The Conversational Support Funnel toolkit

The Conversational Support Funnel Toolkit

Optimize your funnel

Explore

The Conversational Support Funnel Toolkit

Make efficient, personal support a reality with Intercom’s Conversational Support Funnel Toolkit.

Zara Burke

Today, customer expectations are at an all time high. At the same time, support teams are grappling with an increased flood of conversations, which is fueling customer frustration and team burnout. A messenger-based support experience is the key to regaining control.

In our

Conversational Support Funnel guide⁠

we outlined the exact blueprint your support team can use to manage your conversations more efficiently and personally through a messenger-based experience. The Conversational Support Funnel combines human, self-serve, and proactive support to empower your team to get ahead of known problems, automatically answer repetitive questions, and quickly resolve complex and VIP issues.

As an extension of

our guide⁠

, and to make it even more actionable, we've created an interactive worksheet that empowers your team to manage every support conversation through the funnel – with efficiency, empathy, and ease. Enjoy!

Need a quick recap on the funnel?

Place in Funnel

Description

Proactive 💪

Use proactive support to pre-emptively address known questions before customers even have them – with outbound messages, product tours, and messenger apps.

Self-serve 🤖

Use self-serve support for automatically resolving simple, repetitive queries – with chatbots and knowledge base articles.

Human 😃

Reserve human support for complex and VIP queries that can only be answered by a human – using a combination of inbox capabilities and automation.

There are no rows in this table

⁠

Dive deeper into human, self-serve, and proactive support here.⁠

⁠

Grab the worksheet

If you’re currently experiencing a high volume of conversations

you’re not alone.⁠

The worksheet below will help you manage every conversation in the most efficient, personal way.

Of course, every type of business is unique and so are your customers’ needs. You can tailor the worksheet based on your customers’ needs and the tools you have in your support tech stack in five simple steps (provided below).

⁠

Copy this doc

⁠

Question

FAQ?

Complex?

Place in Funnel

Tactic

Success Metrics

How do I configure x product?

Yes

Proactive 💪

Product tour

Customer retention

How do I use x feature?

Yes

Proactive 💪

Outbound message

Customer activation

Customer retention

When’s my delivery due?

Yes

Proactive 💪

Messenger app (e.g. Shopify)

Conversation volume

How do I update my billing details?

Yes

Self-serve 🤖

Chatbot answer

Resolution rate

Customer satisfaction

What’s your cancellation policy?

Yes

Self-serve 🤖

Chatbot answer

Knowledge base article

Resolution rate

Customer satisfaction

How can I update my password?

Yes

Self-serve 🤖

Chatbot answer

Resolution rate

Customer satisfaction

Why am I sending duplicate messages?

Yes

Self-serve 🤖

Human 😃

Chatbot routing

Message from rep

Response time

Customer satisfaction

Where’s my delivery? It’s late!

Yes

Self-serve 🤖

Human 😃

Chatbot routing

Message from rep

Response time

Customer satisfaction

Can you help me choose the right subscription?

Yes

Self-serve 🤖

Human 😃

Chatbot routing

Message from rep

Response time

Customer satisfaction

There are no rows in this table

⁠

Worksheet tips

First make a copy of this doc. The worksheet above provides an example of how you can manage your different types of customer questions. Use it as your North Star, but make sure to tweak it based on your customers’ needs and the tools you have in your tech stack.

Appoint a dedicated tiger team to set up the worksheet and implement your Conversational Support Funnel. Ideally, this will be a group of people on your team who have a strong working knowledge of your customers’ needs and an appetite for career growth.

Have your tiger team document your customers’ most common questions and pain points. If in doubt, reviewing your latest

voice of customer report⁠

will help.

Now you’re ready to add your customers’ questions to the worksheet (just click the + button at the bottom of the worksheet to add a new question). For every customer question, fill in the dedicated box in each column. You’ll need to decide:

Is it a frequent query?

Is it complex? These are questions that require a human touch, like emotionally-charged issues, high-priority and VIP conversations, and thorny troubleshooting queries.

Where does it belong in the funnel? If in doubt,

learn when to use human, self-serve, and proactive support here.⁠

⁠

What tactic should you use?

Discover the most effective tactics and tools to use for each support method here.⁠

What are your success metrics?

5. Finally, once you’ve approved the worksheet, you’re ready to implement your Conversational Support Funnel. Don’t forget to report back on the success of the funnel to the powers that be. They’ll be particularly interested in knowing how your support team is moving the needle on customer loyalty and retention, along with any efficiency gains.