We would all like to believe that our product is perfect. But the reality is that it probably isn’t. Even the best products have minor bugs and glitches, and no matter how good your instruction manual is, at one point or another your users are bound to have questions. That means that you need to be able to offer your customers high-quality, effective product support and troubleshooting. Just how can you go about doing that? Be sure to consider these tips.
Create tutorials and reference materials
Do some research to figure out the most common problems and issues people have when dealing with your product. Then, based on these common problems, develop tutorials to help people address these problems and make them widely and easily accessible. The benefits of this strategy are twofold. First and foremost, this makes it easy for customers to access the support they need. Customers who can find the information they need when they need it are happier customers. Secondly, this reduces the demand on your support personnel. If customers don’t have access to the support they need for basic problems and questions, they will end up clogging your phone lines.
Set reasonable expectations for response times
When a customer reaches out to you for help, whether it is by phone, chat, or email, make sure you let him or her know when to expect to hear back from you. And make sure that estimate is a feasible one. Remember, people can get on edge when they are waiting for a problem to be resolved, so don’t make promises you can’t deliver on. If you are a startup with just a few team members and no dedicated support personnel, don’t promise that you can answer all questions and concerns within an hour, as you probably won’t be able to.
Be open to customer input
To figure out what your customers need help with and how to best serve them, you absolutely need to be open to customer input. That means keeping track of common problems and developing standardized procedures to address them.
Remember, communication is critical
If you are hiring support personnel, make sure you are hiring people that have not only the technical skills needed, but also the communication skills. Excellent product support and troubleshooting aren’t just about having the technical knowledge and expertise to address a problem; they are also about having the communication skills to deal with the customer, who, understandably, may not be in the best mood. At the end of the day, great product support is all about great communication.
Pivot International is a product design, development, and manufacturing firm with strengths in software development, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and industrial design. If you are interested in engineering a new product or updating an existing product, contact us at 1-877-206-5001 or request your free consultation today.
