With October just around the corner, we want to get into the autumn vibe with an exciting product update. For this release, we have focused on the primary features that many of you use as your daily drivers. We want to provide more feature value, by allowing you to do more with fewer actions. With this in mind, we have completely redesigned the warrant review flow, we are introducing a completely new set of rich platform broad customer detail cards, and finally, we are happy to introduce a new chat experience, built from the ground up to support a lot of amazing features including in-chat video sharing.  

## Improved warranty review process
With this release, we are introducing a new way of reviewing warranty requests. Whilst a warranty can be issued without any requirements or review process, you are now able to manage warranty issuing in a much more controllable fashion. 

![review warranty closeup@2x](//images.contentful.com/scrf7o05zai3/1SQ0im34BGGumJi0lDsaDg/09f91b937a6e2e193951e5ee429876bb/review_warranty_closeup_2x.jpg)

The enhanced review flow allows you to contextually review if the warranty requirements have been met while at the same time manage your customer expectation.  

### Proof of purchase 
Providing a product warranty to your customer upon purchase is in most cases required. However, the way the warranty is provided and under which circumstances is very important to get right. With our new warranty review in place, you are now able to configure your review issuing to include certain requirements including newly added *proof of purchase*. 

With the proof of purchase requirement you gain several advantages:
- Validation of the genuine purchase
- Purchase markers as to when and where the purchase occurred
- Customer purchase wallet

Finally, to ensure that your customers do not have to go through a lot of work to provide purchase proof the customer will not be requested to share the purchase details through a lengthy form. Instead, a single click to share for instance an image of the receipt will do the trick.    

## Introducing better customer cards
In our quest to provide you with the best and most comprehensive customer data throughout the complete customer life cycle we are relentlessly working to improve customer data capabilities. With this product update, we are releasing a completely new set of customer data cards. 

![customer cards@2x](//images.contentful.com/scrf7o05zai3/3Mxhm2d5StcH8XXqDeTGX5/2a2df7e362a21b8ad4c278d8ec22c85c/customer_cards_2x.png)

Customer cards will now be present through your Layerise account and contextually available with information that is relevant and optimised for your objective.   

### Customer profile card
The customer profile card will show several key pieces of information aiming at giving you the best possible insights into the customer. Not only is the card going to present all the known identification data that the customer has shared with you it will also allow you to get an understanding of what products the customer has purchased, the customer activity level and much more. 

![customer card](//images.contentful.com/scrf7o05zai3/7hrp6a4OhStYQUrSDHrE1R/62a2fe0c39d11ec0e5e42c8ab68b8f0b/customer_card.gif)

With the improved customer cards, you are now able to get insights that also cover details as customer gender, timezone, device preference, UTM  and referrer data.  

## More powerful Chat
Last but not least, we are releasing a chat experience that is on steroids. For this release, we have done a lot of work to make Chat faster, more reliant, extra powerful and very context-rich. We have rebuilt the Chat from the ground up to support our need to provide the most immersive and data-rich messaging experience.

![inbox list@2x](//images.contentful.com/scrf7o05zai3/3unJ7r70PMOKIK1jyzlmC4/38c47498454f7d5c2643fc3f7d9c785e/inbox_list_2x.jpg)

As evident above, we are also introducing many design changes that cover how conversations are displayed. The chat thread has been optimised for natural eye movement and readability, and customer and product data are now highlighted in the sidebar.

### Context and data-rich
With the new Chat, you will have an unprecedented data overview covering customer insights. This will enable you to view and utilise all data pieces that have been aggregated to contextually enrich your conversation with your customers. In parallel with the customer data being available, you now also have access to all Product Assistant content. This enables you to utilise the content for sharing as described below, however by default, you will also now be able to quickly review what content the customer has been engaging with. 

### Content sharing
Many of you have requested the ability to share Product Assistant content directly with customers while chatting. With this release, we are now making it much easier for you to find and share your content directly with a customer. No more back and forth between screens and tabs to locate content or actions, now you can share any component without ever leaving the conversation. It's simple and immersive. 

