Toast Customer Support
Case study - UX & Research
“I want to swiftly identify callers, their businesses, and access permissions to expedite resolution of their support call inquiry.”
Customer care is a crucial factor as to why Toast customers are so loyal. In the world of restaurants, literal fires disrupt people’s work day, and the last thing someone wants is to wait on the phone for an agent to understand who you are, where you work, and what you do at your company. To the customer, it feels like our agents don’t care about who they are.
The following case study walks through deconstructing the pre-existing Customer Caller Support user flow to urgently address the growing problem of caller identification, showcasing my ability to quickly learn new tools + processes and provide experience improvements:
The following case study walks through deconstructing the pre-existing Customer Caller Support user flow to urgently address the growing problem of caller identification, showcasing my ability to quickly learn new tools + processes and provide experience improvements:
Outcome
Average handle time (AHT)
Reduced AHT by 3-8%
Depending on the inquiry category
Reduced AHT by 3-8%
Depending on the inquiry categoryAgent onboarding
Revamped enablement
Enabled agents to work within current mental models with improved efficiency
Revamped enablement
Enabled agents to work within current mental models with improved efficiencyDefined data source of truth
Ever-increasing data accuracy
Implemented data entry/update step for new contacts, syncing across data models
Ever-increasing data accuracy
Implemented data entry/update step for new contacts, syncing across data modelsContext
Problem space
Restaurant Customers calling Toast Care for support experience long wait times and tedious agent interactions to simply get found within the support agent’s systems.
Restaurant customers reaching out to Toast Care for support encounter frustratingly long wait times and tedious interactions with agents as they navigate the ordeal of being known by the support systems. The extended wait exacerbates their concerns and prolongs the impact on their business, leading to a suboptimal customer experience.
Streamlining the support process and enhancing system efficiency is essential to ensure timely and effective assistance for restaurant owners and staff relying on Toast.
Streamlining the support process and enhancing system efficiency is essential to ensure timely and effective assistance for restaurant owners and staff relying on Toast.
Goals
Speeding up bottlenecks
More quickly identify users and verify their information to more quickly address the actual intent of the call
Personalized care
I want to see what was changed, in detail, within my business and by whom
Using existing data
I want to respond to emergency access needs immediately if they are needed
Support agent tool ecosystem
Customer support agents use a variety of tools to both document and assist in customer inquiry fulfillment.
These tools are powerful, but over the years the disparity between the data models of Salesforce (sales and support processes) and Toast (admin support) has become significant. The more accurate of the two data models was Toast, and moving forward we aimed to use this as the source of truth and clean it up when/where we can.
Who is calling me?
How do I track support cases?
How do I support + resolve issues?
Research
Agent focus group
To better understand the context of Toast support agents’ work, a focus group of internal agents and contracted call center agents was organized. We discussed the major friction points of serving customers, and agents described the worst part of their job is simply waiting for customers to spell out their names and having to read it back for confirmation. The process feels impersonal to the customer and is a highly manual process for the agent.
Toast Customer Care: 4 agents
“I spend more time spelling names than I do finding the solutions to caller problems”
“When owners call in, I can tell they get annoyed we don’t ‘know’ them”
Contracted support: 6 agents
“It’s frustrating that I can’t instantly access data we have on callers. I know it’s in there as soon as they mention a restaurant name”
“As a support agent, I feel personally bad that I have to put people through this slow process”
So where were the bottlenecks?
1. ︎ Category selection
Five9: ~45 secondsCustomer calls support and enters category codes into IVR
Five9: ~45 secondsCustomer calls support and enters category codes into IVR
2. ︎︎︎ Call routing
Five9: Varies based on call volume
Customer is routed to agent group based on selection, on hold
Five9: Varies based on call volume
Customer is routed to agent group based on selection, on hold
3. ︎ Greeting
Five9: ~30 secondsAgent greets caller, asking who they are speaking with, and where they are calling from
Five9: ~30 secondsAgent greets caller, asking who they are speaking with, and where they are calling from
4. ︎ Identification
Salesforce: ~2-3 minutes (!!!)
Agent transcribes caller and business name, letter by letter, prone to entry errors
Salesforce: ~2-3 minutes (!!!)
