Tom Hooker, Author at Document360

Why Customer Service Skills are critical to your business success in 2019

Tom Hooker — Mon, 17 Jun 2019 11:43:35 +0000

It should come as no surprise that customer service plays a key role in almost everything you do. Your customers are your revenue and what keeps your business afloat, so it makes sense to give them everything they want from you and more. In fact, it goes without saying that those businesses who don’t show their customers the respect they’re looking for will quickly lose out and suffer as a result.

A continually negative customer service experience can fundamentally undermine a business, irrespective of how wonderful the product/service actually is. There’s only so much modern consumers will accept from a company before they choose to jump ship, even if it means finding a more expensive or even inferior offering.

While customer service skills have always been an essential part of good business operations, their importance to short and long-term business success is growing rapidly. Here we take a look at just why they’re more important in 2019 than ever before.

Competition is increasing

Your business has always been up against competitors, but as the global market develops and becomes increasingly connected, the number of companies you’ll be competing against is rising too. This jump in competition means it’s not only harder to get new customers through the door, but also means there are more alternatives should your consumer base be dissatisfied. As such, your customer service skills in 2019 are absolutely critical.

With so many options at the touch of a button, the opportunity for customers to spend their money elsewhere is greater than ever, so the experience you deliver needs to be as good as possible.

With this in mind, customer service skills are essential, as they often play a large part in the experience your customers have with your product/service – particularly when things go wrong.

Your ability to react and assist your customers with engaging customer service skills will strongly influence how long they stick around.

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Customers are louder than ever and will make bad experiences public

In 2019, a dissatisfied customer is a dangerous customer. Armed with the power of social media in the palm of their hand, your customers have everything they need to tell the world about your performance, particularly when it’s bad. The modern customer regularly shares negative experiences with friends, family and the wider world, and this can quickly snowball into a full-blown negative reputation if it occurs too often.

Strong customer service skills help to avoid these incidents, even when things go wrong. Whether it’s just helping customers make the most of the offering, or ensuring they’re cared for in the event of an error, customer service is critical to minimising negativity and maximising the customer experience. The faster and better a problem can be solved, the lower the chance negative sentiment will be shared in the public domain – protecting your reputation and future opportunities.

Customer expectations are growing

As customers become more global, they’re exposed to greater levels of opportunity and potential, this makes them aware of what can be achieved and in many cases, raises expectations. The customer of 2019 wants more for less and they’re seeing companies deliver on a daily basis – Netflix and Spotify are both great examples. Whether expectations are realistic or not, customers are holding the companies they use and engage with to higher account, and so it’s essential competitive businesses rise to this challenge, or face the consequences of delivering disappointment.

With good customer service skills supporting your business, you can meet and even exceed the expectations of your customers. This not only drives return custom but elevates your brand and satisfies your customers view of your company and its offerings.

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Customer service is becoming a key brand differentiator

As markets become increasingly crowded and new businesses rise up with an increasing focus on niche offerings, it’s becoming harder and harder to differentiate in the market. Getting lost amongst the crowds is a very real threat in 2019, so it’s essential to deliver some form of a unique selling point, and great customer service is doing just that for many businesses.

With high-quality customer service skills powering your business you can stand out from the masses and build a customer base simply through good word of mouth. Highly positive experiences may not travel as fast as bad experiences, but they can have just as much of an impact on business success. It only takes one good referral to generate ROI on great customer service and typically it’s the little things that make the biggest difference. Something as simple as raising the customer’s query internally and calling them back could be enough. It’s worth remembering, most of the time, you only need a little effort and care to deliver great customer service.

Customers are moving away from products to ongoing services

As mentioned above, the likes of Netflix and Spotify have grown significantly, and are representative of a cultural shift, in 2019 consumers are buying less products and turning to services. This means, instead of a one-off up-front fee, they’re paying regular installments, which means greater customer service is required over a longer period of time. As value is attached to retention, high-quality customer service skills suddenly become priority 1,2 and 3.

When a product is sold, and the consumer receives bad customer service, the company keeps the money and often moves on, but with a service model, this doesn’t work, the consumer must receive ongoing customer service to ensure they keep paying their fee. Failure to care for their needs will result in a direct reduction in revenue.

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Customers want to help themselves

Good customer service skills don’t just come in the form of a person engaging with another person, they also come from providing the right solutions so your customers can get what they need on their own. This may come in the form of a FAQ page or even a full-blown knowledge base like Document360, your customers want to find the information that will help solve their problems and you want to minimise the human resources to satisfy your customers. A knowledge base software helps achieve both goals and moving into the future will only grow in importance as consumers look to help themselves more than ever.

2019 will see the standards of customer service skills rise again as businesses recognize the opportunity to drive growth and success by delivering better customer experience. With brand building, market recognition and increasing consumer standards, companies must rise to the occasion and deliver quality customer service, or risk losing their loyal following to a company that will embrace customer care. The benefits of good customer service skills are obvious and as society continues towards a more service-oriented culture, the quality of customer service delivered will determine future business success. The very best businesses in 2019 will embrace high-quality customer service and ensure customers have what they need when they need it.

The post Why Customer Service Skills are critical to your business success in 2019 appeared first on Document360.

The Role of Customer Service in the Digital World

Tom Hooker — Fri, 14 Jun 2019 10:16:05 +0000

Welcome to the digital era. A world where the majority of people, prospects, and customers spend their time in front of a screen. As technology and culture have shifted, digital engagement has risen. And so, with people spending more time than ever engaging with digital interfaces, devices, and channels, it’s essential businesses catch up and have the digital customer service skills necessary to meet prospect and customer needs.

Digital evolution and its impact on customer service

Over the last two decades, the digital transition has fundamentally altered the way customers engage with businesses like yours. There is now much less face-to-face, human-to-human contact, as prospects and customers alike choose to do their own research and make their own way through the buying cycle, without the explicit input of vendors. This has meant customer service has had to evolve to reflect the changing needs of the buyer.

Companies must now look to help the buyer help themselves and so the focus has switched from training your operatives to deliver the very best customer experience, to developing the tools and resources necessary to empower the customer to find the information they need on their own.

Modern customer service should be like a concierge, helping prospects and customers realize where they need to go, and how to get there. Businesses who offer prospect/customers the power to explore their area of interest easily and find the data they’re looking for are delivering a great customer experience – and this is a skill in itself.

The modern buying experience

In the modern buying experience, customer service should be available to prospects and customers alike from website entry, all the way through to the very end of the buying process, and beyond (upsell and support included). Resources must be easy to access and clearly showcase how they can help customers find or do what they’re looking to achieve. Customer service is there to help your customers and prospects help themselves, so it’s worth keeping that in mind when developing your own customer service skills and offerings.

