What is customer support?
Customer support is a group of services that helps customers use a product or service and provides assistance if they encounter problems. Tasks such as onboarding new clients and upgrading existing customers are also part of customer support.
Customer support is one branch of the customer service tree. It focuses on making sure customers are successful in achieving whatever they need to do with a product or service with the help of digital customer service platforms.
Types of customer support
Customer support will vary based on a company's product or service. The most common forms of customer support are:
- In-person support. Despite the growth of online shopping, customers visiting a store still require assistance at some point. This could look like a retail worker giving a customer access to a changing room or a restaurant server replacing a fork that a customer dropped.
- Email support. For both product and service-based businesses, email support is still one of the most popular ways for customers to connect with a brand about specific problems they’re having. Email gives customers access to a brand 24/7, with software allowing brands to manage and prioritize customer support requests when they come in.
- Messaging and chat support. Live chat support for customers is managed by real employees who synchronously reply to customers. Messaging support is typically pre-programed with specific answers to customer questions like store hours or location details, which don’t require a human to answer.
- Phone support. Plenty of people still prefer to call a company when they’re having an issue or need to ask a question. Phone support can be costly for businesses, but customer support software can track data from every call and highlight areas of customer support that need improving company-wide.
- Self-service support. Businesses learn a lot from interacting with customers every day and many of those customers have similar problems. Knowing this, businesses can put together resources and hubs for customers to search for answers to their own problems without needing to talk to a representative.
Basic elements of customer support
When designing or revising any aspect of customer support, businesses should consider key areas that will ultimately impact the customers’ impression of the business. Some elements to consider are:
- Communication style. Deciding on the type of customer support for different scenarios is critical for saving time and money and ensuring that customers are getting the help they need.
- Tone of voice. The way support speaks to customers matters. The tone should organically tie into other parts of the brand’s voice. If the brand is conversational and relaxed on social media and in website copy, customers may be confused by formal language in customer support chats or emails.
- Quality of support. Different forms of customer support may need a higher level of quality than others. For instance, onboarding a new customer requires more hands-on help from trained employees than upgrading a customer’s account or plan.
- Speed of support. When a customer reaches out, they want to address the problem fast. While not every business can support 24/7 real-time conversations, it’s important to look at where support can be automated for certain scenarios to help customers as quickly as possible.
Benefits of customer support
Every business should want to help its customers at every opportunity. High quality and reliable assistance often lead to:
- Customer loyalty. Keeping existing customers happy must be a top priority for every company. Happy customers are likely to stick with a business, particularly if a problem they’re having is solved quickly without searching elsewhere for answers.
- Increased sales and conversions. A positive support interaction can make customers more likely to make additional purchases.
- More word-of-mouth referrals. When a customer is happy, there’s a high chance they’ll share their positive experience with friends and family. Referred customers may also spend more upfront than other customers, as there’s already an established level of trust thanks to the recommendation.
- Improved public image. News spreads quickly about how a company treats its customers. While customer support is naturally internally-focused on current customers, a positive experience often leads to an improved brand view.
Best practices for customer support
Providing effective customer support comes down to two factors for any business in any industry – time and money. Investing in systems and practices that maintain high levels of efficiency and consistency benefits both customers and work teams. This includes:
- Giving employees the right tools. They should have access to both training and software that makes it possible for them to provide the best service.
- Offering self-service options. If real-time support isn’t sustainable for a business, providing customers with a way to help themselves, like a knowledge center or automated messaging, is a good solution.
- Providing multiple support channels. Every customer looks for answers in a different way. Having two or three options available to them means they find what they’re after in a way that works best for them.
- Using data to improve support. Proactive support helps customers before they need direct communication with an internal team. To plan for what issues may come up, businesses should use data like frequently asked questions to create self-service options.
When your customers face problems using your product or service, find the best customer service software to provide support quickly and easily.
Holly Landis
Holly Landis is a freelance writer for G2. She also specializes in being a digital marketing consultant, focusing in on-page SEO, copy, and content writing. She works with SMEs and creative businesses that want to be more intentional with their digital strategies and grow organically on channels they own. As a Brit now living in the USA, you'll usually find her drinking copious amounts of tea in her cherished Anne Boleyn mug while watching endless reruns of Parks and Rec.
