How an Online Marketplace Reduced Response Time With Make-Powered Customer Support

Our Solution: Automated Make Customer Support and Query Routing System

OctalChip developed a comprehensive Make-based customer support automation system that transformed MarketPlaceHub's manual support operations into an intelligent, automated workflow. The solution leveraged Make's automation platform to create interconnected workflows that handled inquiry intake, intelligent categorization, automatic routing, priority assignment, and customer notifications. The system integrated seamlessly with their existing technology infrastructure including their customer support platform (Zendesk), email system, live chat widget, social media management tools, CRM database, and internal communication systems. When a new customer inquiry arrived through any channel, a Make scenario automatically triggered to capture the inquiry, analyze the content using natural language processing, categorize it by type (technical support, billing, product inquiry, seller support, buyer support), determine urgency based on keywords and customer history, and route it to the most appropriate support agent or department. The workflow utilized intelligent automation logic to make optimal routing decisions in seconds, eliminating the 10-15 minute manual routing process. Once routed, the system automatically created support tickets, assigned them to agents, updated customer records, and sent acknowledgment notifications to customers with ticket numbers and estimated response times.

The query routing automation was particularly sophisticated, using Make webhook triggers to receive inquiries from multiple channels simultaneously. The system implemented intelligent categorization by analyzing inquiry content, customer purchase history, account status, and previous support interactions to determine the most appropriate routing path. For technical issues, inquiries were automatically routed to technical support specialists based on expertise areas (payment systems, order management, account access). Billing inquiries were routed to billing specialists with access to payment and refund systems. Product questions were routed to product specialists familiar with specific categories. The workflow also handled priority escalation: urgent inquiries containing keywords like "refund," "fraud," or "account locked" were automatically flagged as high priority and routed to senior support agents, while routine inquiries were queued for standard processing. Make scenarios monitored ticket status in real-time, automatically escalating tickets that exceeded response time thresholds and sending reminders to agents for pending inquiries. The system also implemented intelligent load balancing, distributing inquiries across available agents based on current workload, expertise, and availability status. This comprehensive automation approach eliminated manual routing work, reduced assignment time from 10-15 minutes to 30 seconds, and ensured customers received prompt responses from the most qualified support agents, dramatically improving customer satisfaction and support efficiency.

Technical Architecture

Implementation Details

The implementation began with a comprehensive analysis of MarketPlaceHub's existing customer support operations. OctalChip's team reviewed their inquiry processing workflow, agent assignment criteria, ticket management processes, and customer communication patterns. This analysis revealed that 65% of support time was spent on manual inquiry categorization and routing, while 25% was consumed by status updates and customer notifications. The team then designed custom Make scenarios that automated the entire support lifecycle from inquiry receipt to resolution confirmation. The inquiry processing scenario used webhook triggers to instantly receive inquiries from all channels, then implemented sophisticated natural language processing logic using email parsing techniques to analyze inquiry content, extract key information, and categorize inquiries by type. The categorization logic analyzed multiple factors including inquiry keywords, customer account type (buyer or seller), purchase history, previous support interactions, and inquiry urgency indicators. The workflow used Zendesk REST API to create tickets, assign them to agents, and track status throughout the support process.

The routing automation scenario was particularly sophisticated, using intelligent routing algorithms to match inquiries with the most appropriate support agents based on expertise areas, current workload, availability status, and historical performance. The workflow considered real-time agent capacity, inquiry complexity, customer priority status, and service level agreements to generate optimal routing decisions. When agents updated ticket status or resolved inquiries, Zendesk sent webhook notifications to Make, triggering automatic status updates. The notification scenario processed these webhooks, updated customer records in the CRM, calculated resolution times, and immediately triggered customer notifications. The workflow also implemented intelligent escalation handling: if a ticket exceeded response time thresholds or remained unresolved for extended periods, the scenario automatically escalated it to senior agents, notified supervisors, and updated customer expectations. The system integrated with SMS gateway APIs to send real-time notifications, and used OpenAPI specification standards for detailed status updates with ticket numbers, resolution summaries, and follow-up information. All scenarios included comprehensive error handling, retry logic for failed API calls, and logging mechanisms to ensure reliability and provide audit trails for support operations.

Customer notification scenarios were designed to provide complete visibility throughout the support process. When an inquiry was received, customers immediately received an acknowledgment email with ticket number, inquiry category, and estimated response time. Upon ticket assignment, customers received another notification with assigned agent name and contact information. As agents worked on tickets, status update notifications were sent automatically when tickets were escalated, when additional information was requested, or when resolution was in progress. Finally, upon ticket resolution, customers received confirmation emails with resolution summary, follow-up instructions, and satisfaction survey links. The notification system also handled proactive communication: if response times were delayed due to high inquiry volume, the scenario automatically calculated new estimated times and notified customers, reducing follow-up inquiries by 75%. The entire system was designed for scalability, with Make scenarios capable of processing thousands of inquiries simultaneously without performance degradation. The workflows also included monitoring and alerting: if any scenario failed or encountered errors, automated alerts were sent to the support operations team, ensuring operational continuity and rapid issue resolution. This comprehensive automation approach transformed MarketPlaceHub's customer support operations from a manual, time-consuming process into an efficient, automated system that improved customer satisfaction and operational performance.

Results: Transformed Customer Support Operations

Why Choose OctalChip for Customer Support Automation?