where they are.
One of Thailand’s top cryptocurrency exchanges, Bitkub uses Zendesk’s complete support package to attract and retain a strong customer base by supporting and educating their customers. The market leader with 95% market share boasts over 500 useful articles on Guide, 3,000 ticket volume per month, and a 90% CSAT score. For the rapidly expanding Bitkub, scalable software like Zendesk is essential to supporting business growth.
When Mailchimp started using Zendesk, they realised the difference using intuitive tools and data visibility can make when building a customer-centric approach. Using Zendesk Chat, Explore and Support to empower 200 agents, Mailchimp saw a 200% increase in CSAT survey response. The team uses customer insight and data to refine their products, automations to increase support efficiency, and relies on triggers and more than 1,000 macros to help keep customer response times short. With Zendesk tools at their fingertips, Mailchimp saved a whopping 48,000 agent replies in a single year, and has a full resolution time of 24 hours on average for email and just over 26 minutes for live chats.
Are there any recent accomplishments of your company that you want to share with the e27 Community?
This year has tested us all, but as we work to keep our business moving forward, we are proud that we are able to continue to prioritize the wellbeing of our customers, our employees and our communities.
We have maintained steady momentum in APAC with 25 per cent revenue growth in the region in the second quarter of 2020. We welcomed new regional leadership with Wendy Johnstone joining as regional chief operating officer, Gari Johnson joining as SVP of sales for APAC, and Chad Pearce joining as vice president of marketing for APAC.
Through the global pandemic and economic uncertainties, we’re helping our customers adapt so they can compete at this moment. Specifically, leveraging Zendesk’s flexibility as a competitive advantage, helping businesses quickly spin up help centres, add new service channels and tame spiking tickets with tools such as Answer Bot, our self-service chatbot. We are also equipping our customers with the resources they need to reimagine their CX strategies, such as COVID-19 Benchmark data showing how brands are adapting their customer service. Through our virtual events, including the virtual Zendesk Showcase APAC and CX Moments series, we’re connecting our customers with other like-minded businesses to come up with creative solutions to the challenges we’re all facing.
At the same time, we are working hard to keep our employees engaged so we can maintain productivity and satisfaction. We recently introduced a global caregiver leave benefit through the end of 2020, along with additional resources for caregivers, so employees can be there for those who matter most to them. We are prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) with our commitment to five core actions, which include training managers, investing in employee DEI education, and formalizing a Global Equity policy. And we have also expanded our mental health benefits and added flexible time off through the end of Q3.
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Last but not least, we continue to make investments to help meet the needs of the many communities we call home, in APAC and around the world. These include supporting the development of crucial COVID-19 resources through the Tech for Good program, which has provided 67 Zendesk instances to organizations globally. We also connect employees with virtual volunteering, skill-sharing, and community engagement opportunities in their local communities. Since mid-March, Zendesk employees have logged nearly 4,500 hours of virtual service. Finally, we’re also donating directly to organizations that can help advance DEI in our communities, amounting to over a million dollars given to 10 organizations including The Asia Foundation.
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