Hey everyone,
I’m Jamie Morgan, Head of Customer Experience at *CloudStream Solutions*, a SaaS product for cloud-based data management. I wanted to share how we’ve been using Vanilla Forums alongside Zendesk to create an efficient support system that prioritizes community engagement while providing backup for more complex inquiries.
Our goal was to reduce the number of support tickets that our team handled directly and empower our users to help each other through the community. Here's how we approached it:
Ticket Deflection with Vanilla Forums
We’ve structured our Vanilla Forums to be the first stop for users looking for answers. We've created categories for common issues, product tips, and best practices. Our most active users (the real product experts) are always jumping in to help answer questions. We’ve seen that about **60-70%** of questions get answered by the community within hours, and those answers tend to be more relatable since they come from actual users.
Zendesk as a Safety Net
For those questions that don’t get answered within a set timeframe or are highly technical, we’ve integrated Vanilla with Zendesk. If a post in the community hasn’t been resolved within 48 hours, it triggers a webhook that opens a ticket in Zendesk. This ensures that no question goes unanswered, and users don’t feel abandoned. Plus, for complex or urgent technical issues, they can submit a ticket directly through our help center.
Creating a Seamless Experience
The integration between Vanilla and Zendesk has been smooth. We use Vanilla’s API to pull data on common issues into Zendesk so that our support team is always aware of what’s being discussed in the community. Meanwhile, users can escalate issues to Zendesk with a single click if they can’t find an answer in the forum.
The combination of both platforms has not only reduced our ticket volume by about **30%**, but it’s also strengthened the sense of community around our product. Our users love helping each other out, and our support team is freed up to focus on the tougher cases.
Has anyone else had a similar experience with Vanilla and Zendesk? I’d love to hear how others are using them together.
Best,
Jamie
*CloudStream Solutions*
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