Getting Started With Ultimate: What To Automate First

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As part of our “Getting Started With Ultimate” series, we answer one of the most common questions our reps get asked: what, and how much, companies should automate when they get started.

Top learnings from this article:

  • Most companies don’t actually know their main contact reasons, or lean too much on their FAQs to provide answers.

  • At Ultimate, our approach is data-driven. We run your support data through our CS Automation Explorer, which provides insights into new topics that current FAQs may not necessarily cover.

  • Our Automation Explorer works by using AI to cluster your support data and give an overview of these topics, in order of frequency. We then work closely with you to decide which of these make sense to automate first.

Diving into the data, together

It’s understandable that, starting with a blank slate, you might be confused about what, and how much, you should automate. Don’t worry — we’re here to take you by the hand and guide you through the entire process from start to finish. Because frankly, automating the wrong conversations adds zero value to your business or your customer experience.

Our experts also know that an AI-guided approach that analyzes your customer service data points is integral to this process. Why? Well, for the most part, what most of us think are our most frequently asked questions often differs drastically from what the data says.

“I had a client who gave us a list of 15 FAQs they wanted to cover,” says one of our Solution Architects, Maeve Condell.

“We could immediately tell from data that two or three questions weren’t being asked, such as store location or contact info — these would be Googled. What people were asking was about order status, troubleshooting a purchase or even product advice.”

- Maeve Condell, Solution Architect, Ultimate

Our AI takes a deep dive into your mountains of historical customer service data — no matter how steep the pile (in fact, the more data you have, the better!) — and tells us what your customers are really asking, and how often. This knowledge then helps us to identify which customer intents should be automated to achieve the greatest impact on your customer experience.

The CS Automation Explorer

Your results will be delivered in the form of our CS Automation Explorer report. The report clusters your support data and gives an overview of these topics in order of frequency.

Our experts then work with you to decide which of these make sense to automate first. You can also use this valuable information to provide the best answers to what your customers frequently ask. In addition to that, the Automation Explorer provides you with even more key results from your historical support data:

  • Discovered topics: These are topic clusters deduced from past conversations with customers.

  • Automation potential: Which is just a fancy way of saying how many messages the AI is able to understand.

  • Impact on key KPIs: These include your Average Handling Times (AHT), Response Times, Hours Worked, and more.

Armed with both CS Automation Explorer and Customer Success support, you’ll be fully equipped to approach your customer support automation with confidence. You’ll have data-backed insights into what your customers are asking, how often they’re asking certain questions, and how your agents have been tackling those questions. With this knowledge, you can be sure that you’re automating the right conversations, to make the best impact on your customer experience, right from the get-go.

Read about the importance of historical data when automating in this Zendesk blog post.

Ready to start your automation journey?