Using Slack for Customer Support
Discover how to use Slack to offer great customer support right from your website.
Are you wondering whether to start using Slack for customer support? Looking for advice on how to integrate Slack as the primary customer communications tool?
FACT: Today’s customers expect a different type of support. They no longer want to submit support tickets and face ridiculous wait times before receiving any response at all. Today, customers want to talk to someone and solve their problems immediately. They want live chat support. On this page, you'll learn how to meet those expectations by integrating Slack for support teams to allow them to manage customer inquiries from the tool they’re familiar with already.
Why Use Slack for Customer Service
I admit that, at first sight, Slack doesn’t seem like the most obvious choice for a real-time support channel.
The tool was built for team collaboration, after all, not to deal with customer inquiries. Its interface may not seem ideal for dealing with support requests either.
And yet you use Slack to answer questions all the time. Granted, these typically come from other teammates, not customers yet answering them works the same in both situations. That said, Slack integrates wonderfully with customer support processes. Plus, using it as a dedicated channel for assisting customers delivers some amazing benefits:
- Slack improves response time. Working in Slack means that your support teams do not have to switch between tools to deal with support requests. Most likely, you have Slack opened up on your computer at all times anyway.
- Slack fosters conversations and cooperation. It’s what the tool’s been built for, after all. Conversing with customers on Slack will naturally boost collaboration, and build stronger relationships with customers.
- Finally, using Slack for customer support is convenient. Slack integrates customer service at the heart of your entire business. Support teams can ask anyone for help and assistance right away, and assist customers better.
How to set up customer support through Slack
Discover the process to follow if you want to start using Slack for customer support.
Integrate Live Chat with Slack
Many leading live chat solutions offer Slack integration, allowing you to deal with customer inquiries on the platform. However, to avail from all the benefits Slack offers to your support teams, consider a dedicated Slack live chat solution like Social Intents.
Once you’ve connected Slack with the live chat, select a channel you want to send requests to. Ideally, choose a private channel for the support team. This way, other team members will not be tempted to jump in on a conversation and disrupt your support from doing their job.
Add to Slack
Embed Live Chat Snippet on the Website
Next, you need to ensure that your live chat widget appears on the website. This is what customers will use to communicate with you. To do so, embed the live chat code snippet in your web page or, in the case of Social Intents, use dedicated plugins for Shopify, WordPress, Bigcommerce, or Wix.
You’re All Set!
You can start receiving chat and support requests directly in Slack. Note that your live chat will then create dedicated channels for each individual chat that are archived after 12 hours.
Tips for Managing Customer Support with Slack
Slack is amazing. It has an incredibly intuitive interface that you can start using right away. There are also plenty of Slack apps to enrich the experience even further.
But there are some things that you will have to think about when implementing it as a customer service solution.
Integrate Live Chat with Slack
Many leading live chat solutions offer Slack integration, allowing you to deal with customer inquiries on the platform. However, to avail from all the benefits Slack offers to your support teams, consider a dedicated Slack live chat solution like Social Intents.
Managing Tickets
The main reason for using Slack for customer support is to open a channel for conversations with customers. However, you may discover that, at times, you will need to open a support ticket and forward the inquiry to another person.
As Slack does not have the ability to store tickets natively, you will need to implement a solution for that separately. You have two options to do so, actually.
One is to use an external system for managing support tickets. Many such platforms allow pushing messages from Slack as tickets.
The other, to use dedicated add-ons that allow managing tickets in your chosen Slack channel.
Prioritizing Inquiries
It’s likely that your support teams will receive simultaneous inquiries often. As Slack is a conversational channel, you will need to develop a framework to allow them to decide which customer to talk to first.
Companies approach this issue differently.
- Some deal with inquiries based on their severity.
- Others follow the "first come, first served" rule.
- Companies with bigger support teams implement a triage system, whereby one person evaluates the severity of the customer’s problem, and forward the issue to a relevant person.
Slack for Customer Support
Can I add Slack to an existing account?
Yes! If you've already signed up for Social Intents separately - Great! Simply go to our Integrations link once logged in, to enable the integration.
I'm not seeing chat messages in Slack?
If you've chosen a Private channel when setting up the integration or changed the default Authorization scopes, we won't be able to send messages to Slack. Either use a Public channel when setting up the integration, or invite our Chat Bot to your Private channel.
Need to change channels?
If you've already added Slack and need to modify these settings or still don't see chat requests come through, please remove and re-add our app by logging into Slack. Choose 'Apps & Integrations' from the top-left menu, then 'Manage' on the top right in the App Market. Choose 'Live Chat' then 'Remove App'. Now click 'Add to Slack' above to re-add our App.
Setting your Chat to Online or Offline
We support an online and offline schedule in your chat settings. You can also use /livechat commands "/livechat online" and "/livechat offline" and "/livechat status" to turn your chat online, offline, or check your availability.
How Can I use Slack Slash Commands?
In your active chat on Slack, type /livechat into the message area to see a list of slash commands available.
Can I set up multiple channels?
Yes. You can create multiple chat apps and set up a channel for each app. Simply run through the Slack set up from within your app settings.
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