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by tkfu
4475 days ago
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I think the problem with offering both options is that you can't count on your customers to choose the right one, and they'll blame you when they choose the wrong one. Customer (via SMS): hey, the whole internet on my phone crashes when i use feature x. wtf??? Customer Support Rep A: Hey, we'd be happy to help you with that. What platform/version/subscription do you have? Customer (7.5 hours later): its the latest version, and i have a verizon. why can't you guys fix this??? CSR B: [lists some possible troubleshooting steps, asks customer to call] Customer, the next day on Twitter and Facebook: [Company] has the worst support! They broke my phone, and they say they'll help you by text, but then when you ask them anything they just ignore your problem or tell you to call anyway. FUCK [COMPANY] AND DON'T BUY THEIR CRAP!!! |
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- High phone support visibility on how-to pages: Don't link to chat if it's not going to an ideal experience - Focus on customer facing how-to resources: I'm confident every minute spent making the thorny aspects of phones (e.g. moving photos from internal storage) rock-solid is worth no less than an hour of CSR time. - Proactively making recommendations on more ideal support scenarios if applicable: "Hey, before we get started, this part can be tricky and I'd love to walk you through it, it'll only take a few minutes and I can schedule a time to call you if you're busy right now. <details of next steps>." - Perhaps most importantly (I just noticed from your interaction) CSR A should handle (and be given the freedom to handle) the problem from start to finish OR it should be made -very- easy for CSR B to pick up where it was left off (either a great CRM or an honest "I've got a family to go home to, I'm going to hand you off to So-and-So or I'll be back and available at"). That said, Simple lacks consistent CSR interaction but I haven't encountered a problem with the hand-off, most of the time I never notice.
When I was a CSR 99% of the time the customer wasn't my enemy, it was my coworkers (or my CRM).
That said, I don't believe SMS literally is a reasonable form of support and should never be marketed that way, but chat, even in-app chat could substitute. Additionally, providing these methods gives people a chance to ask questions and get resolutions that may be nagging them but not enough to call someone, it also opens up lines of communication to people like myself who get anxious thinking about calling people.