What do good digital customer service skills look like?

While you may provide great customer service away from your website, offering high-quality customer service in the digital landscape requires a totally different set of skills and capabilities in order to deliver customer/prospect satisfaction. Here’s how you can improve your digital customer service skills:

Be responsive to your customers

The internet is all about speed and immediacy, both customers and prospects will expect to be able to contact you and receive a response almost instantaneously, and if they don’t get what they want, they will go elsewhere, as a competitor is only a click away. Never have the stakes been so high in such a short window of time. With this in mind, it’s essential you can respond quickly to the yields of customers who want to engage with you, whether this is through live-chat, email or telephone, you need to be where they are when they want you. This is absolutely critical to good digital customer service and can genuinely make the difference between business growth and decline.

Offer a diverse range of contact channels

In the digital world, prospects and customers alike should have access to multiple opportunities for contact, this includes live chat, a support helpline, a knowledge base, and an email address.

Offering this variety of choice is essential as it gives the customer the power to choose their level and means of engagement. For example, if their query is small and potentially inconsequential, it’s unlikely your customers will be prepared to ring and wait on the phone, however, they’re much more likely to use live chat or access a knowledge base for the information they’re looking for. In a digital ecosystem, the choice is everything.

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Develop Omni-channel communication capabilities

When customers/prospects choose to engage with a company across multiple communication channels, they do not see each as a silo, they often see and expect everything to be a single conversation. So if a statement is made via an email, they expect that statement to be known when they later contact via telephone – or at the very least, expect the operative on the line to be able to access the email. This avoids the need for repetition and improves efficiency for all parties involved.

Companies operating a digital customer service function without omnichannel capabilities are likely to incur higher costs and provide an inferior customer experience. Knowledge sharing and coordination are critical to a successful and scalable digital customer service offering and an omnichannel approach ensures all relevant information they need to deliver high-quality digital customer service.

Also Read: How to Manage Your SAAS Customer Support Costs

Omnichannel capabilities are arguably the most important digital customer service skill in your arsenal as they optimize efficiency, output and customer satisfaction.

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Adopt a Knowledge Base to help customer help themselves

Empowering your customers in the digital space is half the battle when it comes to customer service. They often won’t care where the answer for their query comes from, as long as it solves their problem – so if you can develop a way to give them the power to find the information they need on their own, without input from your customer service team, then you can effectively manage your costs without sacrificing the quality of your digital customer service skills.

This is where a knowledge base comes in. With a knowledge base on your website, you can offer your customers a searchable information database that can answer the majority of their questions, without the need for human input. By offering large quantities of data that are easily searchable at the touch of a button, a knowledge base can provide quick and easy answers to your customer’s biggest queries. And as your knowledge base grows and develops based on customer engagement history, it’s always expanding and enhancing the value it can deliver. Armed with a knowledge base, digital customer service becomes an iterative process, every question unlocks the opportunity to improve its value.

On top of all this, a knowledge base can also help enhance your other channels too. With such a powerful tool at your customer’s and service operative’s fingertips, your knowledge base can guide prospects to the right areas within, minimizing the time it takes to solve queries and enhancing the quality of the customer experience.

Try a demo of our knowledge base, Document360 today and see what it can do for your digital customer service capabilities.

It’s been said before, but it’s worth repeating, digital customer service is all about helping your customers help themselves. It’s about giving them the power to do what they want and engage with your brand the way they want. They will expect you to be able to not only provide the information they want but also provide it quickly via the channel they desire. This is what good digital customer service looks like, and remember if you can’t deliver, a competitor will.

Also, Check out our article on ChatGPT for Customer Service

The post The Role of Customer Service in the Digital World appeared first on Document360.

How Knowledge Management Reduces Your Service Costs

Tom Hooker — Fri, 14 Jun 2019 09:35:18 +0000

Knowledge management is so important that 95% of CEOs consider it a critical part of their company. In fact, enterprises like British Petroleum attribute as much as $260 million of added value to good information management. And, this practice can improve productivity while reducing expenses in different parts of your company.

Simply put, knowledge management is the process of registering, presenting, and using information. It encompasses both internal and external data; aiming to increase value and reduce expenses at the same time.

Below, we’ll go over the different ways knowledge management can help cut costs in your company.

Benefits of Effective Knowledge Management

The practice of knowledge management has been around for decades. Aside from reducing expenses, information management can benefit other areas too.

Internal information management can give your employees a boost in productivity. This, in turn, can result in better service, speed up internal processes, and create a customer-first mentality. And, most importantly, higher productivity translates to higher revenue and reduced expenses.

External knowledge management refers to the information that’s available to your clients. This can empower them to solve issues on their own. And, they won’t need undivided help as often. Then, you can focus on other activities without worrying about compromising customer satisfaction.

Keep in mind that the technologies powering information management evolve fast. So, you should always try to learn about the new knowledge management tools to stay up to date.

How Knowledge Management Can Reduce Your Service Expenses

Every year, Fortune 500 companies lose more than $30 billion to poor knowledge management. Implementing a solid system can have the opposite effect and increase profit margins. Here are some ways that knowledge management can help reduce costs in your company.

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Allow Knowledgeable Employees to Reclaim Their Workday

In most companies, information resides in the most knowledgeable employees. These team members are usually tasked with helping their peers. This can have a good effect on performance. But, it can also reduce your knowledgeable team members’ productivity.

Through knowledge management, your most qualified team members can create resources for their peers. Whenever employees need help, they can access your knowledge base to find the resources they need.

Because knowledgeable team members will spend less time helping others, they can claim back their workday and put their skills to practice.

Reduce Employee Churn

Losing a team member is challenging from a productivity and financial point of view. Research suggests that replacing an employee can cost 33% of that person’s annual salary. And, this number can grow exponentially if you have many team members leaving at once.

Sometimes, knowledgeable employees leave a company after experiencing burnout. Instead of burning out your most qualified team members, find a reliable knowledge management system. This will relieve some of the pressure and keep your employees engaged in a positive way.

Avoid Recreating Resources that Exist Already

According to some estimates, employees spend more time recreating existing knowledge than creating new resources. Employing a knowledge base that has a powerful search engine can reduce the time spent on this repetitive task. Moreover, your team can focus on creating new resources, upselling, and other tasks that generate revenue.

Cut Research Time

The average employee can spend as much as 2.5 hours per day searching for information. This usually happens within companies that lack a centralised library of resources. Or, it can mean that the knowledge base you currently use doesn’t have the right features.

By implementing a good knowledge management system, you can reduce research time by 30%. Aside from cultivating a knowledgeable team, you’ll also deliver better service and use resources in a more effective way.

