Challenges they faced:
- Unable to provide faster and instant resolutions
- In need to cater to higher chat volume
- Missing leads during non-business hours
- Delays and errors caused by manual routing to multiple departments
- Personalized, seamless, and uniform customer engagement
Zoho and ME's SalesIQ usage in 2023:
- Total chat count: 4640 chats/day
- Number of chats handled by chatbot: 2078 chats/day
- Chats handed off to agents from bots: 141 chats/day
- Total bot hours: 342726 hours/ day
- Pro-active triggers: 461/day
Among the 11,000+ Zoho and ManageEngine employees, not only do the marketing, sales, and support specialists across 55+ products use SalesIQ for their everyday operation, they employ SalesIQ to serve their 100 Million users across 180+ countries. Contrary to the nomenclature and popular belief, Zoho SalesIQ, the 360-degree customer engagement platform, is an all-in-one live chat and analytics tool with features to empower marketing, sales, and support departments.
The success of any product lies not only in how it's used by its customers but also in how the internal teams use the product. To understand the extensibility of how Zoho products are using SalesIQ, we reached out to our other product teams for a collaborative study. It also gave us an opportunity to showcase SalesIQ's versatility as the products we reached out to cater to businesses of various sizes including startups, SMBs, and even enterprises.
Zoho One
Zoho One, the operating system for business, is a platform that solely focuses on unifying all the business processes in one place and price plan. It reduces multiple points of contact for communicating, collaborating, managing, transferring, and integrating business data.
"Communicating with our customers directly was arduous. Our medium of communication was mainly through email. At times, we had to request our customer-facing teams to put us in touch with customers. Enabling SalesIQ on the Zoho One Minute page helped us connect with our customers quickly, address their queries, and gather insights from them. SalesIQ also ensured that we never lost track of the missed chats outside business hours."
- Nandha Kumar, Customer Education Specialist, Zoho One Marketing
To take care of their support operations, Zoho One has set up two teams: Admin support for Zoho One and other support for bundle products. Combining both, they get around 1600 chats/month, for which they use SalesIQ's chat routing feature to route customers to the respective teams. They're also using - Zia bot (our scripted chatbot) for their day-to-day operations.
For Zoho Directory, the team has combined Zoho Desk's knowledge base with SalesIQ's self-service bot, Answer Bot, to answer their prospects' and customers' repeated queries even after business hours. They receive around 500 chats/month through this support channel.
"We needed a live chat support solution that should be user-friendly, operator-friendly, and admin-friendly; ultimately, we chose Sales IQ since it has all these features built-in. Since then, SalesIQ has been our one-stop solution when it comes to managing our product's live chat support"
- Shakthi Prasad, Lead Technical Support, Zoho Directory Support
Most used features: Desk - SalesIQ integration, Monthly reports , Missed chats, Zobot, Answer bot
Zoho Desk
Zoho Desk is a unified customer service platform with multiple capabilities like omnichannel ticketing, self-service, automation, AI, Analytics, and several marketplace integrations. Zoho Desk aims to break down customer service siloes and improve the experience for business owners, service teams, and customers with exceptional features and tools.
"SalesIQ has immensely helped to route Zoho Desk customers to the right regional support teams for offering effective assistance. This has improved the accountability factor in individual agents as they are held responsible for any support lapses in their respective regional departments. Leads of respective shifts keep posting the last ‘6 hours data’ offered by the SalesIQ dashboard in the regional channels."
- Prashanth, Senior Manager, Customer Support, Zoho Desk
One of Zoho's early products, Desk has been using SalesIQ since its early days when the product was a mere live chat tool. As SalesIQ evolved into a complete engagement platform, Desk has been employing almost all of SalesIQ's features to their maximum potential.
Zoho Desk uses SalesIQ to offer premium support to its customers, and they get around 4000 chats/month.
Most used features: Zobot, Reports, Analytics, Pro-active triggers, Desk - SalesIQ integration, Chat routing
Zoho CRM and Bigin
Zoho CRM is an end-to-end sales solution for businesses, helping you optimize your sales process, accelerate growth, and build long-lasting relationships. With omnichannel and analytical capabilities, powerful automation, and in-depth customization, you can deliver personalized experiences that cultivate loyalty.