![content](//images.contentful.com/scrf7o05zai3/5qraFcYmMnsQbekoJh0IUy/8f32c785130481c860759655cab6a980/content.gif)

### In-chat video support 
We know. This feature has taken some time for us to get out. But it's finally here and we believe it's going to be amazing. Your customer and you, are now able to share video content. Video uploaded by your customers will be automatically added and viewable inside a chat thread.  

### Composer and notes
As the final piece, we have also redesigned the conversation composer and notes taking.

![notes](//images.contentful.com/scrf7o05zai3/5BjW08GUVlPxbf8IMDE3Co/d145345da7e2beecb34420cb6f9d3be6/notes.gif)

As evident above, the new composer allows for a much better writing experience. It also introduces a new paradigm in terms of how notes are recorded. This provides a much safer UX as it indicates that notes are for internal use only and are not shared with your customers. 

## Thank you for your support!
All features covered in this release are rolling out over the next couple of weeks and are made available in [your account](https://www.layerise.com/auth "Layerise account"). Moreover, all features will be available for all marketed plans as declared on our [plan overview page](https://www.layerise.com/pricing "plan overview").

As always, do not hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions or need a helping hand.

Warranty review, chat enhancement and customer cards 

If you are looking to create an instruction manual that people would always engage with, you have come to the right place! 

To make customers’ after-sale journey as straightforward and easy as possible, the high-quality user manual should be a fundamental part of the product experience.  In practice, however, no one reads the product manuals. A global survey that we initiated a few years ago confirms this statement. Almost 50% of all consumers say they never read the product manual before using their device. Moreover, the survey shows that almost 80% are mis-using or not using the product completely due to lack of know-how ([Research: The lack of effectiveness](https://www.layerise.com/resources/blog/post/the-lack-of-effectiveness)). 

Do it differently by discharging your idea of the conventional printed instruction manuals and replacing it with something new and way more engaging.

At Layerise, you can serve your customers with a smart interactive and customised Product Assistant that can provide the right kind of information in no time and solve all your customers’ problems efficiently. 

### What is a Product  Assistant?

The Layerise platform ensures that every end-customer gets the most optimal product experience. As a brand, you can create brand and product-specific Assistants for your customers to access.

You can educate your customers about the product features, inform them about changes and maintenance activities as well as fetch warranties through product onboarding, assembly guides, or troubleshooting help. Layerise provides the ability to effectively communicate with your customers, using enriched customer information as customer ownership details, product serial information, product service history, customer language preferences, and much more. 

Creating a Product  Assistant is extremely easy and can be done efficiently. Here is a quick guide to get you started.   

### 5 tips to create the ultimate Product Assistant 

#### 1. Identify the product and the end-customer

Think like your customer when selecting and establishing the right content experience. To create an effective user instruction manual, you need to make sure it’s easy for your customers to find what they need as soon as possible while keeping them engaged with your Assistant. Don’t go overboard with unnecessary features. Think from your customers’ point of view - people who are engaging with your product for the first time. You should always make sure they can find everything they need within few seconds after opening the Assistant. 

#### 2. Make product information available

Collect all the information about your product and carefully decide what type of content you want to include in your Assistant. Make sure you have a clear structure in mind! Next, create a checklist for yourself and make sure you don’t forget anything essential your customers need in their after-sale experience. 

#### 3. Create Highlights, Topics, etc. for the end-customer product needs

Start by making it easier for your customers by creating shortcuts for any important highlight, topic, or specific area of the Assistant, or by connecting the Product Assistant to any of your vital existing destinations. Moreover, make sure your customers stay engaged with your product, and thus, don’t forget to define recurring actions they need to take, for instance, maintenance or product care. Lastly, make your mark - sharing your social media outlets, as well as your carbon offset, will captivate the interest of your customers. This Personal Assistant is now on its way to becoming the only type of manual that actually provides an enjoyable experience!

