Continuing effective customer support during a pandemic or natural disaster

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<p id="docs-hc-snippet" style="display: none;">Due to natural disasters or other disruptive local or regional events, you might need to alter how you use Zendesk to support your customers. This might include turning specific channels off or directing customers to use more self-service options while there is a disruption to your service. To help you, we’ve compiled some recommendations to help you get the most out of your Zendesk products during these times.</p>
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<p class="p">Due to natural disasters or other disruptive local or regional events, you might need to
alter how you use Zendesk to support your customers. This might include turning specific
channels off or directing customers to use more self-service options while there is a
disruption to your service. To help you, we’ve compiled some recommendations to help you
get the most out of your Zendesk products during these times. </p>
<p class="p">This article contains the following sections:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="robstack_temp__ul_a5j_1lj_41c">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_ngw_glj_41c">Alert customers during high volume</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_s5y_hlj_41c">Temporarily disable live channels</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_tjz_hlj_41c">Improve collaboration for remote teams</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_ixz_hlj_41c">Surface high-priority tickets</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_th1_3lj_41c">Implement and improve self-service options</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_jt1_3lj_41c">Optimize your Chat and Web Widget (Classic) setup</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_dfb_3lj_41c">Monitor your metrics and high-priority tickets</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_r4b_3lj_41c">Ensure agents have what they need</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_n4x_vlj_41c">More resources</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_ngw_glj_41c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">Alert customers during high volume</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">If you're dealing with an increased volume of tickets, it's a good idea to keep your
customers informed. Add alert banners or send messages to let users know that you're
dealing with a high volume and there might be a delay, but you're doing your
best.</p>
<p class="p">Try these things:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_ngw_glj_41c__ul_wpj_jlj_41c">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Update your notification triggers for received requests</strong> to let customers
know you're experiencing high volume. Be sure to point them to self-service
resources in the meantime, if you have any. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408831473562" target="_blank">How do I edit the automatic response sent to
someone who submits a ticket</a>.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Edit your pre-chat form to customize the greeting</strong> during high chat
periods. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408882974234" target="_blank">Enabling the pre-chat form</a>.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Add a notification banner to your help center</strong> to let users know you are
experiencing high volume. You might also use a banner to highlight important
resources or FAQs related to the ticket spike. See <a class="xref" href="https://community.zendesk.com/knowledge-10/adding-a-notification-banner-to-your-help-center-v2-10340" target="_blank">Adding a notification banner to your help
center</a>. (Zendesk Suite Growth and above, Zendesk Support Professional
and Enterprise only)</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Adjust your business hours or operating hours</strong> to set customer
expectations if you have limited agent availability. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408842938522" target="_blank">Setting your schedule with business hours and
holidays</a> and <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408822398106" target="_blank">Creating a schedule with operating
hours</a> for Chat. (Zendesk Suite Growth and above, Zendesk Support
Professional and Enterprise only)</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Improve your customer communication in tickets</strong> by balancing brevity,
thoroughness, and personality. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408822517658" target="_blank">Enhance your customer communication with
media</a>.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_s5y_hlj_41c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Temporarily disable live channels</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">If you are unable to continue offering your customers live channels due to unforeseen
events and possible staff shortages, you might need to temporarily disable those
channels or let users know there might be delays.</p>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested2" id="topic_rw2_lmj_41c">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title4">Live chat</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">You might need to disable the channel to temporarily suspend live chat.</p>
<p class="p">You can turn off the Chat channel in the Web Widget (Classic) settings and turn
it back on when you are able to staff the live channel. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408838063258#topic_ldx_wlc_vfb__enable_chat" target="_blank">Configurable Web Widget (Classic)
components</a> (Chat). </p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested2" id="topic_mry_lmj_41c">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title5">Voice</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">For your phone calls, you may want to record a new greeting to let callers know
that there are ongoing disruptions in service and hold times may be long or
completely unavailable. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408821594650#topic_eft_dgd_yt" target="_blank">Creating a custom greeting and assigning it
to numbers</a>.</p>
<p class="p">You may also want to disable the callback option in the Web Widget (Classic), if
it’s enabled, when you won’t have access to call back your customers in the
foreseeable future. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408838063258#talk_in_ww" target="_blank">Configurable Web Widget (Classic)
components</a>.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title6" class="topic nested2" id="topic_ihz_lmj_41c">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title6">Messaging</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">You can turn off messaging by removing the Web Widget. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408829224858" target="_blank">Removing Web Widget to turn off messaging
for web and mobile</a>.</p>
<p class="p">You can also update the initial response received by customers requesting a
messaging conversation to reflect current conditions. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4500737327258#topic_kzg_ync_gnb" target="_blank">Customizing the default messaging
response</a> for more information</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title7" class="topic nested1" id="topic_tjz_hlj_41c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title7">Improve collaboration for remote teams</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">You might be used to working with distributed teams, but even the most experienced
virtual teams are probably facing added challenges if your workforce is 100% working
from home now. It's important to make sure they have the tools to collaborate and
communicate effectively.</p>
<p class="p">Try these things:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_tjz_hlj_41c__ul_wrh_plj_41c">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Use CCs, followers, and @mentions</strong> to add internal and external users to