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Lower the Frequency of Costly Mistakes

From accounting to quality assurance and customer service, there are many different areas that make up a company. But, mistakes in each of these sectors can result in financial loss.

To avoid these costly errors, you can set up a knowledge base that features walkthroughs and step-by-step guides. That said, you’ll have to keep the content fresh and update it whenever there’s a relevant change!

Develop Standard Workflows and Processes

Companies that don’t use standardised workflows and processes tend to lose money on the productivity front. A knowledge management system allows you to identify and establish the most effective methods for each task.

For instance, you can define the best way to upsell your services. Then, you can encourage employees to use this resource whenever the right opportunity arises.

Yield More Satisfied Customers

Keeping customer churn low should a priority for companies that offer monthly services. If you focus on delivering a great experience and keeping customers happy, there’s a strong chance you’ll have high retention rates.

As we mentioned before, knowledge management encompasses both internal and external resources. Both of these also play a major role in customers satisfaction. Internal knowledge management allows your agents to deliver fast and accurate service. And, you can also manage external information to make sure customers can solve issues without help.

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Result in Faster Training and Onboarding

Customer onboarding and employee training are two different processes. But, both of them represent a period of reduced profit margins for your company.

The good news is that knowledge management can speed up training as well as onboarding.

By providing all the information they need, you can help new employees hit the ground running from an operational perspective. Customers that have access to a knowledge base will also have a smoother transition. In other words, they are more likely to adopt your product and use all the features it has available.

Avoid Hiring External Consultants

Hiring an external consultant usually represents a hefty investment. This is not ideal, especially for companies that are looking to cut costs without compromising product quality.

Depending on the issue, knowledge management systems can help change your team’s mentality. This can produce the same effect as hiring an external specialist. And, you won’t have to spend a chunk of money on expensive consulting services.

Implementing Effective Knowledge Management in Your Organisation

A powerful knowledge management system will allow you to organise product information. Not only this, but it should also help customers and employees access these details easily. And, while it may sound simple, this practice has a significant impact on your company’s finances.

Having good knowledge management and sharing practices can boost productivity and cut expenses in different areas. But, you need to take your time and find an information management approach that truly adds value to your company.

The post How Knowledge Management Reduces Your Service Costs appeared first on Document360.

How Knowledge Management Can Help You and Your Customers

Tom Hooker — Fri, 24 May 2019 09:34:30 +0000

Effective knowledge management is becoming a priority for decision-makers in different industries. 58% of companies are planning to reinvest in knowledge management this year. This is because 47% of organisations that use a knowledge base report an increase in sales and web traffic.

Knowledge management is the process of recording, displaying, and using information. In business, this practice covers information that is useful to your customers or employees. This includes product specifications, internal practices, and much more.

Information management requires a systematic approach. This can be for internal and external use. External knowledge management refers to the information you make available to your customers. Internal data management covers information that helps your team members. For instance, workflows, guides, or instructions on how to handle certain situations.

With all this in mind, some managers have difficulties understanding the impact of knowledge management. In this article, we’ll discuss the importance of acquiring, distributing, and using knowledge in the most effective way.

The Importance of Knowledge Management in Large Companies

All companies can benefit from knowledge management. But, large enterprises usually reap the biggest rewards. These organisations tend to have complex products with different features. In most cases, this means that customers have more questions. And, complex products have longer employee training and customer on-boarding processes.

Having an effective knowledge management mechanism can help your customers and employees. Through an internal knowledge base, you can empower team members to deliver fast, high-quality support.

External knowledge bases allow customers to solve problems on their own. And, they will request help less often. As a result, you’ll be able to focus your resources on other essential activities.

Quality is crucial. But, big companies should also focus on the delivery and usability of their resources. Having a knowledge sharing platform that is easy to manage, allows effective storage, and simplifies distribution, can improve the usability of your resources.

Large companies also experience higher employee turnover. Clear and consistent information management can speed up the integration of new employees.

That said, there are a few basic challenges you’ll need to overcome. For example, you’ll need to build a custom library that has the features you need. Knowledge management technology also moves fast, so you need to keep an eye on the evolution of the current platforms. And, it should be easy to use so that your knowledgeable team members can manage it without help.

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Analysing the Four Keys to Effective Knowledge Management

Information management has a huge number of benefits, but it relies on four basic concepts. Together, these elements make up your knowledge management system. All the steps you take to handle information should fall under one of these categories. So, you need to master each individual component and create an ecosystem that revolves around them.

The four components of knowledge management are:

Content Management

Content management is the process of creating and sharing information. In most cases, this happens through knowledge bases or similar platforms. By managing internal content, you can ensure that employees have easy access to information. Which, in turn, can reduce costs and create a better experience for your customers.

External content management ensures that customers have a seamless experience. Plus, it will also ensure that the information they receive is up to date.

Expertise Location

To capture information, you need to find it first. Expertise location is the process of establishing which employees hold the most knowledge. The main goal is to identify the team members that have the most practical expertise. Later on, these team members should be in charge of developing your knowledge base content.

Expertise location can create a more relaxing work environment for the employees that hold the most knowledge. Instead of having to support their peers, your knowledgeable team members can share information through knowledge management.

From an external point of view, your customers will also have access to insightful data. And, they won’t have to ask for help from your team to take advantage of their knowledge.

Lessons Learned

‘Lessons learned’ databases cover best practices and how-tos. In most cases, lessons learned come from your employee’s first-hand experience. Your team members can use this information to improve efficiency. Customers enjoy similar benefits because they have information available at all times. This means that they can decide when to take care of their issue and how to go about it, rather than working around your call centre’s schedule.

Communities of Practice or CoPs

In general terms, a community of practice or CoP is created by people that have similar interests. This group of people interact regularly and share knowledge in order to learn more about the topic together. The same concept can be applied to internal and external knowledge management.

Communities of practice can promote the proactive sharing of information. These CoPs can be formed by employees internally. External CoPs can be formed by your customers and they usually take place in forums or similar platforms. You can encourage CoPs by providing a space to share knowledge. But, you should also try to find effective ways to moderate and manage the sharing platforms.

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How Knowledge Management Can Help You and Your Customers

Efficient knowledge management can have a great effect on the performance of your organisation. Aside from making information more accessible, this practice promotes innovation and collaboration in your company.

Here are some of the most common benefits of effective knowledge management.

Improve Communication and Collaboration Across the Board

Dedicated knowledge bases like Document360 allow commenting on each piece. This opens up new lines of communication within your organisation. At the same time, you can also view the article lifecycle to see the changes made in different stages.