#### 4. Build unique, easy to understand and localized experiences

Visuals first, text second! Make your visuals powerful enough to stand on their own. Images or videos - they need to answer questions, not draw more out. Make sure they are clean, clear, self-explanatory, and comprehensive! That’s just the perfect way to enhance engagement and help customers effectively.    

Educate and storytell. Your customers should be able to understand what you want to tell them even without reading the accompanying text.

#### 5. Improve and optimize with customer feedback

Since your Personal Assistant will play a determining role in helping your customers understand your product, it is absolutely essential to always keep on improving it with the latest features. Make sure your customers are being heard by updating the Assistant based on their needs! User manuals have never been more interactive - see your customers’ experiences with your own eyes.

5 tips to create the ultimate Product Assistant

For this product update, we have a couple of very exciting news. With our ambition to create great brand experiences that are safe and trustworthy, we are today releasing support for custom domains. In addition, as public trust profiles are becoming increasingly more important we are today introducing support for reviews on services as Trustpilot, Yotpo and others.     

## What is a custom domain 
When you activate your Product Assistants, your content is available through the app.layerise.com domain by default. This is great as it allows you to get your Assistants live fast and securely. 

Now sometimes it is necessary to be more diligent with what domain your customers engage with. In the case you have certain internal IT guidelines, the Marketing Department requires you to always funnel customers through your domains, or perhaps you just want to provide a brand-safe environment, utilising the custom domain support is critical. 

![domain](//images.contentful.com/scrf7o05zai3/7sRyZeZVIbb1hHUDZhpzhV/6a8dcd4992f4d2a2ce1469b048d938d5/domain.gif)

With the custom domain support, you can configure the Assistant domain to be yourdomain.com, app.yourdomain.com or something completely else. 

### Custom domain setup
Setting up domains can be tricky and difficult. But luckily, we have done all the heavy lifting to make this a breeze with the Layerise custom domain feature. 

![custom domain@2x](//images.contentful.com/scrf7o05zai3/jAgpxybJjE91y8FfBaxNS/306f42b671ee3671bfa69b3a87d03359/custom_domain_2x.jpg)

After determining what domain you want to utilise for your Assistants the process to finalise the custom domain is very easy. Also, while specifying your custom domain you can both state the custom path or even determine your sub-domain if that is your criteria of success.

The custom domain feature is only available for accounts on the Enterprise plan. 

## Getting the right reviews
Building the right trust score is essential for any brand today. The ability to showcase great reviews, and build sustainable customer trustworthiness is top of mind at any marketing department. The reason why this has priority among many marketers is that within certain segments, [92% of consumers rely on reviews to make purchases](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/build-trusted-brand/a-beginners-guide-to-getting-good-customer-service-reviews "Trustpilot data"). 

Three reasons why you should care about public reviews:
1. Social proof or capital. Demonstrating reviews especially great review scores are the most efficient way to build brand trustworthiness
2. Sustainable conversion rates. Reviews can increase conversation rates throughout marketing funnels
3. Easier entry into new territories. Utilising local public approval and validation enables easier territory expansion.   

To help you build online reviews, we are releasing a new review feature today. This will empower you to easier collect reviews on services as Trustpilot, Yotpo, Reviews.io and others.

### How to start with reviews
When we designed the Layerise review feature we decided to include several bells and whistles to get your flying easier. One of the cool features is that you can collect reviews based on your customers' location and language preferences. In practice this allows you to get all of your french customers to add reviews for your french offering. 

![review@2x](//images.contentful.com/scrf7o05zai3/4sVUd3gkCWpBCR7ZMJMKzZ/adb3b90017c949cb405d672b9d7f650f/review_2x.jpg)

Likewise, certain review services are more popular among specific customers that are located in separate parts of the world. This can for instance be viewed as Northern American consumers prefer [yotpo.com](https://www.yotpo.com/) versus the Northern Europen prefer [Trustpilot.com](https://www.trustpilot.com/).     

To use this feature you have to be on the Enterprise plan. 

## Release details
All features covered in this release are rolling out during week 34 and are made available in your account immediately. If not otherwise specified, all features will be available for all marketed plans.

As always, do not hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions or need a helping hand.