6 Tips and 4 Examples to Help Provide Better Online Customer Support

Mashable has written a fantastic piece combining some great tips for online customer support.

6 Tips for Providing Better Online Customer Support.

This morning I witnessed this twitter conversation between Qantas‘ twitter account @QantasAirways & Digital Sport Guru, @seancallanan

@QantasAirways & @seancallanan Twitter conversation

After flying 14+ hours from LAX to Melbourne, you can imagine that all Sean would like to do is get home. If I were in Sean’s shoes I (after spending thousands on an airfares with Qantas) would like Qantas to own the issue and find my misplaced personal possessions. I would like to be kept informed of resolution time frames etc. What I would not like is a suggestion to call a support line which failed the first time. Do I want to be fobbed off by another employee of the airline and continue bang my head against a brick wall into a never ending cycle? No. Do I just want the issue to be owned and solved? Yes. 

Like it or not, if your company has a presence online, you will be expected to handle and own any customer complaint that comes your way. If you think otherwise, then the online community has news for you!

Personally I am a fan of online customer support because I have had some great experiences via online support methods.

Here are three recent positive examples:

Astrill.com – I recently had some questions of a technical nature for my VPN provider, Astrill. Astrill’s website encourages the use of their online customer support chat feature. The representative was connected with me within a few seconds, was very polite, clarified & confirmed the request, pointed me in the right direction, asked if there was anything else I needed and confirmed that they would of course be available if I needed. Quick, pain-free, enjoyable.

Australia Post – Twitter – A Twitter friend of mine recently had, from her account, an appalling experience at her local Post Office. She was doing what many folks online do in this day and age. Let others know of their experience online. Knowing Australia Post had a twitter account, I retweeted her and mentioned @auspost. I was impressed to say the least, that within an hour, @auspost had picked up the tweet and dealt directly with my friend. She thanked @auspost  shortly afterwards for sorting it all out.

Australia Post actioned the complaint quickly, took it into their service process and turned out a happy customer, who in turn became an online advocate. Australia Post obviously recognises the need to get in on the conversation and sort the issue out quickly.

Optus – Twitter – Optus‘ online customer support is a system that in my opinion is fantastic. When you first connect them regarding an issue, they will link your Optus account to your social media account. They send you a link to do this. They then know you and your support history from then on, making it qucik process to get on the same page.

I have tweeted @Optus on many occasions. They quickly acknowledge your tweet and will arrange to contact you on via phone, at a time that is suitable to you. They are even happy to sort it out via private message (DM) if it is possible.

Online Customer Support is proving to be a desired support channel of many.  Many companies demonstrate that with solid support processes and structures, they can turn a annoyed ‘detracting’ customer into a happy ‘promoting’ customer.

At the end of the day, happy customers come back and bring others along to keep you in business.

What have you experienced in online customer service? Have they been positive or negative experiences?