Hey there! Welcome to Groove, your simple yet powerful helpdesk.

This guide is designed to help get your account running in minutes, not hours. Less than 1% of Groove users cancel their account once they get going, so we’re confident if we help you get started right, you’ll be part of our 99% too. 

Each section has short videos accompanied by written instructions and pictures. 

Ready? Let’s go!

STEP 1: EMAILS AHOY!

First let's get your emails flowing into Groove. Click Settings → Add a channel at the top, then select email. You have a few options: 

  1. Google/Gmail users can directly link their accounts. Just click Google, give it a name (Support, Info, Help, etc), then Authenticate. Now your emails will flow into the shared inbox. Easy-peasy. 
  2. You can forward another email client in just a few steps (explainer video found here):
    • Click Settings → Add Channel → Other email client, give it a name and enter the email address you’ll be forwarding, and decide who you want to access it.
    • Copy the forwarding address given, then STOP, open a new tab, and login to the email client you want to forward into Groove.
    • Head to settings in your email client and find the forwarding section, and add the forwarding address you just copied from Groove.
      • **NOTE** Most email clients will ask you to verify the forwarding address with a code. Go back to the Groove tab, click “I’ll do this later,” click on the inbox icon to find the email that contains the verification code which you can copy and paste into your email client to complete verification.
      • **NOTE #2** Some email clients will still require you to “Enable Forwarding.” Be sure this is done and saved
    • Go back to Groove and click “Test Connection” at the top. You’ll get a notification of success and you’re ready to rock! 

Once emails are flowing in you can add other channels like Live Chat, Facebook Messenger and Instagram Chat.

STEP 2: PROFILE + TEAMWORK TIME

Next fill out your profile (takes about 2mins) and invite your team. At the top click Settings → Personal Tab. Click through each section to fill out any relevant info and set your notification preferences.

(Click here for a quick tutorial)

If you’re an experienced helpdesker click Workflows to change the way Groove works for you. Newbies can take note of the options and use the software for a few weeks before changing any defaults (which you may never change).

PRO TIPS - Make sure everyone on your team has a photo uploaded to create a stronger sense of community within your org. 

After your profile is done click the Invite button to the left of your profile icon to invite other team members and set their permissions.

STEP 3: GET YOUR GROOVE ON

Next click Conversations and get familiar with your shared inbox, or as we call it, the magic zone.

(click here for a quick video overview)

The main Navigation Bar is on top. You can choose from Conversations, Reports, Knowledge Base, Apps, and Settings. 

On the left are your Inboxes and Smart Folders (sometimes called views). We start you with 10 default Smart Folders which you can customize as needed or add/remove if necessary.

In the middle is your main inbox view which shows all your conversations. Choose what conversations you see by clicking between folders or inboxes. Our collision detection system lets you know when someone else is viewing or working a conversation.

Next click into a conversation and you’ll see your main Action Bar up top.

Here’s a brief explanation of each button:

  • CLOSE - This marks the conversation as “resolved” and removes it from the inbox view unless it’s reopened. Do not use this for trashing irrelevant convo's or spam as it will skew the reporting data.
  • STAR - Shows a star in the main inbox so you can keep an eye on it.
  • TAG - Tags are identifiers that let you track the volume of certain conversations and easily find conversations in the search bar. E-commerce stores might have a tag for every product/service they offer. SaaS companies create Tags for every component of their software (Groove has tags for Inbox, Knowledge Base, Live Chat, Integrations, API, etc). All companies use tags for different customer complaints, returns/refunds, locations (if brink-and-motor), and more. Think of all the different conversations you have and create tags for them. This allows you to learn what’s important to your customers. **More on this below under Automations**
  • SNOOZE - Temporarily closes a conversation until the day/time you choose in which it pops back into your inbox. Great for lower priority conversations or being used to follow up with customers.
  • MERGE - If a customer emails twice about the same thing you can merge the conversations into one.
  • MARK AS SPAM - Adds the email to a blacklist you can manage under settings.
  • TRASH - Closes and removes from the inbox.
  • CHANGE INBOX - If you have multiple inboxes, and someone emails the wrong one (maybe sales@yourcompany.com when they should have sent to support@yourcompany.com), you can easily move it to the appropriate one.
  • FOLLOW - Gives you email notifications when anything happens with the conversation. Great for making sure a conversation or customer is handled properly, keeping an eye on VIPs, service recovery issues, or monitoring the results of a marketing campaign or product launch.
  • ASSIGN - If people have specialties, or you want to make sure the right person takes ownership of a conversation, this feature is perfect.

