A major question today is “will my clients use web based customer support?”

That is a very real question since there are many people who prefer to talk to a “live” person by phone. However, there are some things you can do – whether you use web based customer support or another type of customer support – to make sure your customer support really takes care of your customers.

1. Make it easy – easy to find and easy to use. Put a nice, obvious link to your support on the home page of your web site. If the web site is easy to find and the link for support is easy to find, clients are much more likely to give it a try. Put a second link in a menu bar on another part of the page. Make sure there is at least one “help” or “support” link on every page of your web site, especially product description pages. Then make the use of it just as easy. Streamline the information that is needed. In some cases you can simply ask for a name, e-mail, product, and a description of the problem or question. It is nice to collect all kinds of information, but if all those blanks intimidate or anger the client, you have not accomplished anything positive, so don’t overdo the questions.
2. Make it quick – quick to find help and quick response to questions. The help itself can be quick by giving your clients FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) to search. These should be indexed in ways the client would look – not the way your staff thinks. And when the client submits a trouble ticket, the response to that ticket should be very quick. It is okay if the first response is an e-mail responder that says “we received your ticket,” but a real person should also respond within an hour to say “we care about your problem.”
3. Make it friendly – friendly to your clients and friendly to their needs. Train those who respond to help tickets to be kind, courteous, and empathetic to the clients and to use language the client will understand. Give clients an expected time for resolution and then resolve the issue sooner. Be professional but show genuine concern.

Whatever you do, try to see every issue from your client’s eyes and mind. If you exceed their expectations and can promptly solve their issues, they will use web based customer support.