Bigin is a simple yet powerful CRM tool designed to help small businesses sell and grow effortlessly. With easy-to-use features, a wide range of integrations, workflow automation, and the means to customize, Bigin gives a 360-degree view of your business, leading to improved efficiency and ever-lasting customer relationships.
"Using SalesIQ, it is easy to set up a live chat on our website and personalize the chat widget with custom CSS. Zoho CRM has three departments on the website, and each chat has to be assigned to the respective department's representatives. Using SalesIQ's routing feature, we can route chats from different regions to the appropriate owners, which has been going smoothly and has prevented many missed chats. We've deployed the same for Zoho Bigin as well. The ability to quickly convert chat conversations to tickets in Desk and access them through the Desk widget within SalesIQ is a great time-saver."
- Manojkumar.S, Marketing Analyst
Zoho Inventory
Zoho Inventory is a cloud-based inventory management application that helps businesses of all sizes streamline inventory and order management processes. From configuring products, creating orders, and delivering items to receiving invoice payments, Zoho Inventory simplifies everyday inventory requirements.
"Implementing ZIA (SalesIQ's coded bot) has been extremely effective for us. We are receiving almost one-third of our total demo requests from ZIA. We have been able to engage with potential prospects and customers across the globe 24x7."
- Akhil, Product Marketing Associate, Zoho Inventory
The inventory team has set up a Zobot, our coded bot, and has enabled a proactive trigger to engage with their visitors. Then they push the leads to their pre-sales team.
Zoho Partner team
Partner support offers post-sales assistance for more than 2000 partners and their customers globally, addressing all the technical questions about different services that partners may encounter during the product lifecycle. Needing to build their branding and get their website traffic, in addition to making communication simpler for partners, they started with SalesIQ's Live Chat.
To make things more effortless and efficient and to prioritize the level of support that has to be provided to partners, they created a 'Partner Bot' (SalesIQ's Zobot). It leverages information from the Partner Store and has some special validation criteria to identify partners before properly connecting them to our partner support experts based on their tier. The partner bot forwards 1800+ chats every month.
"Every day, partners and their customers depend on us when they need any help with Zoho Services. It is crucial that they feel welcome and are encouraged to contact us anytime they want. Our team and company can only prosper from having a strong partner and customer service culture. Zoho SalesIQ enabled us to do exactly what we wanted to achieve."
- Rajvikram, Team Lead, Partner Relations, Partner Team
Most used features: Zobot, Reports, Analytics, Chat Monitor, Desk - SalesIQ integration, Chat Routing
Zoho Creator
Zoho Creator combines the robust power of application development, business intelligence & analytics, smart integrations, and process automation into a single platform. The intuitive drag-and-drop interface empowers developers and business users to build web and mobile solutions that satisfy all their unique requirements with ease. Currently 13,000+ customers across 180+ countries are using 7MN applications built using Zoho Creator, a testimony to the power of the platform.
"In Zoho Creator, we have two departments - Zoho Creator Classic and Zoho Creator Basic. The Zoho Creator Basic department shows chats initiated by Zoho One users. We pick chats forwarded to the respective departments on our day-to-day basis. We are using SalesIQ web and mobile applications to attend incoming chats. The features we use daily are canned replies, reports such as chats attended vs. missed, and feedback.
"We have also incorporated Zoho Creator's error debugging and a virtual diagnostic tool called 'Quartz' into SalesIQ. Quartz automatically picks up and tracks both client-side and server-side diagnostic metrics, giving our support teams all the information they need to understand the customer's environment in its entirety and deep dive into the issue the customers are facing. We post the Quartz link from the SalesIQ widget to the chats with unique conversations, so when the chat is converted as a ticket, the recording that the customer sent from Quartz will be automatically added as a comment in the Desk ticket."
- Sathish Kumar, Senior Application Support Engineer, Zoho Creator
Zoho Creator's support team uses SalesIQ in a way none of our other products are using it. Defying the usual practice of integrating SalesIQ with CRM for customer and data management, Zoho Creator has developed its own app where they record and manage prospect and customer data.
