Zendesk brings real-time customer support to WhatsApp and Messenger

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Image credit: Zendesk (Image credit: Image credit: Zendesk)

Customer service solution provider Zendesk has announced that it will now offer real-time support across all Facebook messaging services: WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram. The integration will provide customers with the level of service they expect from a modern helpdesk.

In the world of e-commerce, customers are increasingly embracing messaging apps as a way of engaging with their favourite brands and retailers. 

Since February, customer engagements taking place across channels like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Twitter direct messages, and SMS have increased by nearly 50%.

On message

Zendesk’s own research has also shown the growing popularity of messaging tools among customers. Insights compiled by Zendesk and market research firm ESG found that 89% of companies offering the best customer experiences invest in offering more communication channels to their customers.

Zendesk has already seen this growing demand first-hand too, with more than 34,000 Zendesk customers adding WhatsApp or Messenger to their support offerings. As part of the integration between Zendesk and Facebook, businesses will be able to take advantage of out-of-the-box messaging capabilities, automate common answers using AI-powered workflows and benefit from a host of customization options.

“Businesses today need to meet their customers where they want to be met -- and that’s increasingly through messaging,” Matt Idema, Chief Operating Officer at WhatsApp, explained. 

“More than 175 million people already message a business account on WhatsApp every day to ask questions and get helpful information, and as more conversations shift online during the ongoing pandemic, messaging tools can help businesses of all sizes increase their efficiency and improve customer satisfaction. Through this partnership with Zendesk, we’ll help many more medium-sized businesses get started using messaging to communicate with their customers in a matter of minutes and build new features to make WhatsApp the best way to get business done.”

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Barclay Ballard

Barclay has been writing about technology for a decade, starting out as a freelancer with ITProPortal covering everything from London’s start-up scene to comparisons of the best cloud storage services.  After that, he spent some time as the managing editor of an online outlet focusing on cloud computing, furthering his interest in virtualization, Big Data, and the Internet of Things.