An overview of apps for startups

We know based on our Startups CX Benchmark Report 2020 that fast-growing startups use more apps than their slower-growth counterparts. But with so many app options available, how do you decide which ones you need?

While there’s no one right answer, it helps to hear from people who’ve been through it before. Read on for an overview of helpful apps for startups from our Zendesk for Startups team.

How apps can help fuel startup growth

As a startup, your superpower is agility. The last thing you want to do is overwhelm your team by adding too many tools at once or not carefully considering your options–and there are a lot of options.

But if you go about it the right way, apps can simplify and elevate your business processes without creating more friction for your team. You might already use collaboration apps like Slack or Zoom, and by integrating them with your trusted tools, you can help your team access customer data, move quickly to solve customer problems, and remain on the same page throughout the process.

Startups should aim to add a new app or integration every four to five months
Startups CX Benchmark Report 2020

As you continue to grow, you’ll need apps to help you scale without adding complexity. Integrations can streamline your internal processes so your teams can continue to be productive and efficient as you evolve from a team of 10 to a team of 100 or more.

Based on the behavior of fast-growing startups in our benchmark, we found that startups should aim to add a new app or integration every four to five months to have at least five in place by year two.

Popular apps for startups

Here are some app categories that are popular for companies with less than 100 employees, which are common for some of the use cases startups are trying to solve for.

8 app integrations to improve your CX

Apps play an important role not just for your internal teams, but also for your customers. With the right apps, you can provide faster service and reduce customer effort.

In the Zendesk Marketplace you can explore more than 1,000 apps, integrations and partners that can help you make the most of your favorite Zendesk tools including Support, Chat, and Sell. Some apps cost extra but many others are free, so you can decide based on what your budget allows.

There are so many options, but these apps are a good starting point for many teams, and they were some of the most popular among the startups in our benchmark.

1. Slack

   
   Many startups use Slack for team communication, and by integrating Slack with Zendesk Support, you can ensure your entire team is in the loop on important customer issues. Slack helps you bring all your customer support interactions into a single place. You can use Slack messaging actions to create tickets and add comments within seconds as well as receive real-time notifications on tickets in a designated Slack channel.

2. Knowledge Capture

   
   Your employees are the true experts on your business because they live and breathe it every single day. Knowledge Capture leverages your team’s collective knowledge by enabling your agents to search and link help center articles into tickets and create new articles while answering tickets via a template in the Zendesk Support agent workspace. Plus, data about app activities is captured in a custom dashboard showing key metrics for ticket impact, agent performance, and content performance.

3. User Data

   
   When you’re a startup, every customer interaction counts. With the User Data app for Zendesk Support, you can see customer information right away, so you know exactly who you’re talking to and how they can best be helped. Key information including the user, organization, tags, ticket activity, and contact information is available right in the agent workspace. This gives you a holistic view of their past interactions with your company, so you can provide a more tailored response.

4. Time Tracking

   
   Startups are sometimes skeptical of workforce management tools, but when used appropriately, they can be a game changer. With the Time Tracking app, you can easily identify which customers send in the most complicated tickets, or which issue types take the longest for your team to resolve. You can also dig down into an agent’s tickets to discover which issues they’re experts on and which require more time. With this information, you can focus on aligning your team to play to each individual’s strengths.

5. JIRA

   
   It’s a digital world, which means you’ll need to help your customers solve complex technical problems. With Zendesk Support for JIRA, your support and engineering teams will always be on the same page whenever a development issue arises. You can easily escalate and link Zendesk Support tickets to a JIRA issue so critical info is shared and collaboration is effortless. This ensures a complete view of customer conversations related to an issue, with customizations available to fit your workflows.

6. Zendesk Sell

   
   As an emerging startup, you have the opportunity to break down silos before they even start. Apps can help you connect your teams via the tools they’re already using. When you add the Zendesk Sell app, your support agents can get more context from the sales process, and they can notify sales of opportunities surfaced during a support conversation. Additionally, Zendesk Support tickets can be accessed directly from Zendesk Sell, so you can connect buyers with closers and get a complete picture of a customer’s current experience.

7. Helpdesk Migration

   
   Need to migrate data from your previous support solution? You’re not alone. Many startups find themselves in this position when they discover that the solutions they relied on in the early days can no longer keep up. The Helpdesk Migration app can help make the transition to Zendesk even easier. Migrate from over 30 different platforms and retain important information including past tickets, user information, custom fields, etc.

8. Unito

   
   Startups are often building their tool stack as they go, which often leads to a sprawling tech stack. If you’re always copying and pasting data from your customer support tickets to your project management tool, your version control tool, your database, and so on, you’re losing time you could be spending scaling the business. With Unito’s two-way integrations, all that data can get synced automatically, and you can get back to doing important work.

These are just a few of the many options available to companies using Zendesk for support and sales. Search for your favorite apps in the Zendesk Marketplace, where you can find more than 1,000 solutions to choose from.

Finding the right apps for you

There’s no right or wrong way to build out your tech stack. It will probably be trial and error, and you might find that your company’s needs change over time. It’s all part of the experience of being a startup. But the good news is, you don’t have to do it alone.

Zendesk for Startups is a community of like-minded founders who are navigating these same challenges. See if you’re eligible, and apply here to get free access to Zendesk support and sales tools free for 6 months, plus networking and training through our new CX Academy program.