Corey recently gave us a roundup of essential components for conducting customer service online. These components were things like FAQ pages, micro support sites, instant messaging, and social media.
These are all proper steps in the right direction for tech-forward businesses to cater to their customer, but there are others worth noting that will further improve a business’s customer service and relations.
The following are a few essential components of Web-based customer service your business may want to pursue to provide the optimal amount of customer satisfaction.
1. Screencasts
The last item you purchased came with a set of instructions. Often enough, these get the job done; but when you’re stuck on a step, your only real option is to either call up tech support or go to the Web in hopes of finding someone else in your position that’s offering a solution.
Instead – begin creating screencasts for each and every product or service you offer. There are many different types of these screen recording tools.
Conceptualize the entire process required to use your product/service, write each step down, and then work through it while recording the process. Package the video and deliver it to your customers via DVD, streaming video on the website, or publicly hosted on sites like YouTube.
2. Remote Support
You may be a master of your product or service but you can’t expect your customers to know the complete ins and outs of what they’ve just purchased. Likewise, you can’t expect them to learn a new skill (i.e. learning everything about the product rather than using it for its purpose).
Remote support tools are great additions to any business offering technology services and products. The reason is that you can allow your experts to gain control of the client’s computer to handle the situation (like setup, troubleshooting, or configuring). This rapid deployment of service saves the client a great deal of time and frustration. As an added benefit you may also record sessions and save them like screencasts. You may then pass these recordings to your client for their personal records.
Additionally – you may use these tools for conferencing. You could collect frequently asked questions and turn the inquiry into a weekly series explaining the proper usage of the product or service.
3. App Help Desks
Business is changing greatly due in part to the acceptance of the “bring your own device” mentality which is a policy that allows employees to bring their phones, computers, and gadgets to work. Because employees are working with familiar machines they are able to quickly respond to work orders (one being customer service).
Empowering customer service representatives with their own device and help desk applications which they may access on the go removes the barrier when helping customers. CS reps may now handle customer inquiries, collect feedback, delegate maintenance, and support clients without the need of being in front of a stationary computer.
This means you could empower your CR reps to work from virtually any location at any time of the day. This extension of your customer support hours and flexibility will keep clients satisfied due to the ease of access when they’re in need.
The apps provide features like ticketing systems, alerts, team management tools, knowledge base, and much more.
Conclusion
The days of sitting around the phone – hoping to hear from your customer – are over.
Consumers want to get right to customer support. They don’t want to fight their way through phone options and sit on hold. They want service and they want it now.
With the additional options provided in this post (and the other created by Corey) – a business should have no problem becoming a leader in their industry in terms of customer support.
