Consistent communication and engagement with customers is the best way to retain them. However, small businesses might not have enough customer service agents to handle growing customers while simultaneously interacting with their prospects. CRM software is the best option for service agents to improve their workflows.
With features such as automation, email and social media ticketing, reporting, analytics, and more, Salesforce Service Cloud might be a good fit for your service team to boost agent productivity. Software like this could improve customer satisfaction and customer experience. Plus, it can save small businesses money to use CRM software instead of hiring more people.
Check out this in-depth review to know if Salesforce Service Cloud is your best option.
What is Salesforce Service Cloud?
Salesforce Service Cloud is a customer service software that helps small businesses achieve consistent and faster case management resolutions. It is a virtual help desk platform that provides an all-around view of customers, allowing your support team to quickly resolve issues and answer queries through messaging apps, which helps retain loyal customers and increase their overall experience.
It is a cloud-based platform with comprehensive tools to enhance customer service through all channels. In addition to its ecosystem of social customer service tools, it also has in-depth reporting and analytics modules, which allow managers to oversee business metrics through real-time dashboards that they can view on their computer or mobile app.
The customer data this service cloud platform provides makes the Salesforce CRM an excellent resource for making better decisions for a company to achieve customer success.
With a customer relationship management platform like Salesforce Service Cloud, customer support has never been this accessible. With only a few agents, the platform also offers community tools. These tools provide customers with self-service functionality and a complete knowledge base about your products and services through a self-service portal.
Before we explain its features in-depth, let’s discuss which customer service teams can benefit the most from this service solution.
Check out our roundup of the Best Customer Service Software
Who is Salesforce Service Cloud best for?
This software suite is best for small businesses and freelancers. However, because of its scalability, it also makes an excellent choice for larger enterprises. It enables small companies to streamline customer support operations through automation using macros and Computer Telephony Integration or CTI.
Its functionalities are beyond basic. It comes with tools that cater to more advanced customer interactions, which can enhance marketing, order management, and other customer service operations and customer issues that need to be addressed. Whether you are a freelancer working for a small business or you own a business that needs to increase efficiency in customer service, Salesforce Service Cloud will make an excellent choice for you.
Because it is somewhat affordable, the software is recommended for the following:
- Startups
- Growing businesses
- Freelancers
- Small to large enterprises
- Nonprofit organizations
Pros
- It comes with a user-friendly interface that is easy to use and navigate
- It includes a self-service portal and comes with a knowledge base for customers to create and manage their tickets
- It comes with an efficient search and case management tool
- The platform has automation for fast resolutions
- You can test the platform to see if it is a good fit without risks with its free trial
- It has a customizable dashboard
- It includes a chatbot and contact center for consistent communication and engagement with customers
Cons
- It can get a bit buggy when integrated with third-party apps
- The email-based customer system is not very helpful
- The premium tools can be a little bit pricey
Salesforce Service Cloud features
Now, let’s look at the most notable features. Not all features come with the basic pricing packages; some can only be used as add-ons for extra monthly costs.
Live Agent
The Live Agent feature enables customers to connect to a service agent in real-time using the internet. It provides multilingual support via live chat from any device. The routing of chats will be distributed to subject matter experts. For example, if escalation happens because of angry customers, the chats can be quickly routed to the right department.
Lightning Console
This feature maximizes agent productivity. It unifies the agent experiences by providing all the information about the customer, including case histories and customer profiles, to their dashboards.
Mobile features
The Salesforce Service Cloud cases can be managed and accessed on any device as long as there is an internet connection. This feature allows field service agents to solve issues on the go. Thanks to the Salesforce Service Cloud mobile app, managers and executives can also monitor metrics and reports from anywhere.
Omni routing
For efficiency and transparency, Salesforce Service Cloud includes an omni channel that automatically routes work items, cases, leads, and other work that will be routed to the most appropriate agents for the job. The administrators can configure the platform to distribute the workload and tickets based on employee skills, availability, and capacity to handle the incoming work. This feature ensures that work with the highest priority will receive immediate action.
Social customer service
This feature allows agents to deliver customer service on all social media platforms using Salesforce Service Cloud tools all in one place. It equips your social media customer service team with the tools to communicate and address customer issues on media channels like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and more.
Salesforce Service Cloud pricing
Salesforce Service Cloud has several different pricing plans depending on your needs.
Starter: $25/user/month
The most basic plan costs $25 a month per user, and it includes out-of-box service features perfect for freelancers, startups, and small businesses.
Sales Professional: $75/user/month
The Sales Professional is a complete service CRM for teams of any size, costing $75 a month per user. It comes with all the essentials plus integrations with third-party apps.
Marketing Cloud Account Management: $1,250/month
The highest plan comes with comprehensive service tools and a fixed monthly price. These pricing packages are recommended for larger enterprises with more reporting and case management needs.
With any plan, you can do add-ons for tools you might need, making Salesforce Service Cloud a flexible option.
Customer support
Salesforce Service Cloud has decent customer support. It is a stable and reliable platform with a myriad of user resources. Because it is easy to use, many online resources, such as articles, tutorials, and more, will answer users’ queries about the platform.
It offers 24/7 customer support and dedicated service tools for customers to get answers as quickly as possible.
FAQs
The service cloud is just one part of the entire Salesforce suite of applications. Salesforce also has a sales cloud app for efficient sales management and other applications dedicated to business needs.
It allows for quick case resolution, clear customer communication, and efficient workflow for your customer service agents. Having better customer service can increase customer satisfaction and ultimately increase your sales.
The service cloud allows you to automate specific functions and find everything you need to resolve customer service issues in one place. Whether customer queries and tickets are coming from social media or email channels, the agents will find them in one place, thus making it easier for them to address and not miss a single customer query.
The service cloud consolidates all customer service needs in one place, making the customer service agents’ actions more efficient. With its omni features, the workload can be effectively distributed amongst the entire team and distributed to the right agent for the job.
