👋 Welcome to Gist!

We understand that the first step is always the hardest, but with this guide, we hope to make the process easier for you. Whether you are a startup or a large enterprise, we're excited to have you onboard. This guide is based on the insights we've gathered from thousands of our successful customers, so you can be sure it's well-tested and effective.

Let's break down your setup into seven manageable steps, each designed to move you closer to maximizing the benefits of Gist.

Note: While you may be excited to dive in, it's alright if you only familiarize yourself with the product and plan out the setup process on Day 1. Every great journey begins with a first step.

Step 1: Set up your Messenger

The Gist Messenger is your primary tool for interacting with your customers while they're in your app or on your website. Here's how to get it set up:

  • Install the Messenger by accessing your codebase, or use an integration like Google Tag Manager
  • Customize the look and feel of the Messenger to match your brand.

Pro-tip: Install the Messenger on a low-traffic page or display it only to your team initially for testing.

Install Gist Messenger

Customize Messenger

Step 2: Add Your Support Channels to Gist

With Gist, you can handle conversations from various channels like email, Facebook, and more. Here's how:

  • Start by routing one support email to your Gist Inbox.
  • Manage conversations on your Facebook page from within Gist Inbox.

Set up email forwarding

Connect your Facebook page

Step 3: Create Help Content for Your Customers

Gist articles help your customers and add value to your brand by appearing in organic search, Messenger, and Inbox. Here's how to create help articles:

  • Set up your first articles or import them automatically from Zendesk.
  • Customize the appearance of the help center to match your brand.

Create help articles

Step 4: Create Support Snippets for Your Team

Snippets are a true game-changer for teams dealing with high volumes of customer inquiries by helping deliver quick, consistent, and accurate responses to your customers. They can drastically cut down response times, increase customer satisfaction and free up your support team's time to focus on more complex customer queries.

Additionally, these pre-formatted responses ensure consistency across all communications, reinforcing your brand's voice and tone.

This is how you can set up your snippets:

  • Create a list of frequently asked questions and formulate concise, clear responses.
  • Use Liquid tags to personalize them for each customer.

Create Snippets

Step 5: Make Gist All About Your Users

Knowing your customers is key to providing exceptional customer service. Gist's custom properties allow you to collect and utilize vital customer data across your entire platform. This feature lets you better understand your customer's behavior, needs, and preferences.

Two significant functions that you should consider setting up are:

  • Send your user data to Gist along with properties unique to your business, like their user IDs, the date they became a customer or their subscription type. This helps personalize your communication with each customer, increasing engagement and satisfaction.
  • Start tracking user events to understand your user's journey and behavior better, helping you refine your product, marketing, and support strategies.

Send custom user data

Start tracking user events

Step 6: Connect Your Apps to Gist

Connect and synchronize Gist with the rest of your tech stack to leverage your existing information.

  • Visit our app store to explore more options.
  • Create your own custom apps to enhance your team's workflow.

Connect your apps

Step 7: Invite Your Teammates

Invite your teammates to share the setup process, add support teams, or bring Marketing or Sales teams closer to the customer's experience.

  • Set custom permissions and access per person or by particular role.

Invite your teammates

Once you've completed these steps, you're ready to launch. Remember, keep things simple first and gradually add complexity as you get more comfortable with Gist.

Key Resources

Here are some key resources that will help you make the most of Gist:

  1. Gist Home: Visit our in-product checklist detailing the most impactful steps thousands of customers took in their first days with the product.
  2. In-product help: Embedded educational content throughout Gist to help you learn more.
  3. Help Center: Our comprehensive library of help articles, FAQs, how-tos, and best practices. Visit Help Center
  4. Chat with support: Need extra assistance? Reach out via Messenger to chat with our support team.

Congratulations on starting your Gist journey! We're here to support you every step of the way.