Customer Support, Everywhere: An Overview of Support Channels
In the age of countless communication avenues, providing excellent customer support to users and followers is crucial for any business to thrive. A key aspect of effective customer support is the ability to offer various communication avenues (or to know which avenue is best) for users to reach out and receive assistance. In this blog post, I’ll go over the various channels you may want to consider using when providing great support.
1. Phone Support
The classic, phone support started and remains a popular and widely-used communication avenue for providing support. In offering phone calls as support, businesses can provide real-time assistance to their customers. Directly interacting with users via phone provides the most “live” support available out of all of the methods listed in this post, but has the drawback of needing consistent staffing during reliable hours, as well as the need to relay information over the phone (which can be an issue when attempting to trouble-shoot more visual issues).
2. Email Support
Email-based support is probably the most widely-spread option for customer communications today for businesses online; benefits include a complete conversation “chain” to better read up on historical cases with users, as well as quick communication to a set address. Email support also offers flexibility for both customers and support agents, as they can respond at their convenience. To optimize your support with email, consider utilizing a support platform (like Intercom, HelpScout, and other services) to manage both contacts and conversations with users.
3. Live Chat
Live chat support has gained popularity in recent years due to its abilities as a hybrid option between email and phone. It provides the “live talking” element of a phone call, while still maintaining a text-based record of a conversation for review later. Live chat also allows agents to multi-task; supporting multiple conversations if need be. Live chat also doesn’t have to be completely human-based; businesses can implement chatbots or automated responses/macros to further improve response times and handle basic queries, thereby freeing up support agents to address more complex issues.
4. Social Media Support
Don’t get me wrong: social media is tiring, and time away from Twitter/Facebook/name-your-platform is time well-spent. But it isn’t going away any time soon, and it is being continually used by millions of people daily. It is of the utmost importance that businesses review social media platforms and at least commit to one social platform for support. As a pro-tip, pick your most active/engaged platform, or (if you’re not using any platform) consider your target audience demographics and utilize the appropriate platform. Social support allows for interaction in a public forum, enhancing transparency and providing an opportunity to showcase excellent customer service. I can write a whole book on proper social support (and perhaps I will!), but to get started, remember these rules:
- Pick the platform (or top 2) platforms, and disregard the rest. Being on every platform is too much effort.
- Respond in a timely manner; TTFR (time-to-first-response) is an important metric and is visible to your customers!
- If a customer is unruly or has a private issue, don’t hesitate to shift the conversation to another channel (either DM or email); not everything can be solved publicly.
5. Self-Service Options
Don’t dunk on this option! In addition to direct communication with your customers, offering self-service options can empower customers to self-solve issues and can reduce your team’s workload. A well-stocked knowledge base, FAQ page, and (in some cases) online forums can provide valuable resources for users to find answers to common questions or troubleshoot issues independently. Self-service support channels empowers users and can reduce your team’s workload.
Conclusion
By offering the right combination of communication venues for your customers, you can be where your customers are and provide quick and effective support. By leveraging these channels effectively, you can deliver exceptional customer support, create customer loyalty, and ultimately drive growth. All businesses large and small require an effective customer support strategy implemented through appropriate channels. Choosing the right support channel(s) will enable quicker, better, and more efficient customer service delivery.
Jake Woehlke is a content creator, writer, and support consultant taking time to transition into the digital nomad lifestyle. Want to learn more? Visit jakewoehlke.com
