Although similar to customer service, customer support has its own challenges and best practices.
In this age of digital interaction and one-to-many communication, it can be easy to lose sight of the human aspect of doing business. But no matter how large your audience or how many channels you span, at the end of the day the success of your business comes down to how well you connect with your customers on a personal level.
In 2018, Gartner reported that more than two-thirds of companies are now competing primarily on the basis of customer experience. At the same time, research suggests that avoidable churn is costing U.S. businesses $136 billion a year.
In other words, providing a positive customer experience has become absolutely essential. And, a major factor in an effective approach to customer-experience management is customer support.
Here, we discuss customer support—what it is, what challenges it faces, and how you can ensure that your business is using it to provide an exceptional experience for your patrons.
At its most basic, customer support describes the services, tools, actions or strategies designed to help customers resolve any technical issues or problems with a specific product or service. Customer support may include everything from original planning and installation, to training, troubleshooting and maintenance.
Contact centres often play an important role in customer support. When a customer encounters a problem with the product or needs further direction on how to use it correctly, they may opt to contact trained support personnel via the company’s contact centre. The customer calls in using their phone, and is able to speak one-on-one with a support agent. The agent can then walk the customer through the troubleshooting process and help them find a solution.
Other customer support channels may include the following:
Each of these options carries with it certain advantages in terms of reach, availability, usability and communication effectiveness. Successful businesses tend not to limit their customer support options to just one or two channels; multi-channel support ensures that wherever your customers are and however they prefer to reach out, you will be waiting for them and ready to help. Omni-channel support takes this interaction even further, connecting all available service channels and allowing agents to freely share relevant information to promote a more seamless customer experience.
A hundred or so years ago, customers were effectively limited to those businesses that were located nearby. Most people would purchase locally, and when they encountered problems with the product or service, they would simply return to the shop and speak with someone there.
But as larger businesses began to expand to include more and more locations, it became apparent that the need for customer support was growing as well. At the same time, new communication technologies—such as the telephone—made it possible for customers to call into stores directly to find solutions to their problems.
The first call centres began to appear in the 1960s, offering a more efficient way for businesses to manage customer support at scale. The advent of freephone numbers helped solidify call centres as the preferred approach to customer support.
Throughout the 70s, 80s, and 90s new technologies further revolutionised customer support. Interactive voice responses (IVR) and phone trees made limited self-service a possibility, and help desks—backed by on-site computer software—allowed agents to quickly retrieve important information. The emergence of home internet technology brought with it email and eventually live chat support options. Finally, the 2000s saw an explosion in customer support software and online support-and-feedback channels.
Today, we are living in a golden age of customer support. However, as support options and capabilities expand, the line between customer service and customer support is starting to blur.
There is a lot of overlap between customer support and customer service. Both play an essential role in the customer experience. Both depend on reliable communication. Both have an impact on customer retention and customer loyalty. But customer service and customer support are not actually the same thing.
Customer service
Customer service is a blanket term that encompasses most interactions between a business and its customers. It includes every action that you take, and every resource you provide, to help ensure that customers’ expectations are being met and that they are enjoying a positive customer experience. It’s the assistance and advice you provide to those who are interested in doing business with you.
Customer experience is not a one-and-done task; it begins with the first contact between your business and a prospective lead, and continues throughout the entirety of the customer relationship—through purchase and beyond.
Customer support
If you think of customer service as an umbrella covering the full range of customer-facing services, then customer support is a subset that sits under this umbrella. It also plays a role in meeting customer expectations and promoting a positive customer experience, but it is focused on providing solutions to problems.
Customer support is more short-term than customer service, with clearly defined beginnings and endings. Generally, a customer will experience a problem that they are unable to solve. They will reach out through an available support channel in the hopes of finding a solution. Either with the help of a support agent or through self-service support resources, the customer finds a solution to their problem, effectively bringing the customer-support relationship to a close—until the next time they need assistance.
Although customer service may encompass a broader definition, customer support has become at least as important to business success. This is, in part, thanks to the fact that customer support functions as a last line of defence against a negative customer experience. And, the more complex the product or service, the more support customers require. And the more challenges those customers face, the more poorly they view the overall experience.
Today’s customer expectations are higher than ever before. Customers are informed, self-assured, and are aware that they have many other options when it comes to doing business. When they have a negative customer experience, they are not shy about sharing their story, potentially causing reputational damage that extends well beyond the original customer relationship.
When your customers encounter a problem, they look to your support channels to help make it right. If you can solve their problem in a fast, convenient and friendly way, then they will be more likely to view your company positively. They will be more willing to do business with you in the future, and may refer you to friends and associates.
In other words, customer support is a major opportunity to turn potentially damaging issues into positive support experiences. It’s also a chance to identify and address the root causes of customer support issues, creating an improved experience for those who come after.
Business growth depends on a variety of factors, but at its core, it’s all about customers. Happy, engaged customers will generally spend more and do business with you for longer. At the same time, companies depend on candid customer feedback to improve products and inform future decisions.
Effective customer support provides for these needs. It offers a means to meet expectations and engage customers when they need it most, and collect honest evaluations and criticisms to help drive innovation.
One of the primary challenges that support departments face is that they are responsible for inheriting and resolving negative experiences. Customers who contact the support team may already be unhappy. It’s up to the support department to not only resolve their issues, but to do so in a way that creates a positive overall experience.
Dealing with unhappy or angry customers and salvaging the customer relationship can be an uphill battle. It demands patience, empathy and an in-depth understanding of your business and your products. It also demands the right tools and support software.
Other customer support challenges include the following:
By adhering to a handful of best practices, most organisations can build a customer-support strategy capable of addressing almost any issue that may come its way.
At the core of your customer support strategy, you will need to determine exactly how extensive your support offering is going to be. Will you make your support team available 24/7, or will they only be available during regular office hours? Will you offer worldwide support across multiple time zones and languages, or will you restrict support options to your local area? How will you define service levels, either formally or informally, and how will you track adherence to them?
The level of support you choose to offer should be based upon the needs of your customers and the capabilities of your business. Also, be aware that those two factors may change; you might not need a French-language support option today, but you might tomorrow if your business expands to include other parts of the world.
In creating a customer support strategy, you will need to define several key features. Addressing these points early in your planning will help you stay on track and provide a consistently positive experience for your customers. Here are several key features to consider:
At its heart, customer support is all about promoting a positive customer experience. How you do that will depend on who your customers are, what products or services you offer, and the expectations within your industry. That said, we’ve compiled nine tips to help ensure that your customer support strategy is an effective one.
Once you’ve established a working customer support strategy, consider taking the next step. Check out the ServiceNow customer engagement whitepaper, and see how far your customer support can take you.
On the surface, customer support may seem like something negative; customers encounter problems with your product or service, and they then have to take the time to reach out to you to find solutions. But the truth is that customer support not only provides much-needed direction and troubleshooting, it also gives you a chance to further personalise the customer experience, create positive connections with the people who drive your business, and generate valuable, actionable feedback. In other words, when properly planned and executed, customer support becomes a valuable avenue for promoting a positive customer experience.
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