I mentioned in one of my articles that a hosting company needs to provide good customer service in order to be successful. From previous experience, I know how annoying a client can be if their host does not have a good support system in place. Many clients will expect immediate answers to their support questions, and if you are unable to provide this, you may start to lose customers.
For a hosting company to be successful, it must be able to attract new customers to its service and maintain its old ones. A host can build a great customer base in a few months, a daunting task to keep his customers.
Types of Support Services There are many ways a host can provide customer support to its customers, just to name a few of them: Email Support Desk Phone Support Desktop Basic Information Database Many strangers now offer 24/7 support, anything new.
The host should consider providing customer support day and night, it would be very expensive to use this type of support service, yet most clients expect 24-hour support. Email Support This is a basic email support system, which can be a slow communication method if the host or customer checks the email inbox every hour, for example.
I would recommend that you provide an email address that customers can use to contact support staff. Phone Most hosting companies offer telephone support, however not all clients will use this method to communicate with the host. If the host is able to answer each call, this can be a quick way to answer customer questions.
The costs associated with telephone support can be relatively low, if no free telephone number is provided. This type of support is not required if the host provides other effective means of communication.
Support Desk I would recommend any new host to invest in a support desk, which can include email support, Frequently Asked Questions (Frequently Asked Questions), knowledge base, articles, and allows an online record of all responses.
Basically, when a client needs support, he walks into a support desk, creates a ticket and when a free support representative can access the question (ticket) and answer it online. Once the response has been processed by the system, the client usually receives an email.
The benefits of a support desk mean that the host can often add unlimited departments and support staff, meaning that the hosting company can use external support options, where another company can answer support questions whenever needed.
The required software can range from as little as $1000, many with similar features. I would recommend that the host provide a support desk, but before investing in another, buy and make sure you buy one right for his needs.
Live Chat Almost all Internet users use some form of instant messaging service, this is what live chat, provides a platform for support staff and customer to chat online in real time.
This is a very useful support service, and can be costly as well. There are many live chat services around, and I would recommend that you shop around. Knowledge Base You can provide an online questionnaire and answers to frequently answered questions.
This can stop different clients from touching the support desk with the same questions, which can be time-consuming and annoying without hesitation. I would recommend providing this type of support, as it will save you time and money over time and can be much easier to set up.
Forum An online forum provides a platform for your customers to interact with, and ask questions about. Providing a forum can reduce the number of support requests you receive each month because another member may be able to provide assistance.
An example of a web hosting site is Web Hosting Complete (http://www.whcomplete.com), this forum offers free web hosting tutorials and articles to its members. Web Hosting Complete does not sell hosting services yourself, so if you are as a host and are not ready to provide a platform for your customers, you should consider linking to a site like this.
As the forum site does not sell hosting, there should not be much competition, and you benefit from the site because they provide free support to your customers. Providing good customer support can be costly, however I believe this is very worthwhile as happy customers will earn more money.
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