WHY THE OVERALL USER EXPERIENCE NEEDS TECH SUPPORT

Customers get in touch with your support staff when they experience issues with your product.

But not just routine assistance.

They get in touch with tech assistance for "IT"-related problems.

They just want the issue resolved so they can go back to their work; it doesn't matter to them if it is a "user" error, a bug, or a technical issue.

If your product won't let them log in? They speak to technical support.

A module or feature isn't functioning as it should? They speak to technical support.

In order for your clients to get the most out of your product, any inquiries about it (such as how to install it, how to configure it, etc.) must be addressed by technical knowledge.

Customers will eventually cease using your product if you don't have a tech support team in place to address these inquiries. Additionally, this raises turnover rates.

Simply said, technical support is essential to the overall success of a product-based organisation.

However, there is a problem with technical support.

It is pricey!

Every time you can't figure out a tech support issue, you can be wasting money.

Even worse, you run the danger of losing clients.

If you run a subscription-based firm where one consumer can subscribe to tens or even hundreds of user licences, this becomes much more important. Here, failing to provide a positive experience can be highly expensive.

High-quality technical support is therefore crucial.

We have put up the best tech support handbook to assist you and your team.

In this article, we'll explain what technical support is, why it's important, and how it works. We'll also offer advice and pointers to assist your company raise the bar on the technical support you offer.

Let's begin straight away!

Technical Support: What is it?

Product-focused businesses employ technical or "tech" assistance as a channel of customer interaction to ensure that their customers get the most out of their goods.

The goal of this is to resolve technical issues including installation problems, login problems, and other technical challenges that can negatively affect the user experience. Typically, this is done via knowledge bases, live chat, email, or phone.

However, isn't customer support merely another name for technical support?

Okay, no.

And here is why.

The Distinction Between Customer & Tech Support

It's simple for people to picture contact centre employees handling irate customers who want to vent their annoyance over payment and delivery problems when they hear the term "tech support." Your customer support team, not your tech support team, will handle these kinds of problems.

The way that tech support handles issues is where it differs.

Users' problems, installation failures, and any other technical issues that prohibit customers from using your product are handled by tech support staff. Tech support essentially focuses on assisting users in getting the most out of a product.

You can assist clients in using your product by concentrating on offering them better technical guidance and assistance.

The number of support levels is another obvious distinction between customer support and technical assistance.

Less tiers exist for customer support. A customer service representative is the first point of contact; the customer support manager is the second.

There are 5 levels of support for tech support.

The five tiers of technical support

Tech support is challenging.

It might be done via email, live chat support, knowledge bases, or even the phone, depending on the demands of your consumers.

A well-organized tech support system will be divided into 5 distinct levels and be available on a variety of platforms. Pre-support, self-service, first line, second line, and, in emergency situations, a third line of support are included in these five levels of support.

Pre-support

Before the invention of the Internet, people would consult an owner's manual or contact their relatives and friends if they had a query about a product. Your users will now just "Google" it.

And as a result, the majority of your clients will hunt up information online before contacting you. Some of your customers will be fierce defenders of your goods and provide amazing advice on how to make the most of them and assist other customers in troubleshooting issues.

Great, isn't that right?

On paper, yeah, I guess.

But it's crucial to keep in mind that for every positive review, there may be countless negative ones from unhappy customers who are eager to complain online since their concerns weren't resolved.

Online forums, social media, and website comments should be considered your first line of defence in light of this. To steer people toward your own tech support system and maintain customer satisfaction, your business should actively seek out these avenues.

Self-service

The next level of technical assistance focuses on empowering customers to self-serve and is run through knowledge bases, wikis, and FAQs. This serves as a quick and simple substitute for many customers who would rather not call a help desk and wait for an email reply.

By providing a self-service level, the most frequent issues may be handled, freeing up first-line support for more complicated issues.

Initial line of defence (human contact)

Sadly, FAQs and knowledge bases can't cover all questions.

Your users may occasionally need to talk to a live person.

First line assistance is frequently the customer's first point of contact with your business.

The focus of first-line assistance is on the most frequent inquiries (which you can record, learn from, and use to update your knowledge base).

When it comes to the product or service, tech support staff at this level have a basic to general grasp, but they might not always have the expertise needed to resolve complex problems.

However, the objective for this group is to resolve 70–80% of user issues before determining that it is essential to escalate the matter to a higher level.

Fourth line of defence (Complex issues)

The problems are currently getting more complicated.

especially considering that end customers are becoming more computer savvy every year.

In fact, according to 73% of tech support managers surveyed by the New York Times, the complexity of support calls is rising as a result of customers' increased technological sophistication and ability to handle simpler problems on their own.

Accordingly, the 25–30% of tech support inquiries that couldn't be resolved in first line support come up here in the second line and are far more challenging. It takes employees with in-depth product expertise to manage these support inquiries, offer technical advice, and have the ability to speak with people on the phone to assist them in finding a solution.

The third line of defence (custom support)

For the great majority of clients, this is the apex of tech support.

