The core foundation of any web host is a great support team. With that, almost anything else can be overlooked. What is the reason for that? Well, good support is hard to find these days. So if you are a web host or a worker in the industry, I am going to give you some advice that will make sure you provide that support, in a way that the customers will enjoy.
Getting Ahead of the Web Hosting Support Curve
The first bit of advice I have for you is to provide the support, before it is even asked for. This preemptive strike will cut down on your quantity of customers coming and looking for a answer. Providing proactive support can be achieved a number of different ways. Two of the ways I like the most are posting tutorials and articles explaining how to tackle anything you might need when it comes to your web hosting business and the second would be to send out announcements and updates when big changes come.
Provide Tutorials and FAQs – Many web hosts have a help site or tutorial database where they can cover some of the most frequently asked questions. This will cut down on your ticket time, because the answer is already out there.
Get Ahead of Big Changes with Announcements and Updates – Now, with getting ahead of the curve with big changes, like a server going down or something else to that effect, make sure you announce as much information as you can about the problem, and be there with your customer to give updates. No matter how small they are, you customers will appreciate it. Things you should be telling your customer include ongoing maintenance, advance notice of maintenance, or new features.
Get to the Point, but Give All the Details
No matter if you are answering a ticket desk or working the phone system, you have to realize people (for the most part) don’t want to talk to you. It is nothing against you personally, people (in general) already feel like they are wasting time when they reach the point of reaching out to a support team for help. So remember to get to the point, but give all the details you can.
Don’t waste time, if you don’t need a ‘bit of information, don’t ask for it. Try your best to troubleshoot the issue, find out all the information you need to gather to get the issue fixed or to find out more, and then get that response sent out. Also, do your best to stay kind, no matter how big of a jerk the customer is. You should consider yourself the web hosting world’s version of Ghandi or Mother Teresa at all times.
Keep those response times as low as possible, so you can keep your work load light, and spend more time with the customers who need your attention.
I have really just scratched the surface, but hopefully this will help to inspire somebody to give a little more when it comes to web hosting support. Now this one is aimed all of of those out there who give the support, not the ones that receive it. However, when push comes to shove I think we all are responsible for supporting our projects, businesses or jobs so hopefully the lessons learned here will be something everyone can be educated from.
