Last updated - May 26, 2021
Customer experience is the defining factor of success of any business. How your customers perceive your business determines its growth. That is the reason why customer relationship management gets top priority in eCommerce store management these days. WooCommerce offers great options to put your customers first every time. Read about a few WooCommerce CRM solutions here. However, this article will deal with some of the best customer support tools available with WooCommerce. You will get a glimpse of some of the advanced features of these plugins that would help you ensure customer satisfaction consistently. Also, understand some of the experts suggested guidelines that will help you efficient customer management.
Best WooCommerce customer support tools
There are quite a few plugins and integrations in the WooCommerce community that helps with the customer experience. Here are some.
WSDesk
This is a great plugin that will help you set up an efficient customer support ticketing system on your WooCommerce store. It offers simplicity that you would never find in other cloud-based support tools or SaaS options. Moreover, you get great control over your data, which matters a lot in the eCommerce scenario that is frequently changing. The intuitive features of this plugin are surely going to make your job easier in managing a WooCommerce store.
The user interface is quite simple and you will find it extremely easy to handle varied customer requests. There are great filtering options that will help you deal only with the relevant support tickets that satisfy specific conditions. Moreover, the plugin helps a lot with the workflow of your store, as you can automate the process of assigning tickets to agents. And, you can use triggers in quite inventive ways to further initiate actions based on conditions that you specify. The email piping feature is extremely convenient, as you can easily convert emails into support tickets.
WSDesk also offers easy options to backup and restore your data. It also integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce and you can manage your store reports quite smoothly. Unlike other similar tools, you can manage unlimited tickets and support agents using the WSDesk plugin. Features like custom email replies, complete ticket history, attaching files to tickets, etc will also be quite handy. The plugin is available in three versions – free, single and five sites. The single site license would cost you $89, and the five site license $129. The free version is also loaded with features that will prove to be extremely useful if you don’t want to invest money.
Features of the free version
When it comes to WordPress plugins, it is commonly seen that the free versions have just the basic functionalities. Often you can’t do much with such plugins, but to go for the premium version. WSDesk is an exception in this scenario, as the free version too is quite loaded when it comes to features. Here is a look at some of the advanced features part of the free version of WSDesk plugin.
- Email piping – Email messages are used to input customer requests or queries for faster resolution of issues.
- Ajax based system – You can help the customers who are typing a query in the Ajax based form by suggesting similar issues.
- Exceptional user interface – The easy to use interface of WSDesk makes the whole support process a breeze.
- Agent reports – You can easily understand the performance of your support agents in a specific period of time.
- Custom ticket fields – The ability to customize ticket fields helps a lot in automating and triggering the workflow.
- Simple agent management – You can distribute work between multiple support agents more efficiently when you are using WSDesk.
- Custom support forms – You will be able to customize the support forms according to the specific requirements of your store.
- Easily handle attachments – WSDesk provides an option to handle attachments without hassles.
- Import Zendesk tickets – If you are looking to import Zendesk tickets to WSDesk, there is an inbuilt feature to manage that.
- Unlimited agents – There is no limit to the number of agents who can use the ticketing system at a time.
- Great reporting tools – WSDesk offers comprehensive reporting tools that make your store analytics extremely simple.
You can also download the free version from the WordPress Plugin Repository.
WooCommerce Help Scout
This WooCommerce extension helps you start relevant conversations with your customers using Help Scout. Basically, the extension helps to connect your WooCommerce store to a Help Scout mailbox. This will help your customers be in touch with you more readily, and their queries will be answered faster. Customers can start a conversation with you anytime regarding one of their orders. And, they can view their active conversations directly on the “My Account” page. You, as a store owner, can answer to customer queries or start a conversation from the WordPress site admin. Start conversations with WordPress admin on blog comments as well.
The plugin ensures a consistent connection channel between your customers and you. This is especially relevant when you want to make the customer experience your utmost priority. You can purchase the plugin for $79 for a single site subscription. If you want five site or 25 site licenses, you will have to spend $99 and $199 respectively. However, in addition to purchasing the plugin, you will have to choose a subscription plan of Help Scout. The basic annual billing plan starts at $8 per user per month, and the monthly plan starts at $10 per user per month.
WooCommerce Freshdesk
This extension works more or less in a similar fashion to the above one. It helps you connect your WooCommerce store to your Freshdesk account. Freshdesk is a popular customer support software trusted by brands of all sizes. It helps you manage all the conversations with your customers in one place. Moreover, it encourages easy collaboration between multiple departments to resolve customer issues faster. You can also manage customer support from multiple channels including email, phone, live chat, social media, and website.
With the help of the WooCommerce extension, you can easily create tickets from order page or blog comments on your site’s admin. In addition, you get to synchronize a product with a forum or solution category within your Freshdesk account. As generally seen, there are three licenses of this extension – single site, 5 sites and 25 sites. Prices start at $79.
Awesome Support
WooCommerce offers a solid integration with Awesome support to make sure your customers have a great experience on your site. It enables this by combining products, order, and tickets together. This makes sure that your support agents are always aware of the specific issue that the customer is facing. As a result, they respond to customer queries with relevant answers quite quickly.
