Helpshift helps solve 10,000+ mobile customer service issues every month

Helpshift aims to get mobile customer service issues down to zero.

Helpshift provides a mobile help desk that powers customer service for hundreds of mobile applications. The company has released a new dashboard that provides a complete, real-time view of mobile customer service issues and includes the capability to track the progress of customers and complaints across multiple channels. It also announced that each month, Helpshift-powered apps are opened more than 20 million times and it is helping app developers resolve more than 10,000 support tickets.

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CEO Abinash Tripathy said that customer support should be a native, in-app experience that is shaped by a mobile device’s unique set of circumstances.

“There’s a noticeable gap in the marketplace for mobile-first customer service and support,” Tripathy said to VentureBeat. “As business goes mobile, they need more effective ways to provide service and support to their customers, otherwise customers abandon the app and the business loses revenue. Helpshift is not simply about customer service and support; it’s also about providing a uniquely delightful customer experience for mobile customers.”

Helpshift’s software connects mobile customers with a company’s support staff so they can file a customer service ticket within the app without leaving to fill out a Web form, place a phone call, or send an e-mail. The goal is to boost engagement and sales while reducing customer churn, support ticket volume, overhead costs, and bad reviews. The new dashboard tracks the number of incoming and closed tickets, provides a feed with incoming issues, and has filters for focusing on specific problem areas.

The company won the MobileBeat Innovation Showdown in the early stage category for this approach. The theme of the conference was “building a winning mobile experience,” and Helpshift was chosen by a panel of judges consisting of Jason Mok of Silicon Valley Bank, Sean Jacobsohn of Emergence Capital Partners, Deborah Magid of IBM Venture Capital Group, Jeremy Liew of Lightspeed Ventures, and Tim Lee of Sequoia Capital.

Providing strong customer service in mobile applications is critical for success. Apple’s app store and Google Play comprise multibillion dollar, competitive marketplaces where startups battle it out for high ratings and rankings. Tripathy said mobile customers are fickle and less likely to spend money if they are unhappy with an application. Helpshift is thus initiating a campaign called “Support Zero” to achieve that “mythical moment” when a customer service ticket queue is completely empty, and developers can focus on building products rather than resolving complaints.

Representatives can create custom alerts using Helpshift and view information about customers’ devices, account information, debug logs, and transaction history to respond to each ticket more specifically. They can also message directly with customers to answer their questions and view all tickets from one dashboard. Helpshift said this approach can reduce ticket volume by over 50 percent. Customers include well-known mobile startups like Lemon and DoubleDutch.

Helpshift is based in San Francisco. It launched publicly in May 2013 and has raised $3.25 million from True Ventures and Nexus Venture Partners.