Agent transcribes caller and business name, letter by letter, prone to entry errors
5. ︎ Contact + company selection
Salesforce: ~30 secondsAgent creates contact for caller after selecting company, creates new case or selects case
Salesforce: ~30 secondsAgent creates contact for caller after selecting company, creates new case or selects case
6. ︎ Supporting caller in Toast
Toast: [Varies based on inquiry]Agent clicks link to Toast, in Salesforce, to pull up support dashboard in context of selected company
Toast: [Varies based on inquiry]Agent clicks link to Toast, in Salesforce, to pull up support dashboard in context of selected company
Design
Five9
Changes
- Agents able to address callers by name if caller has verified Toast account
- Data transferred from Toast ︎︎︎ Five9 ︎︎︎ Salesforce when account is selected from Five9
Outcome
- Reduced average handle time by between 3-8% (depending on inquiry category)
- Focused design intervention on the 76% of callers that are verified Toast account holders
- 24% of unverified callers remain in the existing manual flow
Agent script before
“Hello, can I ask who I am speaking with?”
“Can you spell that for me?”
“Let me repeat this back to you... A L I S O N, and S M I T H, was that correct?”
“Okay and now can you tell me what business you’re calling from?”
“Can you spell that for me, again?”
“Let me repeat this back to you... E X A M P L E & C O, E A S T B O S T O N, was that correct?”
“Okay, Alison, how can I help you today?
Agent script now
“Hello, Alison! Before I assist you, can I ask where you’re calling from?”
“Example & Co East Boston? Perfect. How can I help you?”
Five9 overlay over Salesforce account selection
![]()
Verified caller: One account
![]()
Account auto-selected if a contact only has one associated account
Account auto-selected if a contact only has one associated account
Verified caller: <3 account
![]()
Quick select of Account for 90% of callers that work at <3 Toast restaurants
Quick select of Account for 90% of callers that work at <3 Toast restaurants
Verified caller: >3 accounts
![]()
>3 Accounts require more detailed review and must be completed in Salesforce
>3 Accounts require more detailed review and must be completed in Salesforce
Salesforce
Changes
- Salesforce contacts updated/created from Toast data, creating a living association between Toast Business Profile (driven by the Customer Contact Platform initiative)
- Displaying jobs and permissions held within the restaurant gives agents a better understanding of who they are talking to
Outcome
- Alignment across Toast data teams for dedicated data source of truth to maintain and clean customer contact data
- Less time spent in Salesforce, which is a tool for record-keeping not customer support tasks
- Less wasted support efforts since agents can view caller jobs and determine permission to request changes
Salesforce account selection
![Multiple accounts associated with contact]()
![Single account associated with contact]()
Toast Support
Changes
- Immediate view of device status due to high volume of use vs relatively inconvenient location
- Summary of contact and their identity within the restaurant
- Related support articles based on IVR category selection
Outcome
- 92% of support calls prompt agents to select “Open Toast” from Salesforce rather than spending time looking for identification data within Salesforce
Toast Support Summary
![]()
In collaboration with
︎ Toast Care
Customer Support collaborated closely to enhance agent workflows, optimizing the customer support call efficiency
Customer Support collaborated closely to enhance agent workflows, optimizing the customer support call efficiency
︎ Internal enablement
Defined the agent enablement process for new changes to their workflows, ensuring a smooth transition and improved operational efficiency
Defined the agent enablement process for new changes to their workflows, ensuring a smooth transition and improved operational efficiency
︎ UX Research
Challenged and validated design assumptions, relying on customer feedback for insights and ensuring choices aligned with user research and business goals
Challenged and validated design assumptions, relying on customer feedback for insights and ensuring choices aligned with user research and business goals
︎ Customer data platform
Ensured we took every opportunity to both maintain data accuracy and reduced customer support friction in the future as a result
Ensured we took every opportunity to both maintain data accuracy and reduced customer support friction in the future as a result
︎ Partner integrations
Enhanced third-party software utilized by agents, leveraging my expertise to improve the overall software ecosystem for more effective customer support
Enhanced third-party software utilized by agents, leveraging my expertise to improve the overall software ecosystem for more effective customer support