Master in-app customer support: A complete guide

9 min read

Last edited: Aug 13, 2024

Master in-app customer support: A complete guide

Venkatesan Gopal

In-app customer support is the most preferred choice today for three reasons:

Convenience: Instant support access within the application
Efficiency: Seamlessly resolves issues without interruptions
Personalization: Tailored assistance for specific user needs

In this blog post, we will cover the basics of in-app support, tools, and importance, along with the differences between in-app support in mobile apps and web apps.

What is in-app customer support?

In-app support is when customer service is seamlessly integrated into software, or application, offering users assistance and guidance without requiring them to exit the application or web-app interface.

Why is in-app support important?

In-app support is a progressive way of carrying out customer service delivery. With in-app customer support, businesses can:

Efficiently resolve issues

The faster the resolution, the better the customer satisfaction

Customer support representatives can learn the specifics of customer issues with in-app support. They can better streamline support operations, and track and manage customer concerns within the application. And most importantly, optimize customer support agents effectively for targeted and immediate help.

Enhance user engagement

The easier the communication, the better the customer experience.

In-app customer support aid enhances user interaction and feedback collection, fostering proactive support. It also empowers the customer service team to streamline support operations, manage concerns, and offer targeted assistance, optimizing user experiences within the app.

Personalize user experience

The more personal the experience, the higher the end results.

Tailoring support to individual customer requirements and specific segments fosters a more precise and effective guidance system. By harnessing data-driven insights and generative AI capabilities for personalization, the approach elevates user experiences within the app and addresses their unique requirements comprehensively.

With in-app support, customers can get:

Instant assistance

Embedded within the app, instant support creates a seamless experience, ensuring users receive assistance quickly and without disruption. A smooth integration allows uninterrupted task completion while effortlessly accessing timely assistance, reinforcing an easy user journey.

Seamless interaction

In-app support fosters organic and streamlined communication, enabling users to effortlessly engage with support. This harmonious exchange facilitates quicker query resolution, enhancing the app support experience by integrating assistance seamlessly into their app interactions.

Personalized solutions

Tailored guidance in-app caters to individual user nuances, crafting bespoke experiences. By leveraging user behavior insights, this support system offers customized assistance, subtly enriching user satisfaction and deepening engagement within the application’s ecosystem.

To experience these in-app support benefits as a product company, and extend experiential benefits to your customers, you can employ a smart customer service solution such as DevRev that enables you to integrate in-app support that your customer prefers.

What are the types of in-app support?

There are different types of in-app support for different purposes, and they depend on the product’s design and functionality.

Here are the top types that you can integrate using customer service software tools designed to seamlessly build in-app support, enriching user experiences within your platform.

AI-powered bot

AI bots provide automated yet personalized support. While learning from user interactions, they offer contextual assistance and create a responsive in-app support system. And when the chatbot cannot resolve the user query, especially in more complex issues, it can be directed to the support team.

Knowledge bases

Comprehensive knowledge bases offering FAQs, guides, and troubleshooting tips within the app empower users with self-service options, enabling them to find solutions independently and reducing dependency on direct support channels.

Video tutorials

A detailed and step-by-step video tutorial can simplify intricate functionalities and troubleshoot procedures within the app interface.

Additionally, video tutorials can contribute significantly to effective onboarding, seamlessly introducing users to app usage and ensuring a positive product adoption.

With AI-native customer service software, you can build powerful in-app support that your customers find seamlessly integrated, intuitive, and tailored to their individual needs, fostering enhanced user experiences and satisfaction within your product.

What are the differences in in-app support between mobile apps and web apps?

Just as how in-app experience is different on a mobile phone and a web application, the in-app support experience has to be different and designed according to the platform.

We have compiled the top differences for you to consider while building in-app support functions in your applications.

Aspects	Mobile in-app support	Web in-app support
Interface	Tailored for smaller touch screens.Foe example, push notifications	Adapted to various screen sizes, less native experience
Accessibility	Integrated within the app, immediate assistance	May involve pop-ups or redirection, potentially disruptive
Features	May leverage device-specific features for mobile devices	Relies on web-based functionalities appropriate for website
Development and updates	Requires platform-specific development, slower updates	Immediate updates possible, quicker implementation
Offer capabilities	Some support features might be available offline. But there is usually space only for FAQs or chatbots.	Generally requires internet connectivity for support. But you can implement a full resource center and knowledge base.
Usage patterns	Mobile users interact faster, expecting immediate and seamless in-app support	Users may not prioritize in-app support immediately

3 in-app support examples

Airtable

By offering in-app chat support, Airtable aims to enhance the overall user experience by providing immediate assistance, quick query resolution, and personalized guidance.

