2 Things To Consider When Creating Your IT Support Department For Your New Product
If you just released your own software product or application and you are going to provide IT support for your new tech product, here are two easy ways to improve the level of support that your small IT department is able to give customers.
Be Clear About What You'll Provide To Customers
First, it is essential that you are clear what type of support your IT department will be able to provide for your product. To start with, make sure that you clearly state if IT support for your product is free or if customers will have to pay for it. There are few things frustrating from a customer's viewpoint than to call for help, only to find out that it is going to cost you.
Next, make sure that you clearly state that type of support you will be able to provide. Will your IT department provide email support for your products or will it provide telephone support as well? The type of support that you provide will greatly change the amount of staff that you need to hire and train and the type of set-up you'll need for your support team, so make sure you know what type of support you'll be able to provide, and stick to it.
You also need to be clear about what your response time will be. This can be really easy to communicate. For example, every time an email is sent to your tech support, an auto-reply can be sent out that lets the customer know that their request was received and lets them know what the time frame will be for assistance.
Finally, make sure that you let customers know beforehand what language you will be providing support in. This may have a direct effect on your sales. For example, a large, Chinese-speaking business may not be as inclined to purchase your product if their Chinese-speaking employees can't get assistance with the product. Be sure you are clear up front with what languages you'll offer support in.
Make It Easy For Customers To Get In Contact With You
You should also make sure that it is easy for customers to get in contact with you. Customers should not have to go through a treasure hunt just to figure out where your customer support number or email is at on your website. Make it easy to find contact information on your website. Ideally, you should add a feature to your software or app so that your customers can contact you directly from your product.
If you don't want to set up an in-house IT support department, consider investing in managed IT services.