Develop a Better Approach to Customer Acquisition

Besides providing information, knowledge management can also provide valuable insight into your customers. This can help you polish your customer acquisition techniques. Aside from bringing in more customers, you can also focus on creating a comprehensive on-boarding process.

Empower Team Members and Customers to Solve Complex Problems

When customers have a problem, they usually turn to your support team. And, if your support agent needs help, they will seek help from their knowledgeable peers.

Instead of going through this process, knowledge management empowers customer and employees. It allows them to solve complex issues without requesting help. But, you need to make sure that each article has clear instructions and includes all the necessary steps.

Reduce the Amount of Time Spent Searching for Information

The average employee can spend up to 12.5 hours per week researching information. Through effective data management, you can reduce the amount of time your team spend researching. This can increase productivity and help them reclaim a large part of their workday.

Help Establish a Customer-First Culture

Today, product-centric business models are becoming less common. Establishing a customer-first culture will allow your team members to deliver the best experience. And, you’ll be able to connect with your audience by showing them that you value their loyalty.

Avoid Wasting Resources on Creating Materials that Already Exist

Aside from researching, employees can spend a large chunk of their workday recreating resources. The worse part is that many of these resources already exist, but employees can’t track them down. You can avoid this by having a reliable knowledge base that’s powered by a robust search engine.

Lower Churn and Increase Retention Rates

Reducing churn is very important for companies that rely on recurring services. Unfortunately, many customers cancel their subscription because of a negative encounter.

More than 30% of customers stop doing business with a company after one bad experience. But, if information is more available your employees can claim back as much as 35% of their workday. This can help them focus on delivering a better experience to your clients.

External knowledge management can also give customers tools to perform basic and advanced troubleshooting. This can boost engagement, enhance customer experience, and improve retention rates.

Implementing Knowledge Management in Your Company

Taking the time to develop effective knowledge management systems can bring many benefits. External knowledge bases can empower clients to solve problems on their own. And, internal knowledge management will yield more knowledgeable, efficient employees.

The benefits above should give you a good idea of the impact that effective knowledge management can have. That said, remember that you have to establish a customer-centric approach. And, you need to keep the four keys of information management in mind to build a reliable knowledge base.

The post How Knowledge Management Can Help You and Your Customers appeared first on Document360.

Google Drive is part of the G Suite, which includes Gmail and other apps by the tech giant. The platform supports Google’s utility tools, so you can create, edit and share a variety of files without switching application. It provides 15GB of free storage upon sign up, mobile app access, and file sharing capacities. Drive also supports unlimited users. And, you can create download links that let you share documents with team members that don’t have a Google account.

Dropbox is a powerful cloud storage solution that was launched back in 2008. It started as a basic file storing and sharing application. Since then, it has evolved into a comprehensive collaboration tool. In 2015, the company introduced a basic text editor called Paper. Dropbox offers extensive integrations, synchronisation capacities, and an unlimited storage plan for companies that handle a lot of data.

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Project Management – Monday.com and Trello

It’s not uncommon for a business to rely on more than one remote support team. From retentions to technical support and customer success, you may have to manage hundreds of employees at a distance. By implementing project management software, you can take an organised approach and keep an eye on your team through one tool.

Trello is a versatile project management platform that’s suitable for projects of all sizes. It has a friendly visual interface that’s easy to get used to. And, you can create a variety of boards and subtasks. Your employees can mark these as completed, discuss them with their peers, or move along the production chain as needed. You can tag specific users, share files, and set deadlines to ensure that all departments thrive at the same time.

Companies that want a simple interface that focuses a powerful hub, Monday.com may be an ideal alternative. The platform is designed to boost collaboration between your different department. It serves as a central hub that displays data in a logical way. So, you can see what tasks were completed and which assignments are still in the pipeline from the get-go.

Getting the Right Tools for Efficient Remote Team Management

Setting up a remote team is a great way to boost productivity, employee engagement, and cut costs across the board. With this in mind, you need to set up an effective management strategy. And, you should compliment it with tools that help you check the performance of your offsite employees.

The remote team communication tools above can help you maintain open communication lines, encourage collaboration, and cultivate knowledgeable staff. These will make it easier to manage your remote team. Which, in turn, will allow you to focus on finding new ways to generate revenue. Plus, you’ll be able to optimise your operations and develop a product that yields a base of satisfied customers.

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Best Affordable SaaS Customer Support Software

Tom Hooker — Wed, 20 Feb 2019 10:09:54 +0000

Creating a reliable customer support department is a critical step for all SaaS businesses. In most cases, SaaS companies charge their customers on a monthly basis. But, this also means that they have to provide stellar support when a client needs assistance.

The quality of your customer support can directly impact your company’s growth. More than 50% of people would rather abandon a purchase than deal with bad customer service. And, 17% of people are willing to spend more money with a company who provides a great experience.

Even with budget restrictions, there are many platforms you can leverage to improve your support team. In this article, we’ll go over some SaaS customer support tools that won’t break the bank.

Why Should You Deliver Outstanding Customer Support?

By the year 2020, projections suggest that customer experience will be more important than product prices. What’s more, customers who get a positive experience have a 74% chance of maintaining a subscription with the company for at least a year.

Customer Experience: The New Kid on the Block

Customer experience is so important that 3 out of 4 people take it into account when making a purchase. And, it’s safe to assume this number is higher for industries that charge a monthly subscription.

Startups and mid-size SaaS companies should focus on the success of their existing clients. After all, the chances of upselling current customers are as high as 70%.

Quick Tips to Improve the Quality of Your Customer Support

Simply setting up a customer support department is not enough. You have to ensure they are delivering fast and consistent solutions to your customers. Read our article on 5 ways your SaaS customer support can save time to find out how.

Select, Measure and Track

The first thing you need to do is to identify the most important customer support metrics for your business. Use your current numbers as a benchmark and measure your performance every month. Some of the metrics you may want to track include:

Resolution rate
Ticket volume
Average reply time
Customer Satisfaction
Average number of replies per request

Focus on Customer Experience

You should create a customer-centric mentality by training your entire team. Organise a training exercise for your agents that displays the importance of great support. You should also provide guidelines to help them handle difficult situations in a professional manner. Showcasing a few examples of companies that offer great SaaS customer support may also help them embrace the customer-centric culture easily.

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Deploy Effective Tools

Though it may sound obvious, you have to give your team the right tools to help customers.
Your agents should have the ability to update account information. In addition to this, they should be able to perform troubleshooting and offer remote assistance when necessary.

Best Affordable SaaS Customer Support Software

There are dozens of platforms you can use to improve the quality of your customer support. Here are our picks for the best affordable SaaS customer support tools out there:

Knowledge Base – Document360

Price: Free 14-Day Trial, Startup Plan Starting at $99 per Month

A knowledge base is a collection of company resources that is organised as a structured library, typically online. You can use these platforms to create an internal repository of information for your support team. And, you can also build a tidy, well-structured external knowledge base so your clients can learn on their own as well.

