Zendesk Launches SMS Channel to Enable Fast, Personalized Customer Service

May 11, 2016

RELATE LIVE CONFERENCE, San Francisco, CA—May 11, 2016— Zendesk, Inc. (NYSE: ZEN) today announced a new native SMS support channel, enabling businesses globally to receive and respond to texts from their customers within Zendesk. Leading beauty and grooming retailer Birchbox, on-demand delivery service Favor, and global retail analytics leader Retail Solutions Inc.(RSi), are already using SMS to quickly and efficiently respond to their customers.

“SMS isn’t new, but the rise of on-demand services and an increasingly mobile customer base makes this channel important for businesses,” said Ryan Nichols, general manager of Zendesk Voice. “SMS lets businesses connect with their customers wherever they are in an extremely personal way. At Zendesk, we’re constantly adding emerging channels so businesses can meet the support needs and expectations of today’s consumer.”

“Our customers and Runners prefer to interact via SMS, making it a key part of our customer support strategy,” said Evan Aldrich, head of customer support at Favor, a fast-growing on-demand delivery business based out of Austin, Texas. “Using Zendesk to provide SMS support is easy to set up and fits perfectly into our existing workflows.”

Favor has added SMS as an option within their app for customers seeking help. Now, customers can choose to call, email or text as their preferred channel to reach an agent. Once a customer texts Favor, a ticket will be issued in Zendesk.

Today’s consumers require a personalized, multi-channel experience on mobile and demand businesses to meet them where they are. According to a Harris Poll, 77 percent of consumers with texting capabilities aged 18-34 are likely to have a positive perception of a company that offers text capability. Additionally, in a recent report* Forrester notes that the pervasiveness and familiarity of text messaging make it an ideal channel to win, serve, and retain customers who require assistance from a contact center agent.

Zendesk is offering SMS support to any size business to deploy right out of the box. Businesses simply provision a phone number through Zendesk and publish that number within their app or on their website. When texts come through, the agent views the conversation in Zendesk, just as they would an email ticket. With Zendesk, all conversations with customers are centralized in one place.

Zendesk customers interested in early access for SMS can sign up here.

*Weave Support For Text Chat Into Your Omnichannel Customer Service Strategy, Forrester (Sept. 2015)

About Zendesk

Zendesk provides a customer service platform designed to bring organizations and their customers closer together. With more than 75,000 paid customer accounts, Zendesk’s products are used by organizations in 150 countries and territories to provide support in more than 40 languages. Founded in 2007 and headquartered in San Francisco, Zendesk has operations in the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia and South America. Learn more at www.zendesk.com.