Under the Action Bar you’ll see a string of all messages in the thread along with all actions that occurred, letting you know who did what, when.

The Reply Box at the bottom works just like email. You can change the subject or CC/BCC, and at the bottom you can change the formatting, add attachments, or use emojis. If you're using our Knowledge Base you'll see a KB search bar that lets you insert article links into replies.

PRO-TIP - Knowledge base articles are designed to thoughtfully answer common questions in article format so you don’t have to. The search bar lets you find relevant articles from your own knowledge base (FAQ page) and insert a link into your reply. More on the KB below.

Click Instant Replies to use a canned reply for common questions. You can create new ones on the fly or manage them under Automate → Instant Replies.

PRO-TIP - we incorporate variables so predetermined info (like customer name, agent name, company info, etc) will be populated when you insert the reply, that way everyone can use them.

Notes let you leave relevant info about the customer/conversation right on the thread and also allow you to @mention teammates (which sends them an email notification) so you can collaborate together. Notes show up in YELLOW on the conversation thread and are never visible to the customer.

On the right is the Customer Profile. Here you’ll find all the customer’s info along with any past conversations. Integrations for Shopify, Trello, Slack, Jira and others that allow you to display more relevant information about your customer like past orders, subscription status, and more. Click Powerup at the top to see what’s available.

And finally, for people who like to save time, there are numerous shortcuts to master so you can get more done with less effort.

STEP 4: LETS GET AUTOMATED

To really speed up your process it's best to eliminate repetitive work. That’s where Automations come in. If setting up macros and triggers sounds overwhelming, have no fear, Groove keeps things simple.

Automation #1 - Instant Replies

Instant Replies, AKA canned replies, are your lowest hanging automation fruit. You may be working off a Word doc or using a shortcut system now, so the first step is getting everything loaded into Groove so agents can insert them with the click of a button. Click Settings→ Instant Replies and start creating your replies.

**PRO TIP** - Start by listing out the categories your templates fall under. These could be Billing and Tech Support for SaaS companies or Delivery, Returns and Order Status for E-commerce. Then compile answers to all your most common questions. Consult your team for feedback. The better your answers the happier your customers will be!

Once your replies are ready, click Instant Replies in the reply window to insert them.

Automation #2 - Tags, Rules and Smart Folders (video)

Tags, Rules and Smart Folders can be used by newbies and experts alike. Tags let you categorize conversations, Smart Folders help you monitor them, and Rules make everything happen automatically. If you’re not sure how to use them, follow this setup flow to get the most out of your time.

Tags - First fill out the Tag Worksheet (found here, save your own copy) so you know what Tags you're going to use. We recommend starting with three different categories:

  1. Source - where your messages come from
  2. Type - what they’re about on a high level
  3. Product/Service - specifically what piece of your product/service they’re talking about. 

Once you've made a list, head to Settings (top right profile icon) → Tags and create all your tags. Once loaded, agents can tag conversations manually, or, you can use Rules to automate this. 

Rules are simple "If this, then that" actions. You tell Groove if a conversation contains X then do Y. Example: If a conversation contains the word billing/invoice/payment (etc), add the Billing Tag. You can even assign a specific person if you wish. At the end of each month you can run your tag report and see exactly how many billing questions you had.

If you get lots of clutter from vendors, you can create a rule to automatically close emails from specific addresses. You can even do this for specific domains and words like Automatic Reply found in the subject line or body.

Now these emails will skip your inbox.