Zoho Creator has two divisions: 1. Pre-sales and onboarding 2. Creator classic support. Creator classic support takes care of its own, partner, and premium support.
To take on this complexity, SalesIQ's Zobot (Coded bot) is configured on Creator's page to route the customers to the specific departments and divisions. With Zoho SalesIQ, they take care of ~2666 chats per month and successfully achieve zero missing chats with this setup.
Also, to take care of disappointed customers immediately, the bot is configured to trigger an alert on Zoho Cliq if they get a bad rating. The team can look into the specific chat and do what is needed to make the customers happy.
Most used features: Canned replies, Chat routing, Coded bot, Reports
Zoho Cliq
Zoho Cliq is a business communication and collaboration solution that helps organizations streamline day-to-day conversations, improve productivity, and bring teams together, no matter where they are. Break down silos in your organization, initiate discussions through chat or online meetings, collaborate effectively using productivity tools, centralize information by setting up custom integrations with external apps, and customize your overall collaboration experience with the Cliq platform. Cliq is also accessible via multiple devices like mobile phones, wearables, iPads, CarPlay, Android Auto, and Android TV.
"We started using SalesIQ's bot on our website, and it has become an indispensable tool to engage with our customers and prospects. The installation was effortless, and its reports give us an idea of how our users are interacting with us. We have tailored our chat widget with subtle messaging about our latest features.
"The chatbot on the pricing page has played a good role in engaging with the prospect, especially when they're in the crucial decision-making stage of buying the product. It also helped us reduce our bounce rates. In short, SalesIQ has not only acted as a good customer service engine but has also played an impactful role in increasing the leads in our funnel. What else would a marketer like me need?"
- Prason.S, Product Marketing Manager, Zoho Cliq
Both the marketing and customer support teams of Zoho Cliq employ SalesIQ.
On the marketing front, they've embedded SalesIQ's chat widget on their pricing page. When high-intent leads have queries, they can instantly contact Cliq's support team, get answers, and move toward purchase.
They've also set up bot triggers to attract the attention of non-engaging leads and nudge them to initiate conversations. Since they've added SalesIQ's widget, their query requests have increased considerably.
"We've consistently elevated our customers' live chat experience with Zoho SalesIQ, backed by its powerful Reports module. Better insights about our customers and their visits let us manage our agents far more effectively. Also, Operator reports let us gauge our agents precisely on their performance, eventually helping them maintain their metrics.
"Feedback from our customers is another key area for us to analyze our overall support performance, learn where it has gone wrong and where it has marveled, improvise, and adapt to the negative feedback. Overall, it is armed with all the robust tools and helps us deliver exceptional customer service consistently."
- Manimaran.K, Lead, Customer Support, Zoho Cliq
On the support front, they've given the option to the existing customers to contact the support team from within the product. They've also configured chat routing to talk to support in case a customer drops in on the website.
For their support teams, canned replies, screenshare, and audio calls are the most helpful features, as they're able to provide faster and better support at the same time without draining their operators. They also find the translation option helpful to serve their customers worldwide in their native language and Tags to audit their chats.
Most used features: Triggers, Canned replies, Audio call, Screenshare
Zoho Bookings
Zoho Bookings is an intuitive appointment scheduling software that empowers everyone to schedule meetings effortlessly. With Bookings, you can avoid phone calls, back-and-forth emails, and repetitive tasks.
Zoho Bookings has embedded the SalesIQ widget on their product for two audiences: 1) prospects under trial who test the product and 2) existing paying customers.
Whenever the prospects have any queries during the trial, the team has found that the presence of live chat nudges them to engage for clarification and to continue testing. The queries from the prospects are routed to the marketing team, and they take care of converting them. On average, they get around 500 chats/month from their prospects, and SalesIQ has helped convert them.
"By implementing the SalesIQ bot inside the trial version of Zoho Bookings, our prospects can connect with us in less than 10 seconds whenever they have a query/need assistance. This way, users have a better trial experience with short waiting times and almost instant resolution, which quickens their trial velocity and increases conversions."
