City Property's Transformation: Achieving 45% Increase in NPS with Freshdesk and Neo Platform

City Property is one of South Africa’s leading residential and commercial property management companies. With over five decades of experience in the property industry, the company focuses on urban renewal and bringing new life into cities. It continues to grow as the preferred property asset management company through its various redevelopment, refurbishment, and other transformational projects. With property letting and management as its cornerstone, establishing a seamless customer service experience is integral to the company's growth and success. City Property manages between 11,000 to 12,000 apartments in Pretoria and Johannesburg CBD, a student portion in Hatfield, Pretoria, and a mixed development complex with flats and shops. Its most extensive customer base includes individuals, professionals, single parents, and families looking for a home, as well as commercial and retail spaces.

City Property, one of South Africa’s leading residential and commercial property management companies, faced significant challenges in managing its extensive portfolio and customer base. The company's operations were primarily manual, with a lack of automation in customer service processes and workflows. The outbreak of the pandemic further heightened the need for automation to improve the management of ticket enquiries across various channels and enhance the overall customer service experience. The company's most significant portfolio is residential apartment management, with a customer base comprising individuals, families, and businesses. The bulk of enquiries received were from individuals looking for residential or business space. The company had three teams, commercial, retail, and residential, focused on the specifics of each area of leasing. The customer service side served existing customers. The global lockdown during the pandemic outbreak posed a significant challenge as City Property’s operations were highly office-based, and the staff was not equipped to work from home. This situation severely impacted customer service, as the flow of information and agent productivity took a hit. The lack of automation, increase in WhatsApp enquiries, and just three agents handling all customer support tickets led to longer turnaround times and a significant drop in Net Promoter Score (NPS).

To address these challenges, City Property turned to Freshdesk, a cloud-based omnichannel engagement solution designed by Freshworks. The company rolled out Freshdesk to 188 agents within five weeks, including automation building and agent training. The transition from the old service provider to Freshdesk was completed within three months, and the training was much quicker. Today, the Freshworks Neo platform’s Messaging Channels, in tandem with Freshdesk’s scenario automations, simplifies multi-channel messaging and helps reduce the average resolution time. The team is also using Freshdesk analytics for simplified reporting and detained insights. City Property is leveraging insights from Freshdesk Analytics, backed by the Neo platform, to drive data-driven decisions. The company is also using more than 10 apps from the Freshworks Marketplace to drive better customer service. Looking ahead, City Property is exploring BOTs to enhance customer experience further and is testing Freshdesk Contact Centre to track everything in real-time.

• The implementation of Freshdesk and the Neo platform has significantly transformed City Property's operations. The cloud-based omnichannel engagement solution has enabled the company to rapidly resolve customer enquiries, improving the overall customer service experience. The use of Freshdesk’s scenario automations has simplified multi-channel messaging and reduced the average resolution time. The company has also been able to drive data-driven decisions by leveraging insights from Freshdesk Analytics. The transition to Freshdesk has also made it easier for the company to manage its extensive portfolio and customer base. The use of apps from the Freshworks Marketplace has further enhanced customer service. Looking ahead, the company is exploring the use of BOTs and testing Freshdesk Contact Centre to further enhance its operations and customer service.

• Freshdesk rollout to 188 agents completed within five weeks

• NPS increased from 49.46 in Q1 of 2020 to 59.26 in Q4 of 2021

• Tickets per agent optimised from 600 to 100 with insights from Analytics