Zendesk Launches Proactive Messages

Zendesk today released Proactive Messages to help companies reach out to customers on messaging channels for proactive support, custom greetings, guided onboarding, company announcements, and targeted messages based on user events and past interactions.

"CX leaders are balancing the cost of providing good service with the reality of high customer expectations," said Jon Aniano, senior vice president of product for CRM applications at Zendesk, in a statement. "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."

Zendesk has also made messaging available to more companies by adding Sunshine Conversations to all customers using the Zendesk Suite

"It's time to realize the value of a proactive approach for connecting with customers and adding value to the conversation," Aniano said. "By getting ahead of service issues before they happen, companies reduce operational costs and avoid damaging their brand reputation as customers are unafraid to call out poor CX. For example, notifications about shipment delays or recommendations for replacement products have the potential to lead to increased customer satisfaction and a measurable impact on revenue."

"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," said Aja Varney, director of global customer engagement at Spartan Race, in a statement. "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."