Surprisingly, the ticket submission process is quite simple too. Customers can go to their account page and select the order they have problems with, and the plugin will connect the request to that order. Also, customers get an option to select the product he/she is having problems with. In case, the customer decides to raise the ticket from the support page, he/she will have to enter the order number.
For WooCommerce Awesome Support integration, there are three purchase options. Single site for $49, 5 sites for $88, and unlimited sites for $158.
Live chat tools to ensure a great customer experience
In the current eCommerce scenario, there is an overwhelming need for resolving customer queries instantly. Integrating live chat with your help desk system has great scope to add value to your business. Read an article that discusses the possibilities of integrating live chat to your WooCommerce store. Here are some of the popular live chat integrations of WooCommerce.
WSChat WordPress Live Chat Plugin
This is an exceptional live chat solution for WordPress with AI-integrated chatbot for swift responses at all time. It will help enhance the customer experience on your store immensely. Enabled with Google’s Dialogflow, WSChat will ensure all queries are responded automatically even when none of your agents are online. Moreover, it offers customers advanced options like sending files, webcam recordings and support feedback directly from the chat window. Quite intuitive to configure, this awesome plugin has advanced customization options as well.
Features
- Easily configure a live chat window on your WooCommerce store.
- Respond to customer queries at all time with AI-integrated chatbot.
- Store owners will have complete control over the data.
- Monitor active visitors and proactively follow leads.
- Create unlimited agents.
- Email notifications.
- Custom chat widget header with advanced options.
- Support for emojis.
- Detailed reporting.
- Extensive customization options to personalize the chat widget.
LiveChat
This is a customer support solution that helps you keep the conversation active throughout. You can assist multiple customers at the same time, and resolve problems faster. One marked advantage you get when you integrate your WooCommerce store with LiveChat is that you can see what customers are typing. This will provide you additional response time to respond effectively. LiveChat also provides detailed reports that will help you measure the performance of your store effectively.
In addition, LiveChat helps you interact with website visitors so that you can improve conversion in your store too. Thus it acts as an effective tool for support and sales on your store. With WooCommerce LiveChat integration, you can ensure better customer experience on your WooCommerce store. You can try this integration for free. However, for continued use, you may have to opt for a subscription plan. Plans start from $16 per agent per month when billed annually.
Olark
This is a simple and effective way to keep in touch with your customers all the time. It offers the possibility to resolve customer issues instantly. And, as a result, you can ensure the best experience for your customers. Furthermore, it provides valuable insights into the behavior of customers on your site. You can use these insights to ensure better conversions on your site. Here are some of the interesting features of Olark at a glance:
- Great customization options to choose colors, text, and languages.
- Real-time reporting features to give you a better view of things.
- Option to automate messages for better customer handling.
- Agent-based pricing plan that offers unlimited conversations.
- Searchable transcripts that help you filter out relevant conversations.
- Real-time chats ensure you resolve customer issues instantly.
- Great team management tools to help you keep track of agent responses.
- Integrates seamlessly with other sales, marketing, and support tools.
Tawk.To Live Chat
This is a great free option that lets you incorporate the live chat feature on your WordPress site. You can continuously monitor and chat with visitors on your site. This will give you valuable insights that contribute to increasing your sales and conversions. It also helps you stay in touch with your customers all the time, irrespective of the device used. Your customers will find a great engagement on your site, as tawk.to integrates multiple websites and agents. You will also find mobile apps that are compatible with iOS, Android, and Windows. Here is an article that will guide you through the installation process of tawk.to.
Best practices to ensure a great customer experience on your WooCommerce store
Customer queries can be a real headache for business owners. But if you maintain some fundamental guidelines, you can ensure customer interactions won’t lead to frustration. Here are a few aspects that you can focus on:
Response time
When customers are approaching the support desk, they are already frustrated with an issue with your product. The last thing they want in such a scenario would be to wait for your response. That is the reason why quick response time is always considered as a measure of effective support.
Professional interaction
Your customers would always expect to be treated with respect. The human factor should be rightly blended with professionalism when drafting your responses.
Relevant responses
The last thing your customers want is a confused response from a support agent. Correctly linking your support tickets to orders and products would help you deal with this issue. When the response is relevant, naturally customers would trust your support system.
Follow up
Sometimes the issue faced by the customer won’t be within the scope of your product. In such cases, all you can do is redirect customers to the right place. Promptly following up with customers regarding a resolution would leave a good taste in the mind of customers.
Conclusion
Customer experience is of utmost importance in the current business landscape. All kind of companies is actively seeking out solutions to ensure the best experience for their customers. The ever-rising popularity of eCommerce ventures has posed ample challenges to store owners in the customer experience department. Thankfully, WooCommerce community has myriad solutions to deal with all sort of customer support requirements. This article has attempted to compile some of the best customer support tools that you can get hold of at the moment. Let us know if you found this article useful for your unique business case.
