Today, speed is everything. With apps like Uber, Netflix, Amazon, Bumble, and Seamless you can now hail a ride, start a new TV series, buy another bottle of shampoo, set up a date, or order takeout in seconds. With all of these apps at their fingertips, customers now expect all products and services to work seamlessly and respond immediately. When things go wrong - as they always do - support teams have the opportunity to step in and turn currently frustrated customers into long-term advocates. While speedy support is always a must, there are 3 top scenarios where the support team can make or break a customer experience.

1.) When Your Stuff Simply Doesn't Work

We've all been there. You update your software to the latest version and — boom — nothing works as it should anymore. You try restarting the device --because that is what every IT professional you've ever worked with told you to do first, and it's still not working. Panic! Did you lose everything? Is your device bricked? Are you locked out of an important system? The customer support team seems to be your last hope for not losing everything you hold so dear. The customer support challenge? Ease their anxiety and get them back up and running….better than before.

2.) When Your Customer is Knocking, But Can't Get In

Security is top of mind for every company, but what happens when a device or app is too secure? So secure the customer can't access it? Support professionals deal with their fair share of "forgotten password" requests, but in some cases the inability to access an account or device goes far beyond a forgotten password. Maybe the two-factor authentication isn't working or even something as simple as a forgotten password becomes complicated because the system isn't allowing a reset. Chances are most things that have that level of security are mission critical to your customers. Being able to authenticate them quickly (albeit securely) will ease their tension and make sure customers can access everything they need to.

3.) When On-boarding Becomes Off-Boarding

So you've won a new customer — awesome! How's the on-boarding experience? Simple? Seamless? Companies often don't focus much on the on-boarding process, but it is crucial to making or breaking the customer experience. Chances are, no matter how clear your on-boarding process is, your support team is going to get calls. The app isn't working, the connection isn't connecting, etc. Many customers in this situation might think "if it's this hard to get it set-up, it's going to be hard to use and not worth my time." It can be so easy for customers to put the product back in the box or cancel the service after a poor on-boarding experience. Having a support team that makes the process easy will ensure you're not going to be getting a refund request.

Situations like these pop-up every day for support teams. Being able to fix them fast is key to keeping customers satisfied and brand loyal.  To do that, you need to arm your support team with the tools and technology that can help them navigate any and all customer requests with relative ease.  Modern support systems should have functionality that allows you to easily pull device system diagnostics, deploy patches and updates with one click, rich mobile capabilities- across devices and OS, and co-browse and reverse screen-sharing (so that customers can follow along with you when addressing the issue or showing customers the fully configured product during onboarding)  Bottom line – customer support is turning into a key competitive differentiator for companies everywhere.  Are you ready?

To read more about how to prepare your team to deliver exceptional customer support in any situation, click here.