Document360 offers a powerful and affordable alternative that helps keep information accessible at all times. The company provides a generous 14-day trial that allows you to test out the service before committing.

The knowledge base also has an intuitive interface and SEO-like structure. This means that your team can run a quick search to access the information they need. The only downside is that there is no API available yet. But, Document360 allows integration with popular platforms like Olark and Google Analytics.

At the same time, Document360 can improve team collaboration. It features an internal chat platform, commenting on each article, forums, and discussion rooms. All of these encourage your team to share information and identify solutions to your recurring issues.

Deploying this knowledge base can also improve organisation in your company. Your most knowledgeable employees will be able to share best practices. And, struggling team members can access this knowledge even if they have a customer on the line.

Pros

Free 14-day trial
Enhances team collaboration
Efficient search structure
Integration with Olark, Google Analytics, and other platforms

Cons

No API available

Troubleshooting and Remote Support – ConnectWise Control

Price: Free Trial Available, One Plan Starts at $19 per Month

Most software companies use innovative technology. So, it’s common for end users to need technical help. Having a tool that lets your support team control a customer’s device remotely can translate to faster, more efficient service.

ConnectWise Control is a troubleshooting and remote support platform that empowers your agents. With this tool, your team can provide quality SaaS customer support right from your premises. This includes troubleshooting and repair issues that require technical knowledge. You can also arrange seminars and live presentations through ConnectWise to train your client’s team as well.

Aside from providing help to clients around the world, ConnectWise also has great connectivity features. Even if one or both of the connections are not great, the platform automatically restores the connection. You’ll also be able to assign different permissions to your team members, improving the platform’s security.

The only downside of using ConnectWise Control is that the client needs to install software. And, the remote connection may put a lot of pressure on a machine’s display driver, which can result in a slow interface.

In case the client wants to supervise your support team, ConnectWise also has transparency features. You can invite guests and share screens so your customers will be able to see exactly how it is you’re helping them.

Pros

Remote help and communications to any part of the world
Deliver training and seminars
Automatic reconnections
Screensharing options available

Cons

Customers need to install software before establishing a connection
Remote assistant may cause a machine to slow down

Customer Relationship Management – Really Simple Systems

Price: Free Version Available, Starter Plan Start at $13 per User per Month

Unlike most CRMs, Really Simple Systems provides an affordable and powerful alternative for SaaS companies. The idea behind Really Simple Systems is to have a CRM that grows with your company.

The platform offers a free trial that you can upgrade according to your needs. Aside from sales, this CRM can also work as a great marketing tool. You can create entire email campaigns, monitor their performance, and contact leads in one place.

But, keep in mind that the free version only has a 100MB data storage limit. Moreover, it doesn’t offer advanced reporting features either.

Really Simple System allows you to create a sales funnel and moves leads as they go through the buyer’s journey. This can help encourage your sales department. It will also help you make accurate projections and identify purchase patterns. And, you can even customise sections of the platform to feature specific fields and dashboards.

Pros

Scalable structure
User-friendly interface
Allows lead tracking

Sales automation features

Cons

Advanced reporting not available on the free plan
100MB data storage limit

Ticket Management System – osTicket

Price: Free Open-Source Version, Cloud-Hosted Plan Starts at $9 per User Per Month

Not answering an urgent message can mean downtime, which translates to financial losses.

The good news is that osTicket offers a standalone ticketing system ideal for startups and small SaaS companies. It’s compatible with Mac, Windows, and Linux, so it’s suitable for most organisations.

The free version is open-source and you can start using it as soon as you install it. It includes basic agent collision avoidance to help improve productivity. In other words, you won’t have two agents working on the same ticket simultaneously.

Keep in mind that the free version doesn’t offer any customer support or maintenance. You’ll have to provide your own hosting. And, you’ll have to set up manual backups and monitor the ticketing system to ensure there’s no downtime.

The ticketing system also allows you to create a variety of queues and tiers. You can split these up depending on the nature of the questions. Then, your team members or customers can select the tier they want when submitting the request.

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Pros

Available for Mac, Windows, and Linux
Create different tiers based on the type of support
Agent collision avoidance mechanisms

Cons

No support or maintenance on the free version
Manual backup necessary

Customer Communications and Social Engagement – Dimelo

Price: Custom Pricing Depending on the Size of Your Company
Today, customers can use a variety of channels to contact a company. Aside from phone and email, folks now turn to live chat, social media, and even mobile messaging. And, keeping up with all of these individual channels can become a tedious task.

Dimelo is an omni-channel digital communications platforms that helps your team stay accessible to your customers. Your employees can use Dimelo to answer messages that come from social media, mobile, your website, and any other digital channel.

It’s worth noting that Dimelo uses a tailored pricing model. You’ll have to request a quote from the company, which will vary depending on what you need. This setup usually benefits small companies and it provides a more scalable structure.

The platform’s interface is full of different options. This can overwhelm some team members, but the communications platform also offers extensive training materials.

This communication management software has built-in agent allocation and resource management features. This means that you agents will only have to focus on delivering great support. You can either Dimelo’s default CRM or integrate it to your software of choice. And, this cloud platform recognises up to 72 languages, so it can categorise a number of different inquiries.

Pros

Omni-channel support
Default CRM with integration capabilities
Built-in agent allocation and resource management
Recognises 72 languages
Extensive training materials

Cons

Complex interface

Get the Best Software for Your SaaS Customer Support Team

Setting up a customer support team goes beyond hiring a few agents. You have to establish a measurable mechanism that delivers accurate information on-demand. At the same time, you should implement a set of SaaS customer success best practices that benefit your clients.

The main goal is to delight your clients. So, you have to make sure your team always puts them first. To improve your chances of success, you have to be patient and find the areas that need the most improvement. Startups and mid-size SaaS companies need to be extra careful if they have a set budget.

Team Management and Organisation – Trello

Price: Free Version Available, Business Class Starts at $9.99 per Month

This project management software offers a user-friendly interface that’s easy to use. It improves the internal organisation as it allows you to see all of your projects in one place. And, thanks to its cloud setup, you won’t have to worry about installations or server requirements.

With Trello, you can divide your projects into different boards and manage them independently. You can create an unlimited amount of boards, which is handy if you have a huge number of clients. And, the platform also allows you to add as many team members as you like on their free plan.

While it does provide a basic solution, remember that the free version doesn’t offer additional security. And, you can only upload files that are 10MB in size unless you opt for a paid plan.

