What is expected from the support service

Recently, a trend has been observed regarding complaints against the customer support services of various companies. Users dissatisfied with the quality of service, looking for protection and trying to find support on the forums, on social networks, on Habré ... To do this, they post on public display correspondence or even record telephone conversations with support staff of a company. This behavior is understandable, because it becomes at least insulting, and more often it is outraged that the support service completely refuses to work! While paying for a service, program or equipment, we mean that we pay not only for it, but also for having as few problems as possible, or at least that if a problem occurs, we will definitely be helped and supported. What does the user expect when calling or writing to the support service? What does the support staff see? Let's try to figure it out.

Where is the problem

As a rule, there is no one to blame. There are exceptions, but most often the problem arises in the sum of the behavior and conversation of both parties. On the one hand, this is an incorrectly composed request to the support service, on the other hand, an incorrect response to this request. As a result, we see an offended and dissatisfied user who did not receive the expected support and an angry support service employee, who is struck by the illiteracy of users.
Sometimes the support service does not receive a request for help, with a description of the problem, but an indignant response to the fact that "nothing works for you!". Often, reading a similar message, a support worker automatically filters it and completely ignores it, because it does not find a request for help. And the user, in turn, is sitting and waiting for help. A week later, he again, with even greater indignation, wrote a letter to the support service with the words: “Are you out there, you are not working at all !?”. The response to such a message may be different, depending on whether the letter got to the same employee as last time or another.
It becomes clear that the problem lies not only in support services, but in the users who contact them. What to do to make it all good

What the user needs to remember

The first thing that needs to be remembered to the person who contacts the support service is that there is no telepath at the end of the wire. There sits the same person who needs to explain this before he understands something. In general phrases it is unlikely that something will become clear. Therefore, messages with exclamations “Nothing works for you! Do something! ”Do not carry any meaning and do not bring a single drop of clarity to the situation. In order to get quality help, you need to ask for this help in a quality manner. To do this, there are many samples on the net how to create a support request. For example, it might look like this:
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"Hello!
My name is Ivanov Ivan, I use the services of your hosting.
Login (Client ID): id1234567
When I try to make changes to any file on the server via the web interface, an error occurs, which is fixed in the screenshot that I attach to this letter. This error occurred yesterday, late afternoon and today before lunch.
Tell me, please, how to eliminate this error?
Respectfully,
Ivanov Ivan
tel. +7 (999) 123-45-67 »

It is clear, sometimes even after indicating the error, the support staff will try to find out something else that will help them solve the problem, but this is okay - this is a normal workflow. The main thing to remember about mutual respect. You don’t have to immediately and independently spoil the opinion about the support service workers - people work there too, although sometimes it seems that the robot is talking to you. And sometimes the heads of companies, especially new ones, forget that the support service is simply necessary, like everything else, due to which a company can exist. And if they do not forget, they are completely ignorant of this post:

What should be remembered support staff

A support worker should clearly understand that his position is not the latest in a company (and perhaps one of the main ones), although sometimes salary and an appropriate attitude may hint at this. But here you need to remember that if you know how to communicate with people and assist them, then you need to appreciate your work. After all, the support service of any company is practically the face of the company. After all, it is thanks to the support staff that a general impression of the company is formed, and, finally, a reputation. And in the end, it depends on the reputation of the number of customers and subsequent profits.
In the book "The market of information technologies: problems and solutions" there are three main aspects that should be remembered as the company's management and support staff:

First: “It is necessary that the process of user support should be worked out and documented in detail, it should be treated with the same attention as any other business process of the bank. This means creating a clear algorithm for processing applications, their classification, registration, execution, control, etc. ”

Secondly: “Employees [...] should not keep in mind several phone numbers and the names of specialists responsible for a particular area. There should be a single phone support service that coordinates all the work and interacts with business users on all requests. Effective use of a dedicated email address and autoresponders to record calls. ”

Thirdly: “For effective processing, all requests must be evaluated and prioritized. This is due to the fact that it is impossible to work out all problems equally quickly, especially since most of them do not require a quick solution. Therefore, prioritization contributes to a more flexible management of resources and allows you to eliminate critical problems. ”


But these technical details are not enough to create a good impression for the user who has applied to the support service. It is also necessary to remember about humanity and to be extremely polite in any case. If the user still wrote, “Nothing works for you! Do something! ”, Do not ignore this message. Clearly, this is more like the cry of a drowning man than a request for concrete help, but one should not forget that the user implies something and most likely “not working” is not everything, but something specific. Why not politely introduce myself and ask what exactly is not working? It's so easy! And if a request came to your service, which was quite competently composed, then there are also a few good taste rules for the answer, which can be traced in the sample response:

“Hello, Ivan!
Thank you for using our company. We value every customer!
My name is Peter and I will try to solve this problem.
We checked the server and eliminated some of the reasons that could contribute to the error that you wrote about.
Please try again to make any changes to the files and report the result.
We will definitely help you!
Respectfully,
Peter, Support Service

From the sample answer it is clear that the support service employee must respectfully address the user. It is better to call on “you”, since it is not clear how old the person who sent the request is. An almost obligatory factor of a successful support service is to assure the user that they value him as a client and will definitely help. It will also be a good thing that a support worker, after successful assistance, asks for a specific request: “Do you need any other help in the services we offer?”.

Instead of conclusion

It seems clear that the problem of customer support and the user lies in the relationship as a whole. And as attention is drawn in Stephen Covey’s book, The Seven Skills of Highly Effective People, you need to start, first and foremost with yourself, and not turn the arrows on another, in search of the guilty. If on both sides people are a bit kinder, then many problems can be simply avoided.