Zendesk: First CX Platform to Become Unity Verified Solutions Partner

Today, cloud CRM vendor Zendesk announced it will become a Unity Verified Solutions Partner (VSP). Even better, it will become the FIRST customer experience platform to join Unity VSP Program. 

What’s the big idea behind this partnership? Zendesk's mission to enable the best in-app, personalized embedded customer experiences for mobile-focused businesses.

Being a Verified Solutions Partner means Zendesk has been verified by Unity to ensure its SDK is optimized for the latest version of the Unity editor, and with that, it can provide a seamless experience for Unity developers. 

What’s the Zendesk SDK for Unity? 

Every SDK Zendesk has built so far has been iOS or Android SDKs, not a native Unity SDK. This will be the first native customer support SDK for Unity that will enable players to get rapid assistance without interrupting their experience. 

The integrated customer support functionality can be set up in less than five minutes directly within some of today's most popular games, including Angry Birds 2 and Pokemon Go. 

With this partnership, Zendesk and Unity are ushering a new era of a seamless transition between gaming and support, making it convenient for players to contact support agents, leverage help center content, and get answers on their own, without having to leave the game.

"With Zendesk's new support SDK, we finally have a Unity-native in-game support product as a seamless part of our wider customer care offering. It's great to have a plug and play solution that is easy for developers to use, which in time will also give us the ability to create the kinds of personalized support flows that we want for our players,” says Ric Thorneycroft, Player Support Director, Rovio.

Why now? 

This strategic partnership comes as no surprise, considering some of the newest emerging trends in customer behavior and gaming.

The video game industry has experienced a significant boom during the COVID-19 pandemic. It seems like when people got locked down at home, they were playing video games more than ever. 

The timing is more than ideal for gaming companies that have seen an all-time high in ticket volume during 2020 and a 90% increase in knowledge base views. With these numbers expected to continue throughout 2021, it's vitally important for gaming companies to put solutions in place to provide the best customer experiences.

What this means for developers 

In the period between January and September of 2020, Unity saw an average of more than 5 billion downloads per month of applications built with Unity. Now, developers can integrate the complete Zendesk support capabilities natively into mobile games in minutes with minimal coding, and ultimately, spend more time focusing on game creation rather than compatibility issues. 

“This year, we’ve seen a significant spike in both new gamers and the amount of time people spent gaming. It is important that we provide our developers, from indie creators to automotive manufacturers to retail brands, the ability to build great experiences at scale in this highly competitive environment. Our partnership with Zendesk makes embedding customer support incredibly seamless across our platform,” said Stephen Rowell, Vice President, Global Strategic Business Development at Unity.

What this means for companies

Companies can keep players immersed in the game for longer. There will be plenty of customization options available as well, including user branded interfaces and tailored support fields unique to a game. Customer experience will be taken to the next level, and with that, companies can ultimately convert more casual gamers into paying and long-term customers.

“Zendesk provides a seamless transition between the game and support, whether customers are leveraging help center content to get answers on their own or contacting support agents. The one-on-one conversation makes the experience much more user friendly and personal, plus it is easier for our agents to follow the communication history of our players,” said Alper Kılıç, Game Development Manager, Gamegos.

What this means for players

Nothing breaks an immersive gaming experience like suddenly needing to reach out for help. The tight partnership between Zendesk and Unity means players no longer need to leave their game to seek help over peer-to-peer networks like community forums. They'll be able to read Help Center articles and contact support agents, all without even leaving the game. 

“Gamers no longer have the time or patience to switch in and out of their game to get help. Developers have to eliminate interruptions by meeting players where they are – in the game – and solve their problems seamlessly, without having to leave the app and lose valuable game time,” said Shawna Wolverton, EVP of Product, Zendesk.

Zendesk continually improves the customer experience

It was only a few weeks ago that Zendesk announced its expanded partnership with Facebook in an attempt to help businesses provide enhanced customer conversations.

Today we have the announcement of yet another partnership whose goal is to offer uninterrupted customer support in mobile games. 

The expanded partnerships between Zendesk and leading tech companies represent a continued commitment from Zendesk to ceaselessly improve the customer experience.

Zendesk knows customers expect seamless, fully integrated omnichannel support. The company also knows that messaging creates a personal connection with customers looking for support. 

And it makes that happen. 

This time, it took the customer experience to the next level by:

• Empowering developers to be focusing on game development rather than capabilities issues.

• Allowing players to reach out for help without leaving their game. 

• Helping companies keep players immersed in the game for longer.

The Zendesk SDK for Unity is generally available today on the Unity Asset Store.