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Customer Service Information |
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4 Easy Steps to Better Online Customer Support
Customer support is very important when you're running a business, whether your business is on or off the net. If your customer support is hopeless, you'll soon find your customers running away from you and worse, telling others to stay away too. If you're like many of us out there, the last thing you want to do is to spend the whole day replying to customer support emails. Here are 4 easy steps to help improve your customer support and at the same time reduce the time you spend replying to queries. The trick here is to help your customers help themselves before you help them. - Step 1: Start with a Knowledge base / FAQs The first step to your support system is to set up a knowledge base or, if you have a quite straight forward product, a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section. This will save you a lot of time. Your customers will also be happier since they can find answers to their questions immediately. If you're just starting out, it is still a good idea to set up a knowledge base/FAQs. Just sit down and think of all the possible questions that your customer would ask. Maybe not all. Start with a few and you can always add more to it as time goes by. - Step 2: Set up a Forum A forum is a great addition to your customer support system. The forum should be the second place your customer would turn to for help. A lot of people associate a forum to discussions, moderating, a lot of work and a headache to maintain. This is only true if you use a forum as a discussion area. Instead, you should use it as a customer support tool. Just create different forum categories for eg., pre sale questions, member questions, one category for each product. A forum is an excellent way to provide customer support because:
- Step 3: Install a Ticket help desk Not all queries can be handled via a knowledge base and a forum. Sometimes there is a need for your customers to send you private information such as usernames and passwords. When a situation like this arises, you will need a way for your customers to send you the information without others being able to see it. One of the best ways to handle this is to set up an online ticket help desk. A ticket help desk system will allow your customers to create a user account and log a ticket into your system. They can then send whatever information they need to send. You can even allow them to attach files. Most good help desks will also allow you to prepare pre-written responses for repetitive queries. Again, a good web host would also have some kind of help desk script installation available at a click. - Step 4: Use a good email software And finally, you have the good ole e-mail. Which should be the last thing your customers resort to. After implementing the above three systems, you will find a remarkably reduced amount of e-mails you need to reply to. Customers are getting wiser. Most know that e-mails are seldom replied to. So, they would only resort to this as a last resort. Don't make a mistake of putting your email address on your web site. Use a form. With email filters rampant on the net, also remember to inform your customers that your e-mail may be trapped by their email filter. There you go. Just set these up and you'll find your customer support a lot easier to handle. � 2004 Bina Omar About The Author Bina runs the WebSite Workshop that provides tools & training to help newbies build web sites. Subscribe to Bina's ezine 'WebBriefcase!' & get your free course on "How to Make Your Own Web Site in 7 Easy Steps" mailto:subscribe@website-workshop.com
MORE RESOURCES: Spirit Airlines Employees In Philly Take Customer Service To Another Level By Trading Insults Outkick Ada Supports $500B Customer Service Labor Market with AI Agent Powered by Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service Morningstar Can artificial intelligence rescue customer service? The Economist Dialpad Unveils New Contact Center Solution Leveraging AI to Boost Customer Service Efficiency Telecom Reseller CMS to lower importance of ‘call center’ metric in Medicare Advantage star ratings - Healthcare Dive Better living through AI? WORLD News Group The Crappy Service Continues at Idaho grocery Stores News Radio 1310 KLIX Springfield CU needs to know what your water lines are made of. Here's how to find out - News-Leader Ryan Fisher honored for customer service Jamestown Sun Open Position: Customer Service Coordinator (Remote-Part Time) America's Charities Birmingham Water Works warns customers getting service but not a bill, disconnection could be coming WBRC Ada Supports $500B Customer Service Labor Market with AI Agent Powered by Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service PR Newswire America's Best Customer Service 2025 Newsweek Entergy New Orleans’ commitment to proactive service Entergy Newsroom Using the power of AI to improve customer support Inside INdiana Business ServiceNow and Five9 Expand Partnership With Turnkey AI-Powered Solution for Unified Employee and Customer Experiences Business Wire Consumers embracing AI-powered customer support Retail Customer Experience Claims Processing Outsourcing Canada: Cynergy BPO – The Backbone of Canada’s Leading Insurance Companies Insurance Edge From the Web: ‘AI Giants Deploy Digital Customer Service Agents’ ACA International Westney customer service desk to be temporarily closed November 16-17 Durham Region Transit Generative AI’s Potential to Improve Customer Experience Bain & Company Senior Property Tax Freeze program offline until Monday due to overwhelming traffic - Spectrum News Tennessee theme park beats out Disneyland for favorite theme park, best customer service titles KTLA Los Angeles Duck Creek Establishes Center of Excellence in Poland to Enhance Global Support for Customers GlobeNewswire My experience as a Customer Service and Sales Intern Toby Shapiro's Experience at A.D. Sutton and Sons Chapman University Updated Customer Service Hours - Several Departments Downtown Riley County Official Website CSPI & Nutrition Action Customer Service CSPI Newsroom BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE Forbes Parking Customer Service Center: Temporary Relocation for Renovations City of Norfolk (.gov) Dallas Water Utilities customers receive notification letters about their service lines Dallas City News Fifth Third Private Bank Named Global Private Banking Award Winner, Honored as Best for Customer Service Business Wire Good customer service does exist Houston Herald Customer Service & Support Hillsborough County (.gov) Dollywood beats Disney, Universal and other popular theme parks again! Here’s why Knoxville News Sentinel Phone Tap: You Didn’t Say Goodbye MOViN 92.5 PHL Impression Makers - American Airlines Customer Service Agent Shatara Hester Philadelphia International Airport A faster Customer Service in Thailand Saint-Gobain President Biden Announces New Customer Service Actions, Targets Subscriptions and ‘Doom Loops’ CX Today Fulton County Recognizes National Customer Service Week Fulton County Government Welcome to Riverside Public Utilities City of Riverside (.gov) Southwest Airlines to offer buyouts at LAX, Burbank, Long Beach and John Wayne Los Angeles Daily News 8 strategies for using AI for customer service in 2024 Sprout Social Banks with 24/7 Customer Service Business Insider My Utilities Account City of Santa Clara How to Start Service myclearwater.com |
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