The good thing about Trello is that each one of your team members will have access to their own dashboard. There, they can view the different tasks they have pending. Once they work on them, they can update the Trello board so it’s visible to the entire team.

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Pros

Improves organisation
Cloud deployment
Unlimited projects and users
Individual dashboards

Cons

Free version doesn’t offer additional security
File sizes of up to 10MB unless on a paid plan

Internal Communications – Slack

Price: Free Version Available, Standard Plan Starting at $6.67 Per User Per Month

Slack is a popular real-time messaging application that offers a number of business features. It allows you to share and archive files from within the platform. You can also search through these files and access them over the cloud wherever you are.

Aside from a desktop and cloud deployment, Slack is also available as a mobile app. The platform is available for both iOS and Android as well as Windows devices.

When chatting doesn’t do the trick, you can use Slack’s voice and video calling features instead. It has a powerful structure with multiple conversation channels. This means you can create different groups according to the tasks your team is performing.

Even though it provides a superb communication platform, Slack does have a few shortcomings. The free version doesn’t have unlimited integrations, so you can only connect to major platforms.

And, the unpaid plan also has a 5GB storage limit. This may be good for most small companies, but SaaS businesses may struggle due to the huge amount of data they handle.

Pros

Real-time messaging
Comprehensive free version
Mobile app available for iOS and Android

Cons

Limited integrations
5GB file storage limit on free plan

The post Best Affordable SaaS Customer Support Software appeared first on Document360.

What Is SaaS Customer Support?

Tom Hooker — Sat, 16 Feb 2019 07:43:38 +0000

Around 85% of executives believe that delivering a great experience gives companies an advantage over the competition. And, 82% of B2B buyers agree that personalised service influences their loyalty.

According to Salesforce , 63% of consumers expect businesses to know their unique needs and expectations, while 76% of B2B buyers expect the same thing.

In other words, a support team that delivers customised services should keep your customers happy. And, happy customers can yield higher profits. But, 78% of people are also likely to switch providers due to inconsistent services.

This means that you need to deliver high-quality support when your customers want it the most.

In this article, we’ll go over the definition of SaaS customer support. We’ll also discuss the difference between support and SaaS customer success. And, we’ll provide a few tips to help ensure that your team is delivering a great experience to your customers.

Defining Customer Support and Customer Success in SaaS

Both SaaS customer support and SaaS customer success fall under the umbrella of customer service. That said, these should be two independent initiatives that work closely together. They share the same purpose but have different approaches when it comes to interacting with clients.

Your customer support team works as a traditional safety net for your clients. Customers reach out for help and your support agents assist them with their needs. The success team, on the other hand, should contact your clients and work with them to achieve their goals.

This is why both of these entities need to work closely together. Aside from sharing a similar toolset, they also need to deliver consistent services on both ends. And, they need to be on the same page when it comes to providing information to your customers. This will ensure a great experience for your clients, regardless of who they’re interacting with.

Why is Customer Success Becoming a Necessity?

Customer success is a major buzzword among SaaS and tech companies as a whole. This new mentality revolves around the idea that businesses should take a hands-on approach with their customers.

Having a reliable success team in place can improve the relationship with your clients for many reasons. Remember that most customers never meet their SaaS provider in person. Your success agents work as the first point of call, but they are also the voice of your brand.

At the same time, not all users find software intuitive. Your success agents can usher your clients and introduce them to all the features your platform has available. They can receive assistance over the phone, via email, or even through a specific knowledge base article.

With a successful team, you can make sure customers are using your products and getting the most out of them. And, you’ll be able to monitor their performance and identify certain behavioural patterns as well.

Examples of Companies that Deliver Outstanding Customer Support

There are many SaaS businesses that are known for delivering stellar support. Some great examples include:

Chargify

Chargify is a recurring billing software. It’s an awesome tool for organisations that rely on subscriptions. And, the company is also known for delivering a great experience through a dedicated success team. They focus on identifying customers who are at risk of cancelling the service. Then, the success agents work with clients to find effective solutions to their challenges. In some cases, it may even lead to an upsell and a customer that’s more satisfied with his or her service.

MailChimp

This popular email automation platform is also a great example of SaaS customer support. And, the best part is that they manage to onboard and familiarise customers through a series of automated emails. Which, in turn, saves them valuable resources without sacrificing customer experience.

Basecamp

Basecamp has earned a reputation for delivering excellent service that verges on perfect. Unlike most customer support leaders, they don’t provide 24/7 support and focus only on a couple of channels. But, what they lack in availability they make up in quality. Basecamp boasts of a dedicated support team that is knowledgeable and efficient. And, their team actively collects feedback to make improvements to the platform.

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5 Tips to Improve the Quality of Your Customer Support

The definition of a great experience will vary depending on your industry and, of course, your clients. Companies can use software for a variety of applications. And, the more complex the application, the more assistance your clients will require.

Here are some tips that will help you provide quality assistance to your clients.

Measure the Right Statistics

Most companies keep track of their customer support metrics. Likewise, you should establish goals and monitor your success team. But, you have to make sure you identify the statistics that give you a true idea of how they a both performing.

Some metrics you may find useful include, but are not limited to:

Churn rate
Customer retention costs
Monthly recurring revenue
Customer acquisition costs
Average revenue per account
Customer lifetime value

Cultivate a Knowledgeable Team

One of the best ways to show customers you value them is by respecting their time. And, having a knowledgeable team can translate to fast and accurate services.

Cultivating a savvy team may take time, it can improve your company’s internal operation. Plus, you can always ease the transition by setting up a knowledge base.

A knowledge base is a repository or collection of company resources. Having a platform like Document360 can help improve internal communications. And, it can also yield a knowledgeable team that provides swift service.

Deliver Multi-Platform Support

Today, B2B customers are starting to turn to alternative platforms to contact their providers. Social media and live chat are among the most popular channels. That said, many still prefer phone and email support as well.

Keep in mind that delivering multi-platform support is not enough. You also need to make sure that the service is consistent across all channels. If not, you’ll end up with a confused client base that may be likely to migrate elsewhere.

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Design a Scalable Support Structure

SaaS companies can grow unpredictably, especially during certain seasons. Therefore, you should ensure that you’re prepared to handle surges in support requests. Long hold times can have a devastating effect on any SaaS business. Even well-established platforms can lose customers if they handle their question on time.

One option to creating a model that’s scalable by nature is by offering a variety of communication channels. You’ll be able to spread the workload across different sectors, but consistency should remain a priority.

Implement a Customer-Centric Mentality

A large portion of SaaS companies fails to provide a good experience because they have a product-centric approach. On the contrary, keeping customers at the centre of your operation will encourage your support team to find effective solutions.

