Think about the last time you experienced great customer service. What made it great? Was it the response time, effective communication, or the resolution? How about all three?

When it comes to customer experience, especially in the ad tech world, customer service can make or break how users interact with and feel about an app. We know that time is money (quite literally), and a delay in properly working software frustrates sales teams and can ultimately trickle down to their clients. We also know that "good" customer service isn't enough anymore—it needs to be effective, efficient, and ultimately simple.

People use Pilot to get their work done. It's designed to be fast and straightforward. Submitting a help ticket and ultimately getting it resolved has to model the same ideals and principles that encouraged our clients to sign on in the first place.

To understand how we deliver remarkable customer service to our users, let's break down our support process, the tools and software we use, and how it really comes down to good old-fashioned human interaction.

What Happens When a User Encounters An Issue?

Sometimes, our users need additional guidance or training to solve their issues. This is where our Pilot Help Desk steps in. Powered by Intercom, users can access our chat feature directly within Pilot. From there, they can explain their issue and be directed to an extensive and well-thought-out library of articles and videos. Our team has curated this library to quickly answer several common questions before ever having to submit a help ticket.

If a user cannot find their solution, they can follow their internal chain of support and begin the life of a support ticket.

There are a couple of different ways a user can get in touch with us: via the Pilot Help Desk or Email. While both methods land your ticket directly into our actively managed Help Desk queue, most users will reach out via our portal for a few reasons. The portal allows them to identify the module and browser within which they are experiencing the issue, add files and screenshots associated with their issue, and streamline the communication process. Users can also easily track the status and the request type as well as reference past or closed requests. Who knows, maybe the solution to a previously submitted request can assist you now.

We are actively working to enhance our Intercom piece to allow users to submit a ticket directly from a chat, eliminating the need to maneuver to the portal or send an email. This enhancement will be a huge time saver and simplify the support process - something we are really excited about.

Prioritization

As an ad tech company, we wouldn't be able to manage what we do without the help of other applications. Utilizing product management software like Jira helps our teams prioritize and collaborate on tickets. When working through tickets, we start with problems and work our way down by who's been waiting the longest for help. We'll ask common questions - Is this something we've seen before? Have we already been able to recreate this issue? If it's something we can't seem to resolve, we will escalate these issues internally for further review.

Communication

Effective communication drives good customer experience - not only externally but internally.

Our team uses Slack as a tool and a channel for real-time collaboration and quick resolution. Different Slack channels exist to investigate issues, pose questions, or get expertise from Product or Technical Operations that may be outside the realm of our CS team. Slack creates team cohesion and ensures every team member is in the loop and can contribute their expertise where it's most needed. This continuous dialogue helps us address issues more effectively, thus allowing for better communication with our users and faster resolution times.

Real Humans Who Care

Technology aids in the support ticket process, but the real magic of our method lies in our CS team members. The success of Pilot has many variables, but continued success in making sure our product works and our users can be successful when using it is what sets us apart.

"We care, that's it," says Benji Zadrozny, ShowSeeker Client Support Manager. "We want our users to be successful, and it's meaningful to us to get a customer on their way to get their job done."

Wrapping Up

Creating a positive customer experience requires a lot of work behind the scenes. Still, we are committed to continuing to invest in our people and product to ensure we make our user's lives easier. As we grow Pilot and expand, our goal will remain the same—provide a fast tool for our users to get their work done.