Are you one of those people who bought an electronic home appliance and a week later faced technical problems that the user manual could not cover?
You most probably picked up the phone and got in contact with the manufacturer’s technical support personnel, to have your problem resolved, right?
Now imagine the same situation but without the possibility of reaching out to any technical support services, what if they never existed at all? The frustration that a user would probably feel would be almost unbearable and reflect poorly on the manufacturer’s image and that particular experience between the customer and the company.
And that’s exactly what our topic of today will be centered around – the importance of technical support services to the overall user experience. We will also have an overview of technical support and the different types that exist and how technical support services benefit businesses overall.
What is Technical Support
Technical support is a type of support provided by companies to users or other organizations regarding particular problems faced with software and hardware technology. Rather than providing one-time technical training or other additional customization, organizations make use of technical support services to provide ongoing support to clients.
Types of Support Available:-
Supports can be of multiple types depending on the nature and sensitivity of the product/service delivered. The relationship between the customer and company and the technical competence of the party implementing the product/service. The most common forms of support services are:
- General Support
- Technical Support Services
- IT Support
- Priority Live Chat Support
The Relationship Between Technical Support and Overall User Experience:-
We often confuse the relationship between the customer and the organization to end with the single instance of purchase of a particular product or service. In fact, that relationship lasts till the product is in use with the consumer, so you can expect the consumer to be maintaining interaction with the product directly and the manufacturer indirectly by other means. This interaction whether direct or indirect is considered a user experience, which is of utmost importance to businesses nowadays.
Now, the modern consumer mindset is changing and customers demand more from who they buy, besides ‘what they buy. Technical knowledge is hard to come by, it is not possible for a random individual to possess the necessary technical knowledge to fix an issue that requires expert knowledge. Customers and prospective consumers know this fact and consider this as a distinguishing factor from other companies and competitors selling the same product.
They consider a business to prove more value to their customers when they provide ongoing support and technical assistance in fixing their issues. This sentimental and psychological connection is extremely important to keep the consumer satisfied and engaged. Otherwise, chances are high that the customer would stop using the product/service and consider another brand.
Considering the competitive nature of most industries, businesses are shifting their focus to a customer-centric approach. By providing ongoing technical support services, businesses make sure their customers are well facilitated first and receive a positive experience at all times, to prevent any churn and maintain brand loyalty.
5 Ways How Technical Support Services Affect User Experience and Benefit Businesses
Resolve Expert Problems:-
Technical support services provide solutions to problems that require expert-level knowledge, which in most cases is not possessed by general support personnel. Even though general queries are the most likely ones to arise, there are odd queries that even general support can’t figure out. In order to address these specific situations, technical support comes to the rescue.
These may not be in many numbers as compared to their general support counterparts but are crucial to solving the technical problems that arise with integrating software and hardware technologies.
Reduce Customer Frustration:-
Yes, there are a lot of options in today’s markets, if you’re not happy with one product/service provider, you may move on to the next one with an equal or better offering. Today’s consumer is smart, they put their time into researching a company properly and then pursue towards purchase.
These products and or services can be very expensive at times and even after putting in so much, if the customer’s concerns and technical issues are not resolved, the frustration is unbearable.
In most cases, technical support services are considered to be under the whole package received, not receiving that when most required can be very annoying. But if received timely, it can reduce and eliminate customer frustration to a great extent.
Gain Advanced Knowledge for Troubleshooting:-
Technical support is only provided when the nature of the problem is technical and not easily solvable by existing or general support. It’s obvious that the technical support person will be in contact with the consumer through email, live chat, or even phone calls in some situations.
During those interactions, a consumer can gain advanced knowledge of how a problem could be solved. These could be certain advanced diagnostic steps or even basic lines of coding that may help lessen if not eliminate the burden on the consumer next time the problem arises.
Keep Customers Loyal to the Brand:-
Some customers are the type that doesn’t easily switch brands and remain loyal to their choices. However, in some instances they can be pushed to such limits that they are forced to switch to another brand, one way that happens is through bad customer support.
Customer support is that factor through which consumers feel engaged and valued at the same time. In these modern times, if a company does not provide adequate customer support including technical, it’s almost always interpreted as not providing enough importance to its customers.
A company risks losing its customers to other brands that may be providing an equal or even better offering. In a customer-driven business strategy, customer satisfaction is everything to maintain positive experiences for long-time loyalty.
