Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Meeting Your Customers Online Support Expectations


Many of your customers have already interacted with some sort of online support system and most have come to expect a certain degree of usability and service-related information from a company's website. Understanding and meeting these expectations will go a long way towards establishing your company's credibility and confirming your ability to help your customers.


Internet users have begun to consider information found on the web at least as important as other media, such as newspapers, magazines and books. In fact, as far back as 2002 when the University of California at Los Angeles performed its third annual nationwide survey on the Internet, nearly 61 percent of Internet users rated the web as a "very" or "extremely" important source of information.
Compare with the following sources rated in that survey:

  • Newspapers: 58%

  • Television: 50%

  • Radio: 40%

  • Magazines: 29%



Since your customer's attitude towards valuable sources of information has shifted, how has your support department responded? Do you provide an easy to access FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)? How about a searchable knowledge base? Are the manuals for your product or service available for download from your website?
When your customer visits your website looking for these common support features, what will their impression of your service department be if they do not find them? Will you lose credibility? Almost certainly. Will your Customer Service rating drop even though they haven't even picked up a phone?


Start by learning what your customer's expectations are. Perform a survey asking how your website might better serve their support needs, what features are they most likely to use often. Visit the web sites of your competitors - are their customers receiving better service online than yours?


Next, investigate the technologies available to you. There are many software solutions out there for providing online knowledge bases ranging from very expensive to open source projects. If you have an internal IT or web development department capable of developing a custom solution, find out how large an effort it would require. Get a price tag.


Do some math. Determine how much one lost customer is worth. If meeting your customers online support expectations is going to cost your company $5,000 and one lost customer is worth an average $1,200, thatmeans you can only lose 4 customers as a result of missing service features before it is more expensive to not invest the $5,000 in the effort.


Create the content. Most support centers will have their support personnel create one or more knowledge base solutions or articles per week as a regular part of their job description. A senior support resource will often review the content for technical accuracy. The information should also be reviewed for grammar, spelling and style before it is published.


The Internet continually enables companies to greatly improve their customer service. With this trend, your customer's expectations will also continually increase. Keep up and keep your customers.

Saturday, May 06, 2006

Top Ten Telephone Basics

I ran across a helpful article for service & support front liners. Shep Hyken details ten basic skills that can not only make your customers happier, they will make your job easier. In support, nearly everyone who calls in is having a bad day - they wouldn't be calling you otherwise right? Early on, I had a habit of starting support calls with the simple question "How are you today John?" after getting the callers name. The answer was rarely positive. I'd get responses ranging from...
"I've been better."
to
"I'd be a whole lot better is this blasted product of yours wasn't such a pain in my ass!"
So I stopped asking "How are you".
Shep suggests starting with enthusiasm. He clarifys this by warning not to go overboard - I picture the cold callers in the Sales department - but be positive from beginning to end. Yes, you don't need another problem added to your already belt-bursting case load, but the person on the other end certainly doesn't need your attitude added to their load of problems!

The second point is to smile. Okay - this sounds cheesy I know, but most phone skills trainers suggest that smiling does something to change your voice and tone. Maybe someday I'll ask a scientist type to verify this fact, but for now, you might as well assume it is true. We all try to picture the face of the person on the other end of the phone line - how often do you imagine a scowl?

His third point basically builds on the first two - your voice will reveal you over the phone. Make the effort to have a supporting attitude before picking up the phone. I can testify that when they come in flaming, it is far easier to fix their problem and get them off the phone if you first extinguish them with a little positive attitude and understanding.

Read the rest of Shep's basics and let me know if you find anything helpful.

Friday, May 05, 2006

meta support

meta
Beyond; transcending; more comprehensive:
At a higher state of development:

support
The act or an instance of helping:
A means or device that keeps something erect, stable, or secure

Since this is my first post, I guess a "Welcome to Meta-Support" is obligatory.
This site is about support and customer service. I have been working in tech support departments since the late 90's (no I will not fix your computer) and I still can't believe the things I run into - and the crappy service get everywhere else. C'mon - it's not that hard to pretend to be helpful is it?
Anyway, I've got some ideas and opinions about the whole support thing and, lucky you, I'm considering making them public. I plan more than just "tech support" rants - but I may not be able to avoid them all the time - I believe a little foresight and planning is where quality support and service begins - and then making sure that policies and procedures are in place to allow the support rep to do their job.