Tuesday, April 12, 2011

World of Customer Support Services

Customer support services involve a range of methods primarily set to assist customers in availing, using and maintaining products and services. It may include helping customers in planning, installation, troubleshooting, maintenance, upgrading, and disposal of a product or service.
There are two objectives of a customer support service; one is to assist customers in selection such as in availing products or services. Businesses guide customers in picking only the best and appropriate products and services based on needs or requirements.
The other objective is to ensure correct usage of the product and service. While using the product, a customer can call the business if he finds the product not working. The customer can seek assistance for repairs and demonstrations to gain knowledge in the proper handling of a product.
There are different ways of reaching out to customers to attain these two objectives. The basic service is FAQ, which stands for “Frequently Asked Questions”. A copy of the basic use and considerations about the product or service is provided to customers. This satisfies basic or general questions. FAQ service can be done online also in business websites since customers can access the internet at home. Included in the FAQ service are basic troubleshooting methods.
However, when customers cannot find the answer to their questions in the FAQ copy, they may utilize voice support, e-mail support, inbound call support and other existing support systems. Technical products and services such as mobile devices, televisions, laptops, computer software, electronic devices, and telephone services often use voice support. When a customer cannot troubleshoot a problem regarding a product, he can call a hotline number that directs them to an inbound call center. A live operator will assist the customer in troubleshooting and resolving any related technical problems.
Because it is expensive to set up a call center service in a business, some hire outsourcing companies to provide customer service to them. Call Center services which are offered in companies like New Media Services, also offer outbound support where the live operator calls the customer for announcements and reminders. Specifically, customer billing inquiries can be done performed here. Live operators can call a customer to remind the customer of his bill and deadline or answers calls on billing.
Other businesses have e-mail support as an option as well. E-mail support operators find answers to the questions and provide the needed information as fast as possible.
One of the special services that customer support offers is escalation management. Escalation management involves processes on what personnel should do in case there are uncontrollable incidents. Businesses anticipate that there will always be incidents that lead to customer dissatisfaction and even legal issues. To remedy these incidents or prevent undesirable situations, escalation management is set to resolve a problem in the quickest and fairest way. An escalation management team records the incident and the source of the problem. With proper management, the customer is informed of whom to approach during these incidents.
Another service under Customer Support is refund management. In stores, implementing policies on refunding is a tough job. A refund management team monitors the system on how customers return products for refund and recommends precautionary measures not to repeat these incidents. On a wider scale, Refund Management is an international fund-management service that assists you in monetary transfers for your business concerns including the handling multi-country transactions and transfers, providing assistance in taxation processing and helping in refund documentation.
Supporting customers makes sure that present customers will return to the business. When customers feel good about a business, they do not just avail again, they look for more customers.

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