Season 1 - #23 Ryan Steinberg, VP of Customer Success, Intercom

In this episode, we sit down with Ryan Steinberg, the Head of Global Customer Support Operations at Intercom. Ryan discusses how Intercom is using innovative approaches, including automation and a community-centric strategy, to create seamless and efficient customer experiences. He dives into the nuances of building a customer-led support operation, Intercom's internal use of its own platform, and how they stay ahead of customer needs in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. Whether you’re interested in customer experience, tech innovation, or remote work trends, this episode offers a wealth of insights.

Timestamps:

• 0:00 - Introduction to Ryan Steinberg and his role at Intercom
• 1:00 - Overview of Intercom’s platform and Ryan’s career journey
• 3:30 - The essence of a good customer experience: respecting time and setting expectations
• 5:45 - How Intercom uses its own platform for internal communication and customer support
• 8:00 - Intercom’s upcoming community revamp and other proactive support measures
• 10:30 - How Intercom supports its customer support teams through automation and self-serve tools
• 14:00 - Using videos, GIFs, and visuals to enhance support interactions and the knowledge base
• 18:00 - Onboarding new talent remotely: tools, strategies, and maintaining employee experience
• 22:30 - The future of the modern workplace: hybrid models, digital transformation, and personalized customer experiences
• 27:00 - The balance between personalized digital experiences and privacy concerns
• 30:00 - Ryan’s vision for the future of customer experience and technology’s evolving role

Key Takeaways:

1. Respecting Customer Time: A great customer experience begins with setting clear expectations and providing options, like self-serve solutions or live support, to respect the customer’s time.
2. Intercom’s Proactive Support Approach: With features like knowledge bases, automation tools, and upcoming community initiatives, Intercom strives to empower customers to find solutions before contacting support.
3. The Importance of Visual Support: Incorporating GIFs, video tours, and interactive product walkthroughs helps customers understand solutions faster and more intuitively.
4. Onboarding in the Digital Age: By modernizing onboarding processes with video and self-serve resources, Intercom ensures new talent integrates smoothly, even in remote settings.
5. Future of Customer Experience: Companies need to leverage past interactions and real-time data to create genuine, personalized customer experiences that feel authentic and supportive.

Notable Quotes:

• "Respecting customer time is fundamental—it's all about providing options and clarity from the start."
• "For Intercom, we want to create an experience where customers can self-serve quickly or get a deep dive with our support team, based on what they prefer."
• "The modern workplace is evolving into a hybrid model, and technology needs to facilitate a balance between in-person interactions and remote collaboration."
• "Personalization in the digital age is about creating genuine experiences that use past interactions to inform future ones, without crossing into invasive territory."