![\"Customer](\"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/customersupport.jpg\")
\nThe definitive guide to supporting customers from product to retention by Emil Hajric, CEO at Helpjuice.com.<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s easy to see effects of bad customer service\u2014one request slips through the cracks and you could be looking at a public battle on your social media accounts tomorrow.<\/p>\n Bad customer support<\/em> is harder to spot, but it runs deeper than a quick social media fire that needs extinguishing. Its effects are seen when customers churn, case studies are scarce, and account managers and sales teams are having a hard time getting customers on board with new products and features. It\u2019s a less visible fire, but it\u2019s a slow burn that\u2019s much harder to extinguish once it takes hold.<\/p>\n On the other hand, good customer support does the opposite\u2014exponentially. When customer support is strong, product teams know exactly what customers need, new products and features fly off the shelves, and customers can\u2019t wait to tell the world about the great experience they had with your brand. In fact, 52% of people around the globe believe that companies need to take action on feedback provided by their customers according to Microsoft<\/a>. In addition, Bain<\/a> reported that a customer experience promoter has a lifetime value to a company that\u2019s 600 to 1,400% that of a detractor.<\/p>\n All of this is within your reach\u2014all you\u2019ll need is a grasp on customer support basics, the numbers that justify investing in it\u2019s improvement, and the tools, channels, and metrics to keep you going.<\/p>\n What is Customer Support?<\/strong><\/p>\n Customer support<\/strong> is the wide range of services and materials provided to resolve any customer issues quickly and to ensure customers get the most from your product through onboarding tools, troubleshooting, and feedback to your product team.<\/p>\n Customer support typically revolves around supporting the customer that\u2019s using your product or service, whereas customer service provides further value for the customer day to day.. It includes things like:<\/p>\n Your customer support team should be fully integrated with your product team.. They should have input when it comes to exactly what features and products are developed, and how. They should handle customer experience from beginning to end. They want to improve the overall customer experience, from product creation to the upsell.<\/p>\n Lastly, but most importantly, they\u2019re the main source of information for improving customer satisfaction and retention. The better the product, onboarding, training and customer experience, the happier the customer, and the more likely he or she will stay a customer.<\/p>\n A Brief History of Customer Support: Where Did it Come From?<\/strong><\/p>\n The need for customer support pre-dates the internet. When we got the internet, the way that we communicate with companies got a whole lot more complicated.<\/p>\n The evolution happened like this:<\/p>\n Today, companies need to take all of these channels into consideration when communicating with customers and use the insights from these communications to influence their products for the better\u2014aka, they need strong customer support.<\/p>\n Customer Service vs. Customer Support<\/strong><\/p>\n Customer support professionals do<\/em> need customer service skills, but only to cover a partial piece of what they do. Take two scenarios:<\/p>\n Scenario A<\/strong>: a customer walks into a bookstore to locate a novel she wants to read. Someone helps her locate it, rings it up, and recommends another novel she might like as well. The customer gets what she needs, but no information goes back to the bookstore.<\/p>\n Scenario B<\/strong>: a customer opens her e-reader only to find her book subscription service has been disabled. She emails the service and is connected with someone to walk her through the appropriate steps to update her credit card information, which is the reason for the issue. Afterwards, that person logs the information with the product, who plans a feature to alert customers when their cards expire in the future. She\u2019s then emailed a satisfaction survey to provide feedback on her experience.<\/p>\n Scenario A is customer service, while scenario B is customer support. One is transactional and supports a customer\u2019s immediate needs, while the other focuses on holistically improving the customer experience.<\/p>\n However, this is an overly-simplified explanation for what is in reality a complex relationship between the two functions. For example, take Scenario A. If the bookstore associate had been unhelpful, that customer might feel they had a poor experience, while on the other hand, getting a personalized book recommendation probably improves the customer’s experience. Both functions can impact customer experience, the difference is that customer service does so more transactionally, whereas customer support does so holistically.<\/p>\n They overlap, but customer support includes a whole lot more:<\/p>\n\n
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