There is no exact formula for establishing a customer-centric approach. With this in mind, you may want to start by surveying your team and asking how they handle customer interactions. This will give you an idea of what areas need improving and give you a chance to ensure all your team members are on the same page.

Building a Reliable SaaS Customer Support Department

Customer support is the heart and soul of any SaaS business. Without assistance, a large portion of your customers would struggle with your product. But, many software companies fail to deliver great support, especially at crucial times.

The tips above should help you analyse and improve the quality of your SaaS customer support. You just have to ensure that your success and support teams are both on the same page. And, remember to always strive to create a delightful experience that yields a happy client base.

The post What Is SaaS Customer Support? appeared first on Document360.

How to Measure SaaS Customer Success

Tom Hooker — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 14:33:51 +0000

The probability of converting existing customers is as high as 70%. On the contrary, the chances of reeling in a new client are as low as 5%. Both of these statistics suggest that SaaS companies should ensure they’re delighting their current customers. Yet, only 23% of B2B companies have a customer-centric approach.

Ensuring that your customers are using your products to get positive results is extremely important. Some experts believe that by the year 2020, customer experience will be more important than the price of your products. In other words, making sure your clients are successful will ultimately have a positive impact on your company.

That said, learning how to measure the success of your customer is not always easy. This article will briefly define customer success and mention some of its benefits. We’ll then discuss ways to measure customer success and help you track how your product is being used.

What is Customer Success?

SaaS customer success can be defined in many ways. In essence, it’s a culture or philosophy that revolves around your customers and ensuring they are getting the most out of your product. Through customer success, you guarantee that your clients are actually using your products and see the benefits they offer.

This means appointing a team that is responsible for the success of your customers as well as managing communications with them. Your SaaS customer success team needs to make sure that your clients take advantage of your product and provide support if this is not the case.

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The Importance of Measuring SaaS Customer Success

74% of customers that receive a good experience are likely to keep their subscription for at least 1 year. Ensuring that your clients use your product to get a positive outcome will entice them to keep your services. This can translate to financial stability and higher revenue for your company. And, it can open up an opportunity to upsell add-ons and additional products as well.

How to Measure Customer Success in a SaaS Company

50% of the companies that have a customer success team view it as a separate department. But, measuring customer success is not always straightforward. The metrics that define customer success can vary from one SaaS provider to the next.

With this in mind, there is a set of SaaS customer success metrics that may help paint a better picture regardless of your industry.

Learning how to identify and measure these can help optimise your success department. At the same time, it will also improve the chances of delivering great customer support and creating a positive experience for your clients.

Churn Rate

The churn rate can be defined as the percentage of clients that cancel their service each month. And, needless to say, high cancellation rates should raise a red flag.

There are many reasons that may cause high churn rates. You should have the retention team survey customer as to why they are canceling their service. Then, look at the feedback you receive and implement changes to entice your clients to stay.

One of the best ways to delight your customers is by delivering fast and accurate information. After all, 66% of people believe that companies can provide a great online experience by simply valuing their time. And, deploying a knowledge base can help you do so from several points of view.

For instance, opting for a platform like Document360 allows you to create knowledge bases for internal and external purposes. In simple terms, a knowledge base is a repository of company resources that contain information about your product. Knowledge bases can include details related to your SaaS features and should serve as the first point of call for any product-related questions.

By setting up an internal knowledge base, your team will be able to access information in an efficient manner. This can also improve internal communications and reduce hold time across the board. External-facing knowledge bases provide a self-serve option for your customers. They’ll be able to access information on their own time. Plus, your clients won’t have to queue to get the information they need, which will show them that you value their time.

Sessions per Day

As the name suggests, sessions per day are the number of times your clients access your platform daily. It gives you a raw representation of how much your product is being used.

That said, remember that this may vary according to your platform. Some types of software are designed for daily use. CRMs and sales platforms are great examples. Other SaaS products are used more sporadically. Tools like simple accounting software fall into this category.

If the sessions per day are particularly low for a client, it may be a great chance for your success team to touch base and offer assistance.

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Monthly Onboarding Rate

Most companies already track their sales every month. By starting to measure the monthly onboarding rate, you’ll know what clients have actually adopted your product.

Onboarding is the process of familiarising your clients with your platform and its features. But, instead of having a quick call, you should create a trackable onboarding process. It should have measurable milestones that tell you the extent to which your product is being used.

Keep in mind that the onboarding process shouldn’t be handled by your SaaS customer support team. In contrast, your success agents should reach out proactively. They should teach your customers all the ins-and-outs to make sure they see the value of your product.

Monthly Active Users

By the time you finish onboarding a customer, and depending on your product, you may know how many employees they have. You can measure the growth rate of each client by tracking the number of monthly active users on their account.

This will give you a clear idea of how good your customers are doing. If the number of monthly active users goes up, you can assume their company is growing. If you notice the number is going down, it may be time to step in and provide solutions for your client.

You can also take the chance to upsell your customers or teach them how to use the features that may help them out.

Account Expansion and Contraction

The expansion and contraction metrics measure the additional services that were added or removed from an account. Account expansion means that the customer is adding more paid features. And, as you can imagine, contraction means that the additional features are being cancelled.

Your success agents should check in with your clients whenever they notice a contraction. By showing them how to use the features properly, your agents may be able to turn a contraction into an expansion opportunity.

Additionally, you can use a knowledge base to help collect information directly from your customers. Have your team create a variety of articles that cover the additional features you offer. At the bottom of each post, you can add a question saying “was this article helpful?”.

Include two simple thumbs up and thumbs down buttons to collect feedback from the client. You can also place an optional text box where your customers can elaborate if they want to.

Net Promoter Score

The net promoter score (NPS) shows the percentage of customers that would recommend your service. You can calculate this number by running a survey on your current clients. The folks who would not recommend your service are detractors. Promoters, on the other hand, are the clients who would recommend your service.

By subtracting the detractors from the promoters, you will get your NPS. If you notice that you have a low NPS, you should start by implementing SaaS customer support best practices or using referrer schemes. And, you should also reach out to detractors and figure out why they have a negative perception.

Referrals

Referrals are the number of new clients you get from recommendations. Many companies already measure the number of referrals they receive. But, not many realise that it’s a great way to measure the success of your customers.

Keep in mind that referrals are closely linked to NPS. The more successful your customers are, the higher the chances of getting a referral off them. If you don’t have any referrals, you should have your success agents check with your customers.

You can start off by asking NPS-related questions. If you get a positive response, you can encourage your customers to tell their peers and partners about your platform.

In some cases, you may even offer incentives to your clients. But, you don’t want these to be the only reason for the referral!

