All developers will know that any released software package or app will be far from perfect at launch and will never be perfect, as nothing is. This makes having high-quality tech support a must for helping to ensure growth and a well-matured product line that has learned from previous mistakes and requests.
In this article, we will have a look at some of the traits that great tech support departments share as well as the future of tech support.
The 8 Traits of Great Tech Support
1. Multi-Channel Support
Providing IT support for customers allowing your clients to contact you by any means is a must. This means that simply providing an email and a phone number no longer cuts the mustard.
Companies need to open social media channels as well as support via popular messaging services like WhatsApp. Further, other live chat solutions can be adopted. These have proven to add a uniquely human touch that customers appreciate.
2. Provide Solutions in Record Time
Whether the problem your customer is experiencing is minor or world-ending, never leave them waiting for extended periods of time. If the issue is critical, simply waiting an hour can feel like an eternity.
Critical to achieving this aim is keeping your support department well-staffed, keeping the time needed for the customer to speak to your staff to a minimum. There will be times when all your staff is occupied with other customer issues, so having a call back service is important.
Ideally, the customer should be contacted within one working day, and if you offer 24-hour support, that time should be reduced. This time limit should also apply to customers whose issue is of a more complicated nature, and no solution can be immediately provided.
Feedback provided to these customers should fall into the same or similar time limits as to when no one is available to take the call.
3. Self-Help Services
In some sense, this can be seen as a measure to help solve issues speedily. By providing online solution services like FAQ and video content for commonly encountered problems, your customer might be able to solve the problem themselves.
This will take some of the pressure off your support staff as a solution can be found without needing to contact your support department directly. For the customer, self-help solutions provide a way to solve problems without needing to register a support ticket and keep frustration levels to a minimum.
4. Hire Well, Train Even Better
The importance of having great tech support staff has been well documented. Just like all your department’s great staff are an asset. It is not enough to hire great staff. However, they need to receive high-quality training to keep their skills sharp and updated with the company’s product line and technology developments.
Nothing is more frustrating for a customer wanting support only to reach a consultant to be left with the impression that they know more about the product than the consultant.
5. Make Use of Software
To expect even your best staff to remember each issue encountered and customer spoken to only ends in failure. Several great software packages allow for customer data and compliant information to be stored and then accessed easily through an easy-to-use interface. Packages like this can improve customer satisfaction greatly.
Other packages will also allow for the automation of tech support routines. This allows for faster problem identification and information gathering. One of the great advantages of automation of the tech support department allows for commonly encountered issues to be easily detected and moved to self-help services faster, allowing staff to better handle more complex complaints.
6. The Art of Listening
Despite technological advances assisting support staff, one of the most important skills to master is listening to the customer. Being dictated to what the solution is without expert listening is a pet peeve of nearly everyone, customers included.
Staff should first listen to the customer before attempting to solve the customer’s issue. Linked to this is the support staff should always treat the person on the other end of the call or live chat with respect and be polite.
This is especially true when the customer is frustrated and upset. A calm voice can do wonders.
7. Empower Staff
Ultimately you want to be able to have the best-trained staff to deal with the widest array of customer complaints and issues.
Part of this process is to empower staff to solve customer problems on the spot without the often experienced red tape delaying the solving of issues for the customer.
If staff have to rely on approval processes before a complaint can be solved, the frustration level of the customer is likely to hit the “write an angry review online” level.
8. Future Support
The future of tech support is an exciting one, given the rate at which supplementary technologies are maturing. Through a combination of big data, machine learning, and AI, the ability to solve customer complaints is being heightened.
As these technologies further mature, support staff will be able to not only solve issues but make future predictions as to what issues they may encounter regularly. The above-mentioned technologies are already being adopted by several software companies specializing in tech support software and are only expected to become more mainstream in the near term.
Conclusion
Despite advances in technology, tech support is still a very human endeavor, and a balance between well-trained staff and technology will prove to be one of the future determinants of any support department’s success.
Focusing on one at the expense of another will hamper growth and the development of future products.
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