LU 330: How Intercom Solved the Problem of Communicating Effectively with Customers (podcast)

Hey everyone! Today, I share the mic with Des Traynor, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Intercom. Intercom solves a problem that many companies grapple with – how to communicate with and support their customers who need quick feedback while they are busy using an application.

Tune in to hear Des explain what makes Intercom different from their competitors’ products, what they learned from their biggest marketing blunders and why they emphasize the importance of live events (as well as two reasons they don’t expect an immediate ROI from them).

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [00:21] Before we jump into today’s interview, please rate, review, and subscribe to the Leveling Up Podcast!
• [00:35] A brief introduction to Intercom, what they offer and why they started the business.
• [01:01] The complicated process of communicating with customers before Intercom.
• [01:52] Realizing the impact of talking to a customer while they’re busy using the tool.
• [02:51] Refining their chat tool, when they finally launched and its exponential growth.
• [04:33] How Intercom sets itself apart from its competitors and its many advantages.
• [06:44] Why they emphasize events and how they support customers throughout.
• [08:11] Two reasons why they do not expect an immediate ROI from events.
• [09:39] How Intercom thinks about data and what Answer Bot can do in this regard.
• [11:37] Their difficulty with measuring certain marketing efforts and their biggest blunders.
• [14:30] What Des would have told his younger self going into this venture.
• [16:34] Why the Strava running app has been the most rewarding tool in his life.
• [18:03] Des’ picks for the two books that have had the biggest impact on his life.

Resources From The Interview:

• Des Traynor
  
• Des Traynor on Twitter
  
• Karen Peacock on LinkedIn
  
• Intercom
  
• Ruby on Rails 
  
• Stripe 
  
• PayPal 
  
• Mailchimp 
  
• Campaign Monitor 
  
• Rackspace 
  
• Strava
  
• Clayton Christensen 
  
• Whatever You Think , Think the Opposite
  
• Must read book: How Will You Measure Your Life and It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be
  

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Connect with Eric Siu: 

• Growth Everywhere
  
• Single Grain
  
• Eric Siu on Twitter