Companies are always looking for ways to synchronize products with real customer needs. One of the most successful ways to address this goal is to leverage product support. But what is product support?
This guide explains product support, how it works, best practices, tools, and benefits.
What is product support?
Product support is a subset of customer experience that focuses on the experience a user has with a product. It involves infrastructure such as content, tools, and self-help experiences that are created to
teach users how the product works and address issues that may arise. Product support allows companies to leverage customer feedback and data on customer inquiries to inspire new products or improvements to existing products.
How Product Support Works
Product support helps customers understand the products and glean maximum value from the products. It is a dimensional approach with multiple channels of support and communication. Product support provides:
- Installation and setup support to help customers properly install, configure, and use the product.
- Technical support to help users troubleshoot and resolve issues.
- Maintenance and updates to continually improve and optimize the product.
Product Support Best Practices
To make the most of product support, adhere to the following best practices.
Use AI Chatbots
Artificial intelligence (AI) is dramatically changing the product support landscape. Now, companies can use AI chatbots designed with if/then branching logic to provide instant support for many customer queries.
Escalate to Live Agents Only When Necessary
Offer an online self-service portal and create a clear and comprehensive knowledge base rich with relevant resources so that customers can easily find solutions to problems before contacting live support. This approach will maximize resources and satisfy customer expectations for online self-service support portals.
Offer Multiple Channels for Support
Companies must help users where they are, including social media, the website, phone, and more. An omnichannel customer experience is the default expectation, so companies must show up on every channel without compromising the quality of assistance.
Train Support Agents
When customers speak with a support agent, they need to feel like they got the help they need. Ineffective support is one of the most common causes of customer service frustration, so companies must train agents to be knowledgeable and empathetic. Additionally, agents need to be able to deal with upset customers, soothe them, and help them fix the issues.
Product Support Tools
Product support tools must be comprehensive and multi-faceted to be effective. They can take on many different forms, including these three:
- Self-service support solutions include FAQ pages, app tools and tips, tutorials, and explainer videos.
- Phone and email support that allows customers to get help promptly. Many smaller companies find email preferable due to the smaller demand for resources, but it can lead to a less personal and more extended form of product support.
- Chat support like live chat support tools and chatbots that point users to support articles, answer FAQs, and escalate inquiries to a live agent if the case does not have a standard fix.
Benefits of Product Support
Product support offers many benefits, including the following:
Increase Customer Satisfaction
The quality of product support heavily influences customer satisfaction with the brand. Customers will feel more confident with their purchase and extract more value if they have the resources to use the product as intended.
Improve Customer Retention
On the other hand, if product support is unsatisfactory, customers will jump to other brands, as it is guaranteed that a competitor is doing a decent job. Customers need to be able to get help easily and quickly without jumping through hoops.
Improve Brand Reputation
When customers have positive experiences, they share the good news with friends. The reverse is also true - negative experiences lead to negative word-of-mouth marketing. A solid approach to product support helps companies intercept and manage negative views and ensure customers feel headed and valued while working towards a solution. Excellent product support also means that customers will better understand the products and be more included to benefit from them as intended.
Enhance Understanding of Customer Needs
Companies often spend tons of money on market research, but a more cost-effective and direct way to get insight into customers' wants and needs is to talk to them. Look for patterns in the product support inquiries and conversations to see opportunities to fix issues. Paying attention to product support inquiries and data will also illuminate opportunities to add new features customers will love.
Product Support with Encora
We collaborate with all essential customer stakeholders to define a comprehensive product plan and roadmap, ensuring successful product engineering and management. Our product support services provide expert guidance in crafting a robust product support strategy, establishing a strong foundation for long-term customer relationships.
To learn more about product support and get started, contact Encora today.