your ticket conversations. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408822451482" target="_blank">Using CCs, followers and @mentions</a> and
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408836035866" target="_blank">CCs and followers resources</a>.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Use side conversations to get more people involved in a ticket.</strong> This
enables agents to pull in other people, or even a specific group or department,
for an issue or process and centralize communications within the ticket. See
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408844206746" target="_blank">About side conversations</a>. This feature
requires the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408889260186" target="_blank">Collaboration</a> features for
Support.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Install the Slack for Zendesk Support integration</strong> if your company uses
Slack for internal communication. The integration enables you to interact with
Zendesk Support tickets in your Slack channels. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408833756698" target="_blank">Installing the Slack for Zendesk Support
integration</a>.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title8" class="topic nested1" id="topic_ixz_hlj_41c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title8">Surface high-priority tickets</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">While you're experiencing spikes in ticket volume, you want to make sure your team
stays focused on high-priority tickets and that nothing slips through the
cracks.</p>
<p class="p">Try these things:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_ixz_hlj_41c__ul_ewp_qlj_41c">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Create a view to surface high-volume ticket topics.</strong> A targeted view can
help you quickly clear the queue of high-volume tickets when you experience a
sudden spike in tickets. You can create a view focused on one kind of ticket so
your agents can quickly power through. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408888828570" target="_blank">Creating views to manage ticket
workflow</a>.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Use SLAs to prioritize your tickets and alert your team</strong> when tickets are
about to breach an SLA. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408829459866" target="_blank">Defining and using SLA policies</a> and
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408820131994" target="_blank">How to alert your team when tickets are
nearing an SLA breach</a>. (Zendesk Suite Growth and above, Zendesk
Support Professional and Enterprise)</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title9" class="topic nested1" id="topic_th1_3lj_41c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title9">Implement and improve self-service options</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">If you aren't currently offering self-service for your customers, now is good time to
get started to offset any ticket spikes you're dealing with. It'll enable customers
to quickly get important information and answers relevant to this unusual time,
without filing a ticket with you. And if you already have a help center for
self-service, and you're looking to optimize your self-service, there are some tools
that might help you with that.</p>
<p class="p">Try these things:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_th1_3lj_41c__ul_kmj_slj_41c">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Set up a help center so that customers can get answers without filing a
ticket</strong>, if you don't already have one. You can set up a lightweight
self-service offering with important articles, announcements, and FAQs for this
peak time period. Don't worry if you don't have a beautifully customized help
center or a robust selection of articles. You can do that later. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408846795674" target="_blank">Getting started with your help
center</a>.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Create a specific announcement article or community topic</strong> in an existing
help center to answer customer questions. Customers might need a place to ask
general questions or read what your business and others are doing. Be sure to
promote the link on your help center home page, company website, ticket
notifications, social media, and so on.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Embed a Web Widget in your website</strong> so that your customers can self-serve,
if possible, or reach out to you using any of your supported channels, all from
one place. You can quickly enable Web Widget (Classic) with a basic
configuration and add it to your website or help center for now, then customize
it later when you have time. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408836216218" target="_blank">Using Web Widget (Classic) to embed customer
support in your website</a>.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Enable autoreplies with articles to answer customer questions with
articles</strong> and reduce the ticket volume for your agents. Autoreplies with
articles use machine learning to answer tickets with articles from your
knowledge base.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title10" class="topic nested1" id="topic_jt1_3lj_41c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title10">Optimize your Chat and Web Widget (Classic) setup</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">During periods of high visitor traffic, you should update your widget configuration
to optimize performance for high chat visitor traffic.</p>
<p class="p">Try this:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_jt1_3lj_41c__ul_jhz_tlj_41c">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Use the <a class="xref" href="https://developer.zendesk.com/embeddables/docs/widget/settings#connectonpageload" target="_blank">connectOnPageLoad</a> Web Widget API
setting to optimize chat for better performance.</strong> This setting defers the
chat connection until visitors interact with the Web Widget (Classic). By
deferring the connection, the volume of concurrent chat connections across your
website is reduced. This helps ensure a better experience during periods of high
traffic.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title11" class="topic nested1" id="topic_dfb_3lj_41c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title11">Monitor your metrics and high-priority tickets</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">While you're experiencing spikes in ticket volume and working with a remote team,
it's more important than ever to keep an eye on your daily metrics to see how things
are going and make adjustments as needed.</p>
<p class="p">Try these things:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_dfb_3lj_41c__ul_rhr_vlj_41c">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Review the Explore pre-built reporting dashboards daily</strong> to monitor
critical data for all your channels and your team. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408846844826" target="_blank">Understanding dashboards</a>.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Analyze key Support data and make adjustments to improve your metrics.</strong>
Keep an eye on areas where you are exceeding expectations or areas that might
need some work. Understand how to interpret the important metrics and know what
to do based on what you're seeing. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408832234394" target="_blank">Using the metrics that matter to improve
customer support.</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Create a custom report to compare ticket volume from one day to the next</strong>. A
common request we've been receiving, as things continue to change rapidly during
this pandemic, is how to compare the volume of tickets between two date ranges.