Smart Folders - Smart Folders can help you monitor important stuff. If you want a Smart Folder that contains all open conversations that haven’t been updated in 48hrs you can use this logic. You can limit access and even hide the folder if there are no conversations in it.

How about a folder that contains anyone asking for a refund? If you haven't already, create a refund tag. Then create a rule to tag all conversations that contain the word refund (use the billing example above and replace with refund). Then create your folder:

Smart Folders can be set up and customized as you wish. 

Automation #3 - Knowledge Base (video)

What better way to automate support than by letting customers answer their own questions? Think of the KB as your customizable FAQ page built with analytics so you can see what’s important to your customers!

Fun fact: some companies report a 30% decrease in support volume just by using our Knowledge Base!

Knowledge Base setup is simple. Click Knowledge Base up top and start adding articles, grouping them by category. A good place to start is by making sure all the repetitive questions you answer with email templates have thoughtful articles. 

Under the Look & Feel section you’re able to change all the visuals (logo, colors and fonts) as well as the wording of your knowledge base so your customers will think they’re on your website.

**PRO-TIP - adding a help widget to your website is a way to supercharge your KB. Your customers will be prompted with answers anywhere on your website, leaving them happier, and your team more productive. Check out this article on adding a widget.

Once your KB is live you'll be able to search for and insert relevant articles into responses for your customers.

STEP 5: INTEGRATE YOUR OTHER TOOLS

Groove integrates with 25+ other tools to help give you a 360 view of your customer without tabbing between other apps. We can also import customer data from your server into Groove via Webhooks/API. Email support@groovehq.com and ask about Custom Profile.

Our post popular integrations are:

Shopify - Lets you see past order details as well as cancel, refund, create or duplicate orders. A must-have for any Shopify store.
Recharge - Shows you past payments, current/upcoming subscriptions, and lets you skip, cancel, or reactivate subscriptions right from the conversation.
Stripe - Lets you view all Stripe data on the customer from within the conversation
Trello - Easily create Trello cards directly from a conversation without leaving Groove, and when the card is updated in Trello, you’ll get notified in Groove so the customer can be updated.
Salesforce - Pull additional contact information from Salesforce into your Inbox sidebar to give you additional customer details where it's most useful.
Hubspot - Pull additional contact information from Hubspot into your Inbox sidebar to give you additional customer details where it's most useful.
Slack - Your team already stopped using email to talk to each other. Why not use Slack for customer support too? Receive notifications after every conversation, note, and more.

And many others…

Head to Apps on the top navigation to see a full list.

STEP 6: LET'S CHAT

If your company offers Live Chat your next step is to enable this channel. Head back up to Settings → Add another channel and select Live Chat. You’ll then be prompted to create a widget for your website for users to interact with. Give it a name, then decide what services you want to offer (Live Chat, Knowledge Base, and/or Contact Form), and then customize the look and feel as you wish.

Once you click Install and finish you’ll be given a snippet of code to add to your website. 

You can also pull Facebook Messenger and Instagram chats into Groove so everything can be managed from one location. You’re able to use all the same organizational tools and integrations available for email conversations too!

On the left navigation you’ll see the CHATS icon where you’ll manage all chat conversations.

STEP 8: ANALYZE THAT DATA!

Under the Reports you’ll find reports compiled from that sweet, sweet data Groove collects, designed to give you a holistic view of your company.

  • Conversations - shows you the type and volume of conversations coming in and going out
  • Busiest Times - gives you an idea of the busiest and slowest times of day
  • Tag Insights - show type and source trends
  • Team Leaderboard - shows you everyone's performance
  • Productivity - depicts overall support performance through the lens of response time and resolutions.
  • Happiness - the results of your Customer Satisfaction Ratings (activate CSAT in Settings > Satisfaction Ratings)
  • Teammate and Teams - lets you explore individual and team performance

STEP 9: BLAST OFF!

How was that for simple yet powerful? 

You now have the tools needed to deliver fast, personal support to every customer.

Search our Knowledge Base if you have any other questions, then message us directly if you still need help!