Macros are one of the major efficiency tools in Zendesk to help agents quickly respond and solve out enquiries. That being said, they are also significantly under-utilised in many Zendesk instances that we see.
My main tips around creating creating Zendesk best practice macros are as follows:
- The first step when you are creating macros is that your team members are aware of them and know what they should be used for. I can't emphasise enough that communication is key to getting great efficiencies in the customer service environment.
- Use the folder capability by naming your macros using the double-colon (eg. Customer Responses::Priority 1 Response where "Customer Responses" is the top level folder and "Priority 1 Response" is the macro name. Note that you can use multiple folder levels but there is a limit to the amount of text you can hold in the name). This allows agents to easily click through and find the macro they're looking for based on the folder subject.
- Segregate your macros by Agent Group to keep your macros clean and relevant for all agents.
- Use placeholders in Comment/Description to display dynamic content (eg. "Hi {{requester.first_name}}") to personalise the response and agents can avoid manual updates.
- Set the ticket status according to the response you are providing to the customer. For example, if it is a question you are asking, set the Status to Pending. If it is an answer you are providing, advise the customer you will mark the ticket as solved for now and set the Status to Solved. Don't forget to use friendly and positive language on all customer comments and notifications.
- Don't just use macros for comments, but also use them to set the Enquiry Type, Form Type and other fields to save the agent from manually selecting them.
- Add a unique tag (eg. macro_priority1_response) to report on what macros are being used and where to gain insights into how to further improve your macros.
- Finally, make sure all agents have a way of contributing to macros. Zendesk doesn't make this one particularly easy, so I recommend building an external process (eg. a specific channel in Slack) to take agent feedback on improvements and new macro needs.
Here's an example of what your macro actions might look like...
There you have it! You should now be armed in making all the Zendesk best practice macros you want.
successCX is a Zendesk Master implementation partner utilising Zendesk best practices to deliver the best customer service outcomes.