In the Philippines, the GCash brand has been so ingrained into local culture that it has become a verb–”i-GCash mo na lang!” (just send it to me via GCash!). As the country’s leading mobile wallet solution, GCash enables fast, easy and secure financial transactions for over 60 million users and creates economic opportunities for small businesses.
But empowering such a huge user base means the company had to strongly prioritize customer experience and trust. Which meant the brand had to introduce more disruptive services aimed at providing innovative solutions to widen fintech adoption as its user base scaled.
Tackling complexities of scale and integration with Zendesk
GCash was launched in 2004, before the advent of Android and iOS. So as its user base grew and the volume of customer requests became more complex, the lack of integration across its phone, email, and chat support affected its ability to provide an excellent experience. The mobile wallet brand wanted a customer case management solution which would not only address changing customer expectations and a growing volume, but also allow the brand to manage customers at scale.
In order to tackle these complexities, in 2017, the search for customer case management solutions led the brand to Zendesk, which was already a leading software provider in this space.
Over its five-year partnership with Zendesk, Zendesk provided the right tools to GCash to manage its growing customer operations, whether it’s case management, timely data analytics, or automation. As a result, GCash has grown from 20 to 60 million mobile wallet users in the Philippines during this five-year partnership, enabling it to constantly transform the way it interacts with its customers. Consequently, Zendesk has become GCash’s main source of customer insights.
Scaling through data for the present and future
The partnership also enabled GCash to drive strategic and tactical plays through data. By engaging customers in highly urbanized areas and knowing more about them, it perceived that its products can cater to a lot more people from different walks of life and curate new service experiences that are practical yet suitable to the majority if not all customer segments. In addition, the team also relied on the Help Center to free up agents to focus on issues that require a human touch.
This strategy has paid off with GCash’s operations having become more scalable. Response time has also been reduced from 24 hours to 2 hours. Ticket resolution rate increased from 80% in January to 92% in December 2021. Within the same period, there was a 15% rise in the CSAT score, while NPS reached a whopping rate of 79, best in class by global standards.
Furthermore, the true test of empowerment came during the pandemic. To help those whose livelihoods were affected, the Philippine national government started distributing financial assistance through GCash. The company suddenly saw an influx of new customers needing to adapt to the new ways of payments and transfers.
Zendesk’s live chat thus became a key channel for GCash customers in need of immediate financial assistance due to lost jobs or critical health conditions at the height of the pandemic. This allowed its customers to reach it through their mobile phones anytime and anywhere. The chat shortcuts and the Knowledge Capture feature where agents could check the guide without having to leave the agent workspace enabled the agents in managing up to three customers at a time.
As a result, GCash could personalize the way it engaged customers and ensure that its services are intact and the quality of the interaction is consistent across all its. Thus it was able to make a significant impact on society during the pandemic, sustaining the livelihood of millions. There was an emergence of online businesses and GCash payments were a perfect fit for them.
And the company will continue leveraging digital to innovate for the future and drive customer service with agility. In this direction, the newly integrated chatbot service powered by Ada, Zendesk’s key conversation partner, has been vital in achieving this mission.
GCash’s growth story is a validation of the fact that setting up a proper mindset and removing barriers to better understand the value and potential of technology-driven customer service solutions will enable a multitude of opportunities, enabling every organization to quickly adapt and take uncharted routes with confidence, thereby expanding beyond known capabilities.
With Zendesk as a partner, it is this mission that GCash has set its sights on as it prepares itself to take advantage of digital solutions and realize its goals in service operations.
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