Customer support is catching up with the twenty-first century and  and we are finally entering the digital customer support era. These days, customers prefer to solve their problems over the Internet using  email or social media to contact support rather than picking up the phone.

Sometimes that means customers are solving their own problems with self-service. And now, it’s easier than ever for a customer service manager to facilitate an easy experience for the customer in need with digital customer support. With tools like WalkMe, Vision Helpdesk, Freshdesk, AlwaysSupport, and LiveChat, customers can get the help they need with minimum hassle and customer support departments can do their jobs more efficiently. Gone is the era of the sprawling sea of service representatives and the endless hold music.  We’re entering the new world.

WalkMe

WalkMe has a comprehensive set of online guidance and engagement tools for both customers and customer support representatives using context intelligent technology.

Its flagship feature is the WalkThru, a kind of step-by-step guidance built around interactive talk balloons that literally walk a user through a process. Guidance is specific to each user’s preferences, including their preferred language.

Other features include: resources that pool existing support videos and documents and place them in one central place, surveys that gather user feedback, and ShoutOuts that allow you to draw user attention to important messages or announcements on your site, inform users of changes, promote new services or features, announce maintenance or down-times and encourage users to start a Walk-Thru.

The platform’s value proposition is to increase onboarding and adoption rates, boost UX, reduce support costs and improve employee productivity.

Vision HelpDesk

Vision HelpDesk includes multi-channel customer support ticket management software that makes it easy to keep track of different customer requests all in one centralized location, whether they come from email, from phone calls, from live chats, from social media, or from API.

Additionally, it allows for a high level of automation through application of rule based criteria. And with macros, one-click management of multiple ticket operations is a possibility. The incident management software catalogs and analyzes service failure and interruptions, helping to prevent them from recurring.

Notable, Vision HelpDesk provides free software licenses to charities and other non-profits.

FreshDesk

FreshDesk provides a self service portal that directs customers to relevant discussions and FAQs. Users can create a Knowledge Base that lets customers access technical documentation, product tutorials, and expert advice in one convenient location.

The Knowledge Base is editable, allowing for a high degree of customization with custom CSS, HTML, Javascript, and even animated GIFs. And for global companies, the support for multiple time zones and local clocks means that employees across the world can work on their schedules—in 26 different languages

AlwaySupport

AlwaySupport utilizes a self-learning knowledge base that grows from every customer query. When a customer comes with an issue, AlwaySupport’s algorithm instantly directs them to similar issues experienced by other customers, and, importantly, the answers.

With a cloud-based app, a SaaS service, web, android and iOS app deployment, AlwaySupport is easy to access from the office as well as on the go.

LiveChat

LiveChat aims to provide a Cadillac service for live support chat; with its two-way conversation prospects, advanced chat search, and quick chat history tracking, it certainly has a set of very useful features. There are both mobile and web-app versions, allowing for customer service from the office or on the go.

With 105 million chats over LiveChat in 2015, and clients like Roku, Paypal, LG, GoDaddy, and Hyundai, it’s clear that their luxury service is a strong draw.

With the advent of digital customer support, it’s an exciting time for the world customer support. New paradigms are evolving, expectations are changing, and technology is racing to keep up. Your company’s ability to utilize the best tools may play a huge role in customer perception of your commitment to customer success.