To help customers effectively, support teams need to piece together details from various places. Whether checking shipment status in their TMS, looking up customer details in their CRM, or checking the latest project status in their project management tools, gathering information from these external systems is key to fully understanding and solving each customer request.
Front’s low-code Connector integrations allow you to pull in external data right into your workspace, providing key details agents need to solve the agent. Once you have the right context, you can also use Connectors to automatically take action in your external systems to solve the issue without leaving Front.
We’re sharing 12 ways you can leverage Connectors to quickly gather relevant information and automate your support workflows, upleveling your team’s efficiency to deliver exceptional support.
Access all your external data in one place
Connectors enable you to quickly access external data from third-party systems like orders, shipments, itineraries, and more. They connect Front with external systems like your TMS, CRM, or even a custom backend system to pull in the information agents need to solve the customer problem reducing the back-and-forth between agents and customers, speeding up resolution.
Imagine the endless possibilities on how you can leverage Connectors with your current tech stack. Here are just a few examples:
See shipment or order statuses for related IDs at a glance
Connect your database like Airtable or a homegrown back office system and pull in records such as contract information, invoice details, and employee data
Get project or issue updates such as status and due dates from project management tools like Asana, Jira, and Linear
Instantly view real-time stock levels and product pricing from your inventory systems
In fact, Electrical.com built a Connector with their internal inventory system to automatically pull in product information within Front. Just by commenting with a product ID, the product’s stock quantities and pricing appears. No need to log into a separate system and search for the product ID to pull relevant information.
Instantly update external systems without leaving Front
Getting context is just the first step to resolving the issue. Connectors also enhance your macros to let you easily take action in other tools, without leaving your conversation in Front.
Here are just a few ways you can harness the combined power of Connectors and macros to do more within Front:
Auto-create Jira issues and send comments
Update Linear ticket statuses and automatically update status tags, which can then be used to power rules
Log emails to Salesforce records to keep track of customer communications
Update your internal data records in Airtable or your proprietary data system. For example, an insurance agency that uses Airtable to store their agent and contract information can use a Connector to update the assigned agent for each contract in Airtable from within Front.
Automate workflows with rules using external data
You can also combine Connectors with rules to automate repetitive tasks. Use data from your external systems like order or project status to route urgent inquiries, update customers, and more.
Let’s look at some ways you can streamline even more workflows with Connectors and rules:
Connect your CRM and automatically route conversations to the correct account manager or add SLA requirements based on order value
Organize conversations by automatically moving them to specific folders based on project status from your project management tool
Detect shipment ID and auto-reply with shipment details from your TMS
Prevent carrier fraud with a Connector to your carrier identity software. See how Logistics Group International uses the combined ability of the pre-built Highway Connector and rules to protect their business:
“Connectors have had a significant impact on our operations because we can now access all the information we need without ever leaving our inbox. Plus, smart rules allow us to identify potentially harmful emails and quarantine them based on alerts in our fraud detection software. This helps us verify and prevent spoofing or fraud attempts before our carrier sales team even sees them.” — Brandon Bay, EVP, Logistics Group International
Building Connectors just got even easier
Building your own Connector requires no code and you can save your progress and preview your work at any stage of the build process. Once your Connectors are built, you can easily combine them with rules and macros to start automating your workflows with our Connectors templates.
We also introduced pre-built Connectors for Jira, Highway, and Tai so you can get started right away with just a few clicks.
We’re excited to see how our customers use Connectors in their everyday workflows to help agents reduce context switching and gain productivity.
Written by Caroline Lu