Common Sense

How The Customer Experience Can be Revolutionized in Tech Support

If you work at a company, think about how many customers you have worldwide.  It’s probably a lot. 

Then realize that the average company interacts with less than 10% of its customer base each year.  Said another way, the average company does not communicate with more than 90% of its customer base each year.  And, the 10% who are calling or inquiring are often dissatisfied, which prompts the call. 

Why is this happening?  Well, it’s simple.  We like to hang on to old models until they don’t work effectively……and then hold on even longer in hopes that we might be wrong…….and then wait to see what our peers are doing before we dare make a move to transform a model. 

The current technical support model relies on people calling us by phone or inquiring via email.  In other words, if you  can find us online or you have enough patience to wait online on the phone, it is possible you might get helped.  It’s also possible you might just waste your time. 

I have tremendous respect for people who work in technical support.  They are on the front lines everyday with the customer and, in many respects, no one has more impact or more knowledge of the customer.  Many are heroes and I’ve found they deeply care about the customer.

However, the model they are forced to work under is often what I call a dinosaur model.  It’s time for  its extinction. 

Here’s why. 

When customers are looking for answers, they generally do one of four things.  They utilize search to find an answer online.  They go to a specific Q&A area online like Yahoo! Answers.  They check out their favorite forum for answers.  Or they ask their peers for advice in their own community. 

They increasingly do not call a company unless they have exhausted their options. 

We live in an age of self-sufficiency due to the increasing capabilities of the web.  Customers will  find their own answers without us.  They would prefer to ask their peers, who they believe to be completely unbiased.

The answer is simple.  Unleash the passion and expertise of today’s technical support team at your company.  Reverse the technical support model and spend the majority of the day providing answers online for your customers.  Participate in forums, answer questions on Yahoo! Answers, understand where your customers go for information via search and ensure you  are on that first screen.  Tell your own friends how to get info on your Facebook page.  And then, when the phone rings, answer it, but be prepared to let your caller know where they can go for  information in the future.  Become part of the longer term solution to encourage self-sufficiency.

The result will be the best customer experience ever experienced by your customers.  They will be amazed and appreciative at how they can get help without calling or  inquiring.  You save both time and money.  And, if  you do a great job online, the word of mouth will quickly travel offline. 

All it takes is courage to change your model.  Courage and a dash of innovation. 

All the best, Bob Pearson

Do You Know Which Language Your Customers Make Decisions in?

Think about yourself.  When you have an important decision to make, you want to do it in your native language. Your first language is the “language of decision-making”.   

In many respects, the world hasn’t changed a bit, regardless of geography or language.  Customers have always wanted the same things.  We want to comprehend what we will make a decision on.  We want to gain input from our peers, so we feel comfortable we have enough information to make the right call.  And, we want to do business with a company who cares about us as customers and treats us like part of their community.

A few years back, our family lived in Switzerland, a country which has German, French, Italian and Romansch as it’s four official languages.  One of the greatest gifts we received, and there were many, was not the time we were up in the Alps or hanging out by one of the lakes.  Rather, it was learning what it is like to make decisions outside of our comfort zone.  We learned what it is like to be an outsider looking in. 

It’s not fun to make decisions in a 2^nd or third language.  You can’t digest content online information quickly or at all.  You can’t understand the nuances of a live chat. And you’re not always sure if the “deal” you saw online is the best deal.  Essentially, the lack of ability to fully understand the language leads to self-doubt and a lack of trust that you are making the right decision. 

So which are the languages that matter?  Well, twelve languages reach approximately 90% of the online population.  They are Chinese, English, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Portugese, French, German, Arabic, Hindi, Dutch and Italian. 

What’s even more amazing is the pace of change.  There are 298 million people online in China.  81 million in India.  67 million in Brazil.  38 million in Russia.  26.5 million in Turkey.  23 million in Iran and 20 million in Poland.

The only guarantee I can give is that the languages that matter will change significantly with time.  Russia and Hindi are likely to become leading online languages within the next five years.  There are over 300 million people who speak Russian today and approximately 500 million who speak Hindi. 

When we work in social media, we often talk about the importance of having conversations with our customers.

Global companies will increasingly realize that having conversations in native language represents a big opportunity for companies and a future sigh of relief for customers.

Connecting with customers means speaking with them on a personal level in their language.  It does not mean translating a website and crossing your fingers that it will work. 

 All the best, Bob