The in-app chat function enables users to communicate directly with support representatives within the Airtable interface, eliminating the need for external communication channels or navigating away from the application. This streamlined approach ensures that users can continue working on their projects without interruption, reducing the likelihood of frustration or confusion.

Slack

Slack has an in-app knowledge base to offer comprehensive self-help resources and guides. It empowers users to swiftly find solutions to queries, troubleshoot issues, and gain in-depth insights into its features and functionalities, all within the application’s interface.

Skype

Skype has the AI bot, Bing, integrated to offer intelligent search functionalities, providing users with quick access to information, images, news, and more within the Skype interface.

DevRev’s in-app customer support system - Empowering software development Teams

DevRev is a OneCRM platform that connects your front-end customer-facing teams and the backend product teams. It offers a range of tools and features to help digital teams collaborate, communicate, and provide customer support. This includes in-app customer support.

DevRev’s in-app support system is designed to provide users with a streamlined and efficient way to offer customer support directly within their applications or websites without the need for external communication channels.

Here’s how DevRev’s in-app support system works:

1. Integration: DevRev's in-app support system can be easily integrated into any application or website using a simple SDK (Software Development Kit). This enables customer support teams to offer real-time assistance directly within their applications.

2. Ticketing system: DevRev’s in-app support system includes a ticketing system that allows users to report issues, submit queries, or request assistance directly within the application. This enables support teams to track and manage customer support requests efficiently.

3. Collaboration and communication: DevRev’s in-app support system includes collaboration and communication features that enable support, product, and engineering teams to work together to resolve customer support requests. This ensures that customer support requests are resolved quickly and efficiently.

4. Knowledge base and self-service portal: DevRev’s in-app support system includes a knowledge base and self-service portal that enables users to find answers to their queries without the need for external communication channels. This reduces the workload on support representatives and improves the overall user experience.

5. Analytics and reporting: DevRev’s in-app support system includes analytics and reporting features that enable teams to track customer support requests, identify trends, and improve the overall customer support experience. This ensures a high-quality customer support experience that meets the needs of their users.

Powerful customer service software for in-app support

A robust customer service software with in-app support can help efficiently manage user interactions, resolutions, and feedback. This software amalgamates live chat, knowledge bases, and AI bots, optimizing the user experience seamlessly within the app’s interface.

Through AI-driven insights and user-centric design, in-app support ensures swift query resolution and personalized assistance. By predicting issues and learning from interactions, it offers proactive support, enriching user satisfaction and loyalty. AI-based analytics continually refine in-app support, enhancing customer retention and engagement.

Consider AI-native platforms such as DevRev. It can help you augment in-app support by swiftly resolving queries, offering personalized assistance, and predicting user needs. With its robust AI-driven system, it ensures seamless integration within your app using snap-ins, optimizing user satisfaction and engagement.

With the help of Snap-ins, you can integrate third-party platforms to carry out in-app support most efficiently and effectively. In addition, using smart analytics can refine your in-app support, gaining valuable insights into user behavior. This continuous optimization enhances user retention, loyalty, and overall app performance.

Frequently Asked Questions

If an AI-based chatbot reaches its limitations or user queries are more complex, it can be handed to an agent. This transition ensures a smooth handoff, retaining conversation history and contextual information, guaranteeing uninterrupted and personalized support within the app interface.

In-app support enriches conversations by meeting customer expectations for immediate and tailored assistance, resulting in increased engagement and satisfaction within the application interface.

The key evaluation features include customization for branding, integration with existing systems, user-friendliness, live chat availability, multi-language support, and robust feedback and analytics mechanisms for optimization.

In-app support optimizes operations, reducing costs by streamlining resolution times, automating processes, and offering self-service options, resulting in decreased workload and expenses.

To measure effectiveness, track resolution times, user satisfaction ratings, issue resolution rates, and analyze usage analytics for insights into user engagement and support utilization.