Welcome to the Juice Newsletter: EP 4!

Welcome to the Juice Newsletter, your go-to source for weekly CX and CS thoughts! I’m Brian, Head of Growth & CX Insights at Kustomer. This week, we’re diving deep into the power of proactive support and how it can revolutionize your customer experience strategy.

CX INSPIRATION

Proactive support is the cool new buzzword in CX.  I fully believe this translates to a fundamental shift in the customer support experience and here's why.

Proactive support involves always answering questions before they come up. This means providing comprehensive information upfront, whether through FAQs, a frictionless journey, or clear social proof. Not just a popup on a website.

When you pull this off correctly, your customers are going to trust the brand and feel confident buying from you. And if you’ve read our previous episodes, building trust is more important than ever in today’s economy.

How are you implementing proactive support in your CX strategy?

CX SPOTLIGHT

The Time is Now to Embrace Proactive Support

These past few weeks, I had some great conversations about proactive support with leaders throughout the industry. It’s really interesting to see the shift in mindset to get ahead of the customer support tickets. Here are a few of my learnings all centered around making your team proactive in reaching out to customers before problems arise:

Utilize Customer Data to Identify Product Issues: By leveraging CRM tools to collect and analyze customer data, you can identify common issues and address them proactively. For example, Terra Kaffe uses their CRM to tag every issue a customer has with their espresso machine. By pinpointing these problems early, they can proactively reach out to new customers with personalized communication such as troubleshooting guides and product updates.

Preemptive Outreach Based on Customer Data: At Fabletics, the team uses customer data to identify potential issues before they become problems. For instance, if data shows that a particular size of a popular item is frequently returned due to fit issues, they will proactively communicate with customers who purchased that size, offering tips on fit or suggesting alternative products. This preemptive outreach will help reduce returns and improve customer satisfaction.

Proactive support is not just about solving problems—it’s about creating a positive, seamless experience that keeps customers coming back.

INTERVIEW INSIGHTS

I hosted last week’s CX Weekly Live with Cate Marques, Chief Experience Officer at Terra Kaffe, a brand known for its innovative super automatic espresso machines. We had an insight packed 30 minute discussion about the power of using the Kustomer CRM for proactive support and how it can revolutionize customer retention.

Here are 2 key takeaways for CX leaders:

1. The power of a CRM - Cate shared how her team used tagging within the Kustomer CRM to track customers who returned their coffee machines due to water temperature issues. By analyzing this data, they used Kustomer reporting to identify a trend and prioritized a firmware (product) update to address the problem.
   
   Kustomer’s ability to pull all customer data together enabled Terra Kaffe to improve the product with customer feedback and turn poor customer experiences into positive ones in a proactive manner.
   
   
2. Turning Data into Revenue Opportunities - Using data from Loop Returns and Kustomer, Cate’s team crafted a win-back strategy. They reached out to previous customers who had returned their machines, informing them of the fix and offering a chance to repurchase at the original price. Remarkably, about 25% of these customers repurchased the machine, and nearly all of them remained loyal customers thereafter. 
   
   This strategy not only recovered lost revenue but showcased the value of leveraging customer data to address issues proactively and drive business growth.

GOLDEN NUGGETS

Must-Read Posts:

• What if Customers Don't Want Your AI ChatBot
• Kustomer Drives Innovation in Customer Experience with AI Advances
• New Vanguard CEO says Improving Customer Experience is a 'Very High' Priority and AI Could Help

BRAND SPOTLIGHT

Comrad Increases AOV by 26% with Proactive Support

Comrad is a fast-growing sock company that made the switch to Kustomer.

The results:

• 40% increase in return customer rate.
• 26% higher average order value (AOV).

Comrad struggled with their previous system (Intercom) due to limited integrations and a fragmented view of customer interactions.

Kustomer provided a comprehensive view across all channels, enabling proactive support and efficient task automation. By leveraging integrations with Loop and Okendo, Comrad could proactively follow up on customer reviews and manage return data seamlessly.

“Kustomer’s integration with Loop has been wonderful for us because having return data on every customer’s profile saves us so much time,” says Heather Kunert, Head of Customer Experience. 

By turning customer service into a profit center, Kustomer helped Comrad drive higher AOV and improve overall customer satisfaction.

Compare Kustomer to your current CX solution and see why Comrad made the switch.