Introduction
Great customer service is the key to customer satisfaction and online business success. As consumers have moved online yet more, so too have the feedback and “word of mouth” reviews of the past. With over 90% of customers saying that they’re influenced by the reviews they see online before spending money, it’s an element of modern business that you overlook at your peril. Quality tech support may just be the answer.
There are loads of different ways in which you can track your customer satisfaction. From the obvious, through customer surveys, to the more obscure, sales call reporting, which can be utilized to highlight any weak links in your armory, the means aren’t important. The results are.
This article will explain why quality tech support must be provided, the differences between doing it well and not, and how to achieve it.
What Is Tech Support?
Very simply, tech support refers to a customer-facing role where employees aim to help customers resolve technical issues with their products. Think of Apple’s Genius Bar as the most obvious, in-person example of this. Tech support also exists online in the form of the live chat feature.
During the pandemic, companies that may traditionally have offered in-person tech support have been forced to adopt this technology, too. Businesses have embraced live chat options, and with employees using a personal cell phone for work, they’ve been able to offer customers round-the-clock service in spite of remote working limitations.
Despite tech support enabling the delivery of quality products or services, in the front office vs. back office debate, it’s generally considered more of a front office function, given its direct impact on an organization’s revenue stream.
As online tech support has become an increasingly prevalent part of digital customer service, getting it right has also proven increasingly vital.
The Difference Between Good and Bad Tech Support
To provide quality support, we must first understand what good and bad tech support looks like. Good tech support manifests itself in many different ways. If your tech support team communicates solely via live chat or email, timely and clear responses are the benchmarks of good service.
If you operate tech support through video calls, ensuring you can provide a clear image for the customer is crucial to supplying high-quality support. Invest time and resources into making sure your employees are confident “presenters” who can easily demonstrate how to resolve an issue.
Also, as not every customer who has an issue will be able to contact a team member – especially during busy times – having a comprehensive self-help guide, such as an FAQ page, is a good idea. Focusing on making sure that these pages are as detailed as possible is a good way to avoid a large amount of traffic heading for the tech support team with easy-to-solve issues.
To avoid an overwhelmed tech support team, you should consider implementing automated testing to help you avoid any bugs that might impact the customer experience.
It may come as no surprise to say it, but bad tech support encompasses much of the inverse of all the qualities outlined above. If you have a tech support team that takes too long to respond to clients or doesn’t interact in a clear and accommodating way, it’s time to review your practices.
Similarly, having vague information – either online or in documents like instruction manuals – is a sure-fire way to ensure that your Tech Support team is snowed under with queries.
Considerations for Improving Tech Support
It might be the case that you find yourself somewhere in between the two scenarios outlined above. You aren’t achieving wonderful scores in your surveys, but you’re also not hemorrhaging customers. If this is where you stand, figuring out how to improve your support may be more challenging. But we’ve cobbled together a few key pointers that should help you move from bad to good or from good to great.
The first port of call should be to understand your customer’s views. Customer-centric web design has been the focus of digital companies for a long time. And, in tech support, this should also be the case.
Whether you engage with these via your own surveys or have a page on sites like TrustPilot, if customers are unsatisfied with something, they’ll let you know. Seeing negative feedback is often disheartening. But, when treated with a positive mindset, it’s often the foundation for positive change.
Once you’ve explored that, talk to your tech support team. No one knows the business better than those who work within it. And call center KPIs can only tell so much of the story, so engage with workers on the ground. Trust that they know what they’re talking about and consult them on areas to improve. It may mean compromising on some areas, but if it means improving your customer support, it’ll be worth it in the end.
Lastly, keep things simple. And by this, we don’t mean basic. Making it easy for customers to get in touch with you means operating different platforms of communication. Ensuring these are well-staffed keeps the operation running smoothly and makes the whole process more streamlined.
Benefits of Getting It Right
But, in a world where changes to your operation cost money and time, you need to be sure that there’s some tangible benefit to be had. Well, don’t worry, the advantages are significant.
With 78% of consumers willing to do business with a company again after a mistake if customer service is excellent, customer retention is clearly a direct benefit of good customer service and strong tech support.
Converting customers from “never again” shoppers to loyalists is a tricky thing to do, so recovering lost sales is a sign that your tech support is working at its best.
It may also be worth following some software testing methodologies. These can help identify problems before a product is released, nipping issues in the bud before tech support can get overwhelmed.
Conclusion
Improving the service offered by your existing tech support team can only be a positive thing for your company. In an increasingly digital global marketplace, getting the edge in any area is difficult. But, by following the tips above, you can provide quality tech support to satisfy your customers.
