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Key Takeaways
- Easily accessible, answer common questions and document areas with room for improvement.
- Hire the right reps with a technical understanding of your products, a one-size-fits-all approach for different platforms, and no false promises.
As a builder of SaaS platforms, I have a few key insights that really work – from my own experience as well as from other companies. Recent statistics show that approximately 53% of customers expect more support than in the past, and their expectations continue to rise with technological advancements. This is especially so in the SaaS Niche where businesses rely heavily on customer retention.
As a SaaS company, I’ve collected six clear and effective best practices for improving customer support.
Related: 9 Secrets to World-Class Customer Service
1. Easy to reach
Competition is growing in the Saas industry. Your competitor may be working hard to win your customers. Therefore, you cannot afford to give customers a chance to walk away from your business.
The first rule is to reach easily. Otherwise, it will make them angry and leave you. Provide multiple options for contacting your team via website, phone number, and email.
Be clear about when your team is available, whether it’s 24/7 or specific office hours. This will clarify when to expect a response. Try these practical ideas and you will see a definite difference in your customer support.
2. Answer general questions
Not every customer prefers to contact customer support. Some prefer to get answers without asking a representative.
The solution is to dedicate a separate section on your website for the help center. For example, the Slack platform, forums, short tutorial video and integration, billing, team management, etc. There is a special section on its platform that contains step-by-step solutions
You can take a similar approach to helping customers resolve issues that generate a support ticket. Tell the customer support team what they ask the most and create content for this section.
But don’t just rely on the text. Including informational videos and infographics to inform customers about general saaS details, compatibility, number of users, shipping and updates.
Avoid repeating information to ensure clarity and professionalism. You can also create a community forum on the platform where your friends can answer questions.
3. Solve support issues
By connecting to the second best practice, you can see issues when you collect questions with our Customer Support Team. Your customers may have difficulty with the service / product or other aspects of it.
Document areas that have room for improvement and provide information to improve your development team. As you scale, you should also partner with other SaaS companies to improve your infrastructure and stability. Equinix is partnering with Equinix to bring its offerings closer to customers through fabric. This collaboration improved zoom connection stability by reducing reliance on an unreliable public internet connection.
Implement this helpful practice and you will see a huge reduction in your support tickets.
Related: How to train your customer support agents to provide better service
4. Hire the right professionals
In addition to good communication skills, you should hire customer support representatives who have a technical understanding of your products. Similarly, you should carefully recruit experts for other departments in your organization to ensure they handle customer inquiries effectively.
Especially when customer retention is low, you should spend a small portion of your ROI on better training. It will also keep your workforce happy and valued. Inducing customer support will increase their loyalty to your company.
5. Keep a unique approach for different platforms
Don’t look at every platform with the same eye. This is a big mistake that many Saa Entrepreneurs make.
For example, customers expect quick responses in live chat, so you need to respond to them within minutes. But they expect a good but well-structured and detailed message by getting a reply to their e-mail that is several hours late. You can keep your answers short, casual and snappy for customers on social media.
A great example is how diffiltions Support Support. Twitter (X) is used for quick, casual responses within minutes, but email support is built with complete guides, and its help center includes fully explained tutorials. This approach ensures that customers get the right experience depending on the platform.
Similarly, some of your reps are better at helping verbally, while others are written as a live chat. You must distinguish their strengths and assign their roles accordingly. You should also polish their strengths.
Related: 7 tips to knock your online customer support out of the park
6. I do not promise
I understand that your goal as a Saa Owner may be to gain maximum customers. You may want to do something to earn their trust and maintain a good customer experience. Again, you shouldn’t make a promise because it backfires.
For example, Dropbox once faced criticism when it promised unlimited cloud storage for business accounts. This limits the use to only later use due to technical and cost constraints. It was withdrawn because users felt it was wrong.
Another example was a SAAS company that promised unlimited recordings in a video conferencing application. This feature was originally only available to premium users. Customers using free or low-cost plans have been burned. They left bad reviews and ratings, ultimately damaging the reputation of the business.
On the other hand, its competitor has clearly mentioned a two-hour recording limit on free or low-cost plans. Still, sometimes it offered incredible features, like more storage. This made users happier and helped the business gain credibility.
Giving false hopes about your product/service will ultimately lead to a negative customer experience. The best practice is to be clear with your prospects and customers about what they expect and what they expect by offering better than they think. This will help you gain their trust and get fewer complaints.
Successful SaaS companies don’t expect customer complaints to change, but anticipate needs and exceed expectations. These strategies will help you too. Be sure to use the latest software and tools along with a talented workforce. This will dramatically improve customer support and take your business success to the next level.
Key Takeaways
- Easily accessible, answer common questions and document areas with room for improvement.
- Hire the right reps with a technical understanding of your products, a one-size-fits-all approach for different platforms, and no false promises.
As a builder of SaaS platforms, I have a few key insights that really work – from my own experience as well as from other companies. Recent statistics show that approximately 53% of customers expect more support than in the past, and their expectations continue to rise with technological advancements. This is especially so in the SaaS Niche where businesses rely heavily on customer retention.
As a SaaS company, I’ve collected six clear and effective best practices for improving customer support.
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