Thanks to social media and review sites, when someone has a less-than-positive support experience, the experience is shared with everyone on the Internet. On the other hand, positive support experiences, while they’re not as likely to get as much publicity, can make your customers or prospects more receptive to upsell or cross-sell opportunities.

Check out these five tips that we have found to help improve service incidents:

• Pull together an FAQ: Users may not want to read through a manual or an instruction site, but they’ll look through a brief list of frequently asked questions (FAQ). Chances are that a FAQ will have the answer they’re looking for. To jumpstart your FAQ creation, talk to your early adopters and find out what glitches they’ve found. We find it helpful to begin an FAQ when our product is in beta, and allow the FAQ to evolve over time.


• Publish all your self-service items: Though FAQs are a great first step, publish your technical information for your more hands-on customers. This includes manuals, quick-start guides, and any applicable downloads (drivers, runtime modules). Even though some customers like the DIY approach – it definitely requires some support!


• Offer multiple support channels: Some folks are comfortable with phone and e-mail, others prefer text and chat for support. By offering a variety of channels, the customer can choose the channel they would like to use, helping drive customer satisfaction.


• Keep good support records: If you maintain detailed records of all support interactions, you’ll be better able to analyze the source of problems (and use the info to keep your FAQ up to date). A lot of remote support tools, like LogMeIn Rescue, can pull very detailed customized reports. This helps save your technicians time from having to manually document each session, and gives you the ability to quickly reference specific details from any session – even a session from over two years ago!


• Show (don’t tell) your customers: Customers aren’t always good at explaining exactly what they’ve been doing or exactly what they’re seeing. Use a video-enabled remote access/remote control tool to see exactly what your customers are seeing, and show them first-hand how you’re fixing the problem for them.

While these tips may not look like they have a direct connection to selling opportunities, positive support interactions have a direct impact on customer loyalty. Positive support interactions will also increase the likelihood that your customers will turn to you for further products and services, and maybe even refer a friend!