Are you only providing support to your B2B client base when an issue arises and they reach out to you for help? If so, you’re already behind the curve. Proactive support is quickly becoming commonplace. The problem with reactive instead of proactive customer support is running the risk of your client becoming frustrated before you even make contact with them. Not only does this result in a subpar customer experience, it can possibly stain your reputation within your industry. Remember, online reviews have taken word-of-mouth to a new level.
The good news is, there are easy ways to start providing proactive customer support. This means implementing tools and procedures that help you foresee problems before they happen. Integrating customizable customer support software is a good first step, but now you need to know how to use it to your advantage. Let’s breakdown some of the basics of providing proactive support.
Understanding Proactive Support
The basic concept behind proactive support involves discovering customer issues before they escalate and become serious. Doing so instills trust in your client base. The other option is reactive support, in which your client reaches out to you once a problem occurs. This can result in long wait times and more stress placed on your reps.
Proactive support aims to educate your clients about your product and inform them when potential problems may arise. FAQs, tutorials, and upgrade information can all be provided to your customers, which cuts down on the need for them to reach out to your team in the event of an issue. Proactive support also utilizes metrics to find trends in common problems related to a product.
How You Can Improve Your Support Process
In recent years, many businesses have started providing self-service portals to their client base. This proactive tactic allows the client to take the support process into their own hands. By providing an extensive knowledge base, your clients have the information they need to troubleshoot product issues. This drastically cuts down on the need for them to seek help from your reps via phone, chat, or by creating a ticket. The great part about self-service support is many people actually prefer it to traditional means.
Your team can also utilize visual data reporting tools to spot potential issues before they arise. For example, customers may experience problems during a certain stage of a product. Data reports can pinpoint these trends so you can reach out to the client with a solution ahead of time. Visual data reports also allow you to track your in-house support productivity. You can then determine where bottlenecks are occurring and take measures to smooth them out so your team can provide faster, more proactive service.
Become Proactive Today
Providing proactive customer support will drastically improve the experience you’re giving your client base and help increase retention along with the acquisition of new business. If done correctly, it also helps take a lot of the workload off your team.
If you’re ready to get proactive with your support, PhaseWare can help. We provide customizable customer support software that will equip you with the tools necessary to provide high-quality service. Contact us today to learn more.