You can create an Explore report to do that, and you can modify the query for
other data to suit your own business needs. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408823370010" target="_blank">Comparing today's ticket volume to
yesterday's</a>.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title12" class="topic nested1" id="topic_r4b_3lj_41c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title12">Ensure agents have what they need</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Your agents are on the front lines, and a lot of them are adjusting to dealing with
customers all day while being in a new environment. We have a few agent tips to help
them adjust. We're sure there are more — so please share agent tips in the
comments.</p>
<p class="p">Try these things:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_r4b_3lj_41c__ul_b4h_xlj_41c">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Use the Support and Chat mobile apps to work from anywhere.</strong> You might not
have the perfect work setup right now, or you might not always be able to get to
your laptop, so agents can use the mobile apps for Support or Chat wherever they
are. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408846407066" target="_blank">About the Zendesk Support mobile app</a>
and <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408833835674" target="_blank">How does the Chat mobile app
work</a>.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Set your chat status when you're available or away.</strong> If you're a chat
agent, be sure to set your status to indicate when you're available, away, or
invisible. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408828519706" target="_blank">Setting your chat availability
status</a>.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Set up your home work office.</strong> A key ingredient in your home setup is your
headset. We have some recommendations based on our experience. While you're at
home, you might want to forward calls to a personal phone instead of using your
browsers. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408827987482#topic_gvj_32s_vgb" target="_blank">Choosing the right headset</a> and <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408821101338-How-do-I-take-calls-on-a-personal-or-desk-phone-" target="_blank">How do I take calls on a personal or desk
phone</a>.</li>
<li class="li">
<p class="p" id="topic_r4b_3lj_41c__h_01G02GAND4GAGSEXR1S8R10VB6"><strong class="ph b">Broadcasting a message to your
agents.</strong> If you need to shut down your channels and get your staff to
safety, you can use the following methods to communicate with them (assuming
you don’t use an internal communication tool such as Slack or Microsoft
Teams).</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_r4b_3lj_41c__ul_c4h_xlj_41c">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Chat.</strong> You can use agent-to-agent chat in the Chat dashboard by
selecting a signed-in agent from the side navigation and starting a
conversation. The agent will receive messages from the Chat dashboard
and Chat mobile apps. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408824240026-Serving-chats-in-the-Chat-dashboard#topic_sl3_byn_sx" target="_blank">Chatting with other
agents</a>.<div class="p">
<div class="note note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> Agent-to-agent chat is not applicable to
customers using the Agent Workspace.</div>
</div>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Support. </strong>You can use the Agent Notification app to message all or
specific groups in your account. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408821403930-Installing-and-using-the-Agent-Notification-App" target="_blank">Installing and using the Agent
Notification app</a>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title13" class="topic nested1" id="topic_n4x_vlj_41c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title13">More resources</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">In the documentation</strong></p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_n4x_vlj_41c__ul_gln_zlj_41c">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408829504154" target="_blank">Collaboration overview</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408832234394" target="_blank">Using the metrics that matter to improve
support</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408846844826" target="_blank">Getting started with the pre-built
dashboards</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408836455706" target="_blank">Best practices to prepare for a busy
season</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408819826842" target="_blank">Boosting team productivity</a></li>
</ul>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">On the Zendesk blog</strong></p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_n4x_vlj_41c__ul_hln_zlj_41c">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://www.zendesk.com/blog/transitioning-remote-workforce/" target="_blank">Transitioning to a remote
workforce</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://www.zendesk.com/blog/helping-prepare-team-getting-zendesk/?_ga=2.137432752.1263978234.1708967455-815634380.1689356604&amp;_gl=1*i8fuvz*_ga*ODE1NjM0MzgwLjE2ODkzNTY2MDQ.*_ga_0G6FC9CS2V*MTcwODk2NzQ1NC4xMTYuMS4xNzA4OTcwODY4LjYwLjAuMA.." target="_blank">Preparing your team: Getting the most out of
Zendesk</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
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