Zendesk Teams With SurveyMonkey and MailChimp on Proactive Customer Surveys and Communication

December 10, 2013

SAN FRANCISCO – December 10, 2013 – Zendesk, the leading provider of cloud software for better customer service, today introduced capabilities to conduct proactive customer surveys and email campaigns through new integrations with SurveyMonkey, the world’’s leading online survey platform, and leading email marketing platform MailChimp. The integrations are built on top of Customer Lists, a new Zendesk feature that enables companies to engage directly with their customers beyond the traditional support ticket.

Traditionally in customer service, companies interact with their customers when they contact support for help. Yet only a fraction of customers ever contact service for help, and even when they do, most do so infrequently. Customer Lists allow companies to view and organize their customers across various criteria, such as their tenure, usage or interests, and then engage with a SurveyMonkey survey to gather feedback or a MailChimp email campaign to start a conversation. The lists also can be exported for use with other applications or services.

“Companies spend more time engaging with their customers through support than almost any other part of their organization,” said Adrian McDermott, senior vice president of product development at Zendesk. “Together with MailChimp and SurveyMonkey, we’re helping customer service teams transform from solving reactive customer requests to building lasting customer relationships.”

Gather Feedback through SurveyMonkey:

The SurveyMonkey Create app allows companies to build and send surveys, either from scratch or through pre-made templates specific to product feedback and general customer service feedback. For example, by creating a list in Zendesk of customers who recently bought a product, a company could create a survey targeted to those customers asking for their product feedback.

“By gathering information directly from customers, companies can make more informed business decisions and spot potential customer service issues before they occur,” said Kate Brennan, director of business development at SurveyMonkey.

Start Conversations through MailChimp:

Companies using Zendesk and the MailChimp Campaign app can now create and distribute targeted email campaigns based on factors such as billing cycles and customer tenure, and then communicate proactively with those customers. For example, a company could reward their most avid customers by sending sneak peeks at a new product, warn users of service disruptions or greet new customers with a personalized welcome newsletter.

“The best customer service creates an ongoing conversation between real people,” said Amy Ellis, head of integrations at MailChimp. “By being targeted and personal in their proactive communication with customers, companies can build relationships that last a lifetime.”

Zendesk’’s Customer Lists feature is available immediately, and companies can add the new SurveyMonkey Create app and MailChimp Campaign app to their accounts from the Zendesk Apps Marketplace at http://www.zendesk.com/apps.

About SurveyMonkey

SurveyMonkey is the world’s leading online survey platform, with more than 2 million survey responses every day. SurveyMonkey has revolutionized the way people give and take feedback, making it accessible, easy and affordable for everyone. The company was founded in 1999 with a focus on helping people make better decisions, and has built technology based on over 10 years of experience in survey methodology and web development. Customers include 99% of the Fortune 500, academic institutions, organizations and neighborhood soccer leagues everywhere. The company has over 275 employees throughout the United States and Europe, with headquarters in Palo Alto, CA. For more information, visit www.surveymonkey.com.

About MailChimp

MailChimp supports more than 4 million subscribers worldwide, sending 5 billion messages per month. MailChimp is designed for the do-it-yourself power user – someone looking for all of the power of an enterprise application, but built for anyone to use. MailChimp integrates with many third party applications including Facebook, Twitter, Hootsuite, Pinterest, Instagram, SurveyMonkey, Eventbrite, Etsy, Salesforce, WordPress, Magento, Joomla, Drupal and Google Analytics. And best of all, prices start at free. For more information, visit MailChimp.com.

About Zendesk

Zendesk builds cloud software for better customer service, bringing companies and their customers closer together. With Zendesk, companies engage directly and openly with customers, building more meaningful customer relationships that last a lifetime. More than 30,000 companies, such as Gilt Groupe, Disney and Box, use Zendesk to provide service to more than 200 million people worldwide. Founded in 2007 and based in San Francisco, Zendesk has offices in nine countries and funding from Charles River Ventures, Benchmark Capital, Goldman Sachs, GGV Capital, Index Ventures, Matrix Partners and Redpoint Ventures. Learn more at www.zendesk.com.