How FlexJobs Engages Customers With Proactive Messages

Ten years in software might as well be a lifetime, so to have the opportunity to partner with a single customer for that amount of time is extraordinary.

We’re no strangers to committed relationships, as 80% of Help Scout customers stay for four or more years, but our decade with FlexJobs stands out.

Since 2010, FlexJobs has used Help Scout to help job seekers find vetted remote job opportunities. They’ve grown with us, utilizing new products as we’ve built them to create the best possible support experiences for both their job seekers and their B2B clients.

Most recently, FlexJobs started using Messages in multiple ways to interact with their different audiences to drive sales, offer better support, and promote important company news.

According to FlexJobs’ Senior Director of Client Services, Jess Vyvial-Larson, FlexJobs was able to handle double the amount of traffic and contacts during the pandemic due to their Beacon and Message setups.

Here are some of the different ways FlexJobs uses Messages, as well as Jess’ top tips for making the most of this opportunity to connect with customers.

How FlexJobs uses Messages

The unique nature of FlexJobs’ audience means multiple uses for Messages that could apply to your business as well. Here are a few examples:

B2C

Job seekers come to FlexJobs looking for the latest postings from remote, flexible employers. Curating a high-quality talent pool is key to making their offering successful, so helping these job seekers in their career journeys serves both sides equally.

The simple message above directing them to resources has led to more than 63,000 views and over 12,700 clicks in its lifetime. Beyond the volume, a ~20% click rate shows visitors are finding value in the help provided.

B2B

The other side of the FlexJobs platform is the employer side. Employers work with FlexJobs to source great candidates and promote roles they’re hiring for all over the world.

One way that FlexJobs has used messages on their B2B side of the business was running a 15% off promotion on key employer-focused pages of their website. In its first four days live, that message got 18 clicks — high-intent engagement that can lead directly to a sale.

Virtual job fair

Messages helped FlexJobs cover every angle of support needed for their virtual job fair. Messages were made to advertise booth sales to employers, drive registrations with job seekers, and communicate support during the actual job fair.

The flexibility of Messages, from easy building to deploying to reporting, lets customers like FlexJobs target all of these different audiences easily, all within a single product.

Jess’ best Messages tips

Here are four of Jess’ key pillars when it comes to using Messages successfully. Note that when trying to proactively support customers, marketing insights can lead to better results.

Make the message relevant

It can be tempting to put messages everywhere and keep them general. But being intentional about where your message is going live, why you are putting it there, and ensuring it is eye-catching and helpful will always lead to higher engagement.

FlexJobs did this by making sure their messages were relevant to either job seekers or employers, depending on which page it lived on.

Target your messages

Beyond making sure your messages are relevant, targeting messages based on customer properties in Help Scout can make sure you’re reaching customers with the right message at the right time.

Whether it’s reaching customers on a specific plan or by location, the possibilities are endless for giving customers a more targeted support experience.

Change messages often

Set it and forget it might be easy, but it’s a quick way to make things stale for your customers. Don’t change messages only to make sure they are up to date, but use it as an opportunity to experiment with different topics, CTAs, and audiences to find what works best over time.

Build a strong support structure

Often overlooked but extremely important, make sure your support team is aware of your Messages activity and has processes in place to handle the engagement you’ll get.

Blindsiding your support team creates a bad experience, both for customers who will wait for or get improper responses and for your team who won’t be prepared to handle the incoming volume.

Always keep your team up to date on what is live, what questions they should expect and how to answer them, and where to direct customers if more help is needed.

Proactive support, happier customers

Along with Docs, Messages moves your support from reactive to proactive. With Help Scout, you can do it all in one easy platform with a shared inbox, live chat, a knowledge base, and in-app Messages. To see what’s new with Messages, read the update here, or start your free trial today.