AWS for Industries

How to Create Great Customer Experiences Powered by Zendesk on AWS

The world of retail has shifted to an omnichannel experience, and it’s here to stay. That means retailers need to adapt to what customers want: being able to browse on their mobile phones while binge-watching Netflix, ordering online to pick up in store, or just going into your shop like they always did before. Each interaction, no matter the channel, is an opportunity to earn (or lose) a customer’s trust.

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Zendesk, an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Retail Competency Partner, builds customer service software for retailers who want to deliver elevated brand experiences for their shoppers that help increase customer loyalty.

If there’s one thing that’s for certain about the impact of a seriously strange year, it’s that customers have changed the way that they want to shop. While the idea of a digital transformation is nothing new, it was accelerated in 2020, as pandemic lockdowns shuttered in-store shopping almost overnight. As consumers turned to digital channels like ecommerce and contactless store pickup, their expectations of online experiences shifted too. Shoppers expect retailers to know who they are, know what they like (and what they don’t), and deliver personalized service from any channel.

Having a full view of the customer is foundational to delivering high-touch, personalized experiences. Native to AWS, Zendesk is built on an open and flexible solution, Sunshine, that can bring together data from all parts of your business—including billing, shopping and returns history, chat preferences, and customer details. By seamlessly integrating customer data under a single pane of glass with native or customized tools, agents can see who their customers are and how they’ve interacted with the brand. And that helps retailers turn insights into action.

Instacart powers its customer service with Zendesk

Take Instacart, for example. The same-day service connects customers with personal shoppers who deliver groceries for them. Ordering is easy through Instacart’s app or online, and customers can use the company’s artificial intelligence (AI)–powered help center to answer general questions or to get live help. Instacart powers its customer service with Zendesk to manage demand and keep everything connected.

Jeremy Flanagan, customer ops project lead of tools at Instacart, says that it was crucial for Instacart to be able to integrate its customer service solution with custom tools to incorporate its rich multiuser data. “It’s paramount for us to be able to build exactly what we need. Zendesk provides a vast collection of integrations and opportunities for customization as part of our subscription,” says Flanagan. With a monthly ticket volume of over 175,000, Instacart achieved a CSAT of over 90 percent, no easy feat during lockdown in particular.

We all know creating great customer experiences in retail is tough. Making every interaction matter is what keeps customers coming back. With Zendesk, retailers can make sure their customers are getting the support that they need, no matter the channel, wherever and whenever they reach out to engage with the brand.

Learn more about Zendesk for Retail and ecommerce

AWS Partner spotlight

Powered by AWS, Zendesk’s open and flexible solution integrates with the rest of retailers’ tech stacks, giving retailers a complete view of their customers with built-in analytics and automations. Zendesk offers over 1,200 prebuilt integrations in Zendesk Marketplace as well as the tools to create and configure custom experiences. Zendesk connects natively to AWS, simplifying the process of building with Zendesk.

Zendesk Suite is available in AWS Marketplace

Alexandra Mack

Alexandra Mack

Alexandra, director of global industry solutions, joined Zendesk in 2018 to lead solution and customer marketing to tell the Zendesk story of our most innovative and transformative customers. Alexandra works with Zendesk’s most prominent retailers, like Levi’s, Freshly, and Tesco. She was previously the head of marketing at Crunchbase, where she led the marketing team, including go-to-market, messaging and positioning, and packaging and bundling, and she has more than 10 years of experience in SaaS marketing.