Intercom

It’s here! Fin AI Copilot is now available to all intercom customers. If you didn’t catch the announcement, rewatch it here 📽️ Best of all, Fin AI Copilot will be available FOR FREE, on every single Intercom plan! As an AI-first platform, we believe tools like Fin AI Copilot should be a part of every agent’s workflows, with free limited usage every month. For unlimited usage, Copilot can be purchased as a per seat add-on for $35/agent/month or ($29/agent/month when paid annually). But that wasn’t all we had in store… 🔹 Fin AI Agent is now available over email 🔹 We announced a new centralized knowledge management system, the Knowledge Hub 🔹 And Gunnet Singh, Vice President of Customer Experience & Care at AppFolio shared his story The journey to the future of customer service continues - we’ll see you in the comments! #customersupport #customerservice #cx

“It’s essential to remember that behind every question or issue is a person with their own experiences and feelings.” Some sage advice from this week’s Response Time guest, Christian Sokolowski, Vice President of Customer Support at Rebuy Engine. This installment includes insights on why empathy is intrinsic to the customer support function, the uniquely human advantage of emotional intelligence, and a story involving a customer, a Batman impression, and an unpressed mute button 🫢 Christian also shares his thoughts on the meaning of customer support: “Our role is not just about addressing issues; it's about genuinely supporting people by offering guidance, teaching, and becoming a trusted advisor in our business.” But that’s not all Christian had to say – read the full interview on the Intercom blog (🔗 on the last slide)

This week I shared my thoughts on burn out in the latest edition of The Ticket – Intercom's all-things-customer-service newsletter. (Click the link in the comments to subscribe and get it in your inbox!) The thing about Support is that most Support people care deeply -- it's really hard for us to not care and not take things personally. This is what makes us good at helping others, but risky when overdone. And one of the most important things you can do as a support leader is prioritize keeping your team happy, healthy, and engaged. It’s undeniable that a great team experience makes for a great customer experience – but more importantly, being burnt out sucks and as leaders we all want to care about our people and see them do their best. Here are a few things we’ve done with our CS team at Intercom to fend off burnout: 🤔 Regularly ask what’s not working At least once a quarter, we meet with our teammates and ask them what’s making it hard to do their job and what changes they’d like to see us make. Taking the time to engage one-to-one, actively seek out ideas, and then do something with the feedback has been a great way to build trust and move forward as a team in a way that actually means something to the people on it.  Even better, empower that person and give them time and space to own and go fix the problem. 🦾 Use AI to make work easier No surprise here! We’re obviously enthusiastic adopters of FinAI Copilot, and it's a much better teammates experience to have the information and context you need to do your job, vs. scrolling through a million tabs and docs. Having the time and tools to full help customers feels good. ✨ Use and develop different skills It takes a certain type of person to absorb strangers problems and energy all week. And while it's fulfilling, it can also be tiring. We’ve made it a point to build time into our capacity planning for non-inboxing activities, like updating knowledge hub articles, teaching and QA, and programming internal tools. It's important to have folks stretch their brains and learn new skills, while still adding value to our team's goals. 🤩 Have fun! Everyone -- especially weird CS folks -- enjoy doing something lighthearted and quirky. We have a dedicated “Culture and Recognition” team to make sure we actually do this. Whether it’s our annual “Spirit Week” with dress ups and activities, fun events like ice cream day and book swaps, we try to prioritize having some fun. This should be casual and chill fun, not "forced fun". Life is short, you career life is shorter. You deserve to be looked after the same way you look after your customers. What did I miss? let me know!

It’s Friday, so that means it’s poll time! Last poll we ran, everyone who voted was *instantly promoted, 23% more attractive to prospective employers / romantic partners and also got limited edition +8 UNO cards for life. ‘Do more with less’ has sent shivers down every #CS leader’s spine for the past ten years. But now with #AI, it’s genuinely possible without tanking your #customerexperience. DONE! So, what should our team solve for you next? Best answers will actually win some custom +8 UNO cards, so vote, share or tag a CS friend who has a product wish list. *your mileage may vary

Ok. So we might be biased, but working in a #support team at an #AI-first #Customer #Service company gives you a pretty unique vantage point when it comes to your career (hi Leanne Harte 👋). #Optimism doesn’t come easy when this much change is happening, so this episode of The Ticket podcast is worth a listen if you need some coming into the weekend.

The 4th is a day for our North American friends, colleagues, customers and competitors to celebrate independence. Whether you’re from the US or not, independence is something we’ll celebrate with anyone who wants it. So here’s to the independent thinkers, dreamers and doers who felt compelled to push beyond the limits of convention. The renegades that climbed inch by inch past the naysayers so we could all stand on top of the mountains we do today. Here’s to the true pioneers 🫡

In this week's issue of The Ticket (Intercom's newsletter for CS leaders), Bobby S. addresses a problem which most of us experience, but rarely address... Ladies & Gentlemen, say hi to burnout.

❌ Making your own B2B Saas memes ✅ Your customers making them for you when they swap from a competitor Loving your work, Freedom Forever 👏

How different could your support look between now and #BlackFriday? If you ask Robb Clarke, things could look twice as good as they ever have. Register to hear how he took his team into the future of support, seeing a 50% AI resolution rate of 50% in only 13 weeks 🚀

We're still basking in the post-launch glow, which means it's time to relive some of the comments section from last week's Built For You. Here's a quick pick of some of the live comment love when our team dropped the new 🔥Fin AI Agent over email 🔥, our Knowledge Hub (keeping all your AI support content in one place), and then just some general appreciation for the event, because why not ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Don't forget to check out the full recap link in the comments 👇