- Shreyass G, Solutions Consultant, Zoho Bookings
When an existing customer initiates a chat, it's routed to the technical support team, and they take care of resolving their queries/issues. SalesIQ has helped them reduce their first response time by quickly engaging with the customers on live chat. Features like remote access through assist integration helped them reduce the resolution time and get the best CSAT scores. On average, SalesIQ helps them handle around 300 chats/month.
"We've integrated SalesIQ into our support operations since our team's inception. The key features have empowered our team to handle requests efficiently. Zobot, in particular, has helped collect the necessary details of a customer query in an interactive manner, even during weekends when live support was unavailable. It has resulted in a notable increase in customer interactions, providing users with prompt resolution, ultimately getting us the best CSAT (customer satisfaction) ratings.
"SalesIQ is an inevitable tool of our support process, and its extensive daily utilization underscores its significance in our operations."
- Dhanesh Surendran, Lead - Technical Support, Zoho Bookings
Most used features: Desk integration, Zobot, Reports, Canned replies and Screenshare
ManageEngine Endpoint Central
ManageEngine Endpoint Central offers IT management and security solutions for any possible requirement for keeping tabs on a company's endpoints. Endpoint Central centrally manages servers, desktops, laptops, and mobile devices across multiple OS from a single console. Crafted for SMBs and enterprises alike, Endpoint Central simplifies and automates routine IT tasks while securing network against cyberattacks.
Endpoint Central relies on Zoho SalesIQ, leveraging the product's engagement capabilities on both their avenues: their website for prospects and the product for evaluators and customers.
The team gets chat requests from their trial users, paid users, and enterprise support users on their product. To segregate the requests, they've deployed SalesIQ's codeless bot, Zobot, to route the users to the respective specialists.
"With SalesIQ, our team handles around 20,000 chats/month. From our trial users, we get around 3500+ chats/month. Having the chat widget nudge trial users to get instant support has helped them evaluate our product better, accelerate their decision-making, and increase conversion velocity.
"Around 14,000 chats/month are initiated by our customers, and the support team uses SalesIQ to efficiently address and provide instant resolution, which has helped us maintain a higher CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) score, reduce churn, and increase customer lifetime value (CLV)."
- Naveen.S, Manager, UEMS - Support, ManageEngine Endpoint Central
Most used features: Canned replies, Reports, Zobot, Resources, Tags, Zoho Desk integration
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is a robust help desk and asset management tool designed to support IT teams in effectively managing user requests and IT resources. Serving as a central point of contact, the IT help desk plays a crucial role in service delivery and is often the first place users turn to when issues arise.
To help their customers reach out to the support team directly, ServiceDesk Plus has enabled Zoho SalesIQ live chat on the product's community and help sections.
They've also created a coded bot, Zobot, that manages product inquiries and serves as the first line of support. The bot addresses product-related FAQs by sharing relevant articles and database-sourced answers. This setup allows their support technicians to focus on resolving issues more quickly by avoiding repetitive questions.
They use SalesIQ's Widgets to get an overview of the inquirer and their journey with their support team in one place.
Sometimes, for critical issues, since they have to analyze logs that can't be shared in the chat, the team uses Form Controllers to capture the necessary info and create a ticket in the Zoho Desk. This allows them to share the ticket ID, via which customers can share their logs for further analysis.
"Chat, powered by SalesIQ, has now become a primary contact channel for our customers. We initially focused on answering "how-to" questions, but with the powerful Zobot, SalesIQ's bot platform, chat capabilities have expanded to include routing, updating ticket status, troubleshooting, and more. Zobot, one of our most efficient agents, handles 40% of our total customer interactions. We're working to increase its capacity to manage up to 60%."
- Jai Anand, Support Technical Manager, ServiceDesk Plus Support
Most used features: Canned replies, Zobot, Widgets, ScreenShare, Form Controllers
Want to learn more about how Zoho SalesIQ could help you engage your leads, convert them into customers, and retain them for life? Book a demo at your earliest convenience, or try it now for free.