Third line tech support is likely to be controlled by a designated super user or even someone from your R&D department as it deals with exceptional cases that levels of pre-support to second line could not handle.

Typically, by the time a customer problem reaches the third level of tech assistance, it has gotten so complicated that a specialised solution is probably required.

Better Tech Support: 7 Tips

So far, we've defined tech support and discussed why it's critical to do it correctly. But what if you already have a tech support system in place? How can you improve it?

In order to keep your users satisfied and ensure that they remain devoted clients for years to come, we've put up 7 recommendations for better tech support.

Let's get going.

1. Before outsourcing, consider

You have a fantastic opportunity to shape the general user experience of your product through tech support. However, you must guarantee that your tech support staff is completely familiar with the product. This is why you should carefully consider your options before outsourcing the management of your tech support.

Asking yourself the following questions can help you decide whether to outsource tech assistance.

Can you promise that each time, the experience will be the same?

How can you gauge how well-versed in your products your customer service representatives are?

Do your clients anticipate speaking with locals and hearing familiar accents?

Outsourcing can be a terrific method to cut costs if you do it effectively.

2. Give technical assistance the same priority as sales

No company should run totally in compartments.

Instead, think about how various aspects of your company interact with one another.

And technical support is no exception.

Your marketing and sales teams depend on top-notch customer service to keep them as customers. And once a new customer has installed (or logged in to) your product, tech support will be their first point of contact.

But providing technical support goes beyond merely responding to client inquiries.

Additionally, you can use tech support to upsell and cross-sell features and products to your clients.

3. Introduce the five tiers of technical support

Not all businesses have a well-organized tech support system.

Since everyone must start somewhere, it's common for tiny businesses to have their founder or CEO handle all support requests.

The needs of your clients must be satisfied promptly and effectively as your company expands, though. The 5 levels of tech support can be used to weed out the "low hanging fruit" and simple issues that can be handled by a more junior member of the team because it is obviously neither practical nor cost-effective to have your CTO respond to every support ticket in your queue.

4. Manage the conversation outside of your immediate environment

The first place your user may turn if they encounter a problem is on a forum or social media.

As a result, you will need to keep an eye on user dialogues taking place on other platforms.

It can be really beneficial if you can find the time to follow and participate in internet discussions regarding your product. Not only will it take care of the customer's immediate issue, but it will also demonstrate to others your concern and persuade them to become customers.

5. Make tech support contact simple.

Have you concealed the website's footer's tech help link?

Nobody wants to waste time searching your website for a tech assistance link.

In actuality, 79% of website visitors agree to leaving a page if the contact details are hidden.

Be present where your clients are and make it simple for them to reach you to avoid this.

A surefire approach to keep clients pleased and retain them over the long run is to promptly resolve user support concerns and make tech help extremely accessible for them.

Apple is a fantastic case in point.

On the Apple website, do you ever have problems finding the "Support" link?

neither do I.

Apple's homepage features "Support."

Additionally, users can quickly acquire the assistance they require for their particular product by using Apple's self-segmentation method. Customers can reach live chat support agents almost immediately if Apple's comprehensive knowledge base is unable to resolve their issue.

Customers of Apple are never made to feel abandoned or impatient by technological issues.

This plays a big role in the appeal of their brand.

6. Pay attention to your users' feedback.

Any knowledge that your clients divulge to you is worth more than gold.

You may learn a lot from your customers about what features of your product are effective and which ones are not. By paying attention to the many tech support inquiries that come in, you may learn how to enhance both the functionality and quality of your product as well as, in many situations, create a closed feedback loop between the user and the product. This type of customer voice (VOC) data has considerable potential.

By adding a remark to your login screen or including a link to your FAQ or knowledge base, you can stop further emails from being sent if your tech support team observes an uptick in login-related issues.

7. Ensure that you use the appropriate tools for the task.

Email is an excellent tool.

However, the greatest tool to manage tech assistance is not Outlook or a general email platform.

Instead, think about purchasing the appropriate equipment for the work.

The best technologies can manage inbound questions, support requests, live chat, escalation, and knowledge bases while keeping the rest of your team informed about technological difficulties.

However, maintaining relationships with your clients requires collaboration. To ensure that every time, all of their team members are on the same page, best-in-class businesses use tools that integrate with their larger sales and CRM operations.

Conclusion

For firms that sell products, technical support is a crucial component of the overall user experience.

It varies from more traditional "customer service" in that it focuses on product-specific technical difficulties rather than transactional or account-based inquiries.

You must provide proper tech support because clients are growing more computer aware. Your clients won't contact you any longer with simple inquiries because they are too intelligent. Instead, it's more probable that customers will bring difficult problems to your tech support team, thus it's critical that they are equipped to manage them.

Focusing on enhancing your tech support is the most important thing you can be doing right now to retain more consumers for longer. Utilize the advice in this article, Make tech support a top priority in your company by selecting the appropriate tools for the job.

I hope you found this article helpful; if you need assistance with a any tech support issue, call our customer service line at (+1) 855-748-0653 or visit our reputable website at https://www.supportly.app

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