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Free Trial to Paying Customer Conversions

Similarly to sales, most SaaS companies already track the number of free trials they acquire every month. Unfortunately, this doesn’t necessarily tell you how many of these clients find value in your product.

Measuring the percentage of prospects that go from a free trial to a paying account each month is a great way to track customer success. The vast majority of startups and mid-size SaaS companies try to cut costs wherever possible. So, if these businesses are willing to invest in using your platform, they definitely believe it can lead them to success.

Make sure you pay special attention to these customers. If you play your cards right, they will also help you improve your NPS. And, you can even get referrals and valuable feedback from them as well.

Customer Health Score

Last, but certainly not least, comes the customer health score or CHS. This metric works as a holistic representation of your customer’s success. But, keep in mind that there is no set standard for measuring customer health score.

CHS is a collection of relevant statistics that give a wholesome idea of how well your customers are doing. It can also tell you how much they use your platform. But, because all companies are different, each enterprise needs to create its own set of metrics that make up the CHS.

In most companies, the customer health score includes both usage and satisfaction statistics. Not to mention the fact that some businesses even have multiple CHS models for different purposes. Some can use it to predict churn, while others to identify upselling opportunities.

Start Measuring the Success of Your SaaS Company Today!

Although customer success is a new concept, it’s quickly proving to be an effective way to benefit your company and your clients.

By focusing on the success of your customers, you can grow your business along with your clients’ ventures. You’ll also be able to increase revenue while improving the perception that your clients have of your company. This, in turn, may allow you to create a better product and yield happy customers.

The metrics above should help you measure the success of your customers. Statistics like churn can help you identify the need for additional tools. And, by implementing knowledge bases and other features, you can pave the way for your customer’s success.

The post How to Measure SaaS Customer Success appeared first on Document360.

5 Ways Your SaaS Customer Support Team Can Save Time

Tom Hooker — Fri, 28 Dec 2018 11:30:13 +0000

It’s common to find SaaS companies working tirelessly to deliver awesome customer service and increase efficiency at the same time. Needless to say, running a support department is a hefty investment, so your team needs to be efficient without compromising the quality of your service.

Surprisingly enough, more than 65% of adults think that the best way a company can deliver great customer support is by valuing their time. This means that both companies and consumers are looking to spend less time communicating and more time getting things done.

Let’s take a look at some effective ways you can help your SaaS customer support team become more efficient and save time on a daily basis.

What Defines Great SaaS Customer Support?

Before learning how to improve your team’s efficiency, it’s critical to understand the importance of great customer support. Delivering poor customer service can be a costly mistake that will likely translate into higher churn rate, so you can’t increase efficiency in exchange for lower quality.

The key is to give your customer a great experience in less time. But, the problem is that many SaaS companies invest in providing better service without improving what really matters to their customers.

Besides fast answers, consumers also want convenience, a friendly service, and consistency throughout your entire company.

5 Ways Your Customer Support Team Can Save Time

Your SaaS customer support team is a vital part of your operation because they serve as the first point of contact with your client base. Customer service agents help troubleshoot issues, educate consumers, and identify problems that need a technical solution.

But, you also need to support your team but giving them the tools they need to deliver effective solutions in a timely manner. This will help them stay focused, maintain a positive attitude with customers, and empower them to turn a problem into a positive experience.

Plus, solving issues in an efficient manner may even reduce your team’s workload and give them a chance to grow their professional careers.

Let’s take a look at some of the most effective ways to help your customer service team save time.

Set Up Goals and a Reward System

Organisations that provide great customer service have 1.5 times as many interested and motivated employees than companies that don’t deliver a great experience.

You can create a set of goals and provide incentives based on these objectives to help motivate your team members. Furthermore, you need to provide growth opportunities for your best performers and allow them to flourish within your SaaS business.

ADVANTAGES

The benefit of setting objectives and rewarding the top performers is pretty simple: encourage your team members to try harder. Office employees spend countless hours distracted, so giving them a stimulant will help your agents stay concentrated on the tasks at hand.

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HOW TO SET UP GOALS AND REWARDS

The first thing you need to do is to benchmark your current performance. This will help you set your first objectives and track each employee’s individual output as well as the overall team performance.

Next, you can survey your team and find out what type of incentives they would like to see. While financial bonuses are always welcomed, you can also find other creative rewards like sporting events tickets, healthy in-office snacks, or even luxury car rentals to spice things up.

Whenever there’s an opening for a new role, prioritise applicants that are well-suited and have stellar metrics as well.

Support Multiple Channels

Thanks to the widespread of the internet, consumers can request information through a myriad of channels. These include email, live chat, social media, and self-learning centres. Supporting a variety of communication channels can release some of the pressure off your customer support team because you’ll avoid funnelling all your queries to one queue.

ADVANTAGES

Having a variety of channels will let you break down your support team into smaller cores. Instead of having all of your agents receiving phone calls, having separate teams will allow them to use templates and other tools that help increase efficiency.

If done properly, this can help reduce hold times and streamline your internal processes as well.

HOW TO LAUNCH MULTI-CHANNEL SUPPORT

One of the complicated parts of implementing multi-channel support is figuring what platforms you should use. Email and phone are by far the most common channels, but you should check with your current customers and find out what methods they think work best.

At the same time, you can look at trends for your specific industry before making the final call. Remember, removing a channel after it’s been launched will look bad in the eyes of your customers, so you’ll want to make each selection very carefully.

Once your contact channels are up and running, post them on your site as well as your social media platforms. Inform your entire team and encourage them to introduce customers to your new support channels in order to test to their efficacy.

Categorise Your Support Team

Smaller organisations may be able to take an “all hands on deck” approach successfully. Yet, medium and large SaaS companies can benefit more from dividing their support team into different categories.

The categories you create will depend on your industry and product, but some common examples include:

Implementation and Onboarding
Account Management & General Questions
Technical Support
Retentions
Complaints and Investigations
Customer Success and Relationship Management

A number of successful companies are now setting up SaaS customer success teams that teach clients how to use their new purchase effectively. Customer success teams are usually in charge of introducing clients to the features on your platform and making sure they use them properly.

Besides monitoring, guiding, and assisting each client, the customer success team members can also identify possible upselling opportunities.

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ADVANTAGES

The biggest advantage of dividing your team is having truly specialised agents that take less time to answer complicated questions. While all of your employees should have a similar basic training, deploying specialised departments can encourage your staff to become masters at their trade.

And, as long as you route each inquiry correctly, you’ll spread the workload among your entire team in a more sustainable way.

HOW TO CATEGORISE YOUR SUPPORT TEAM

For starters, you’ll need to identify the different categories you need to create. You can do so by requesting feedback from your current customers, asking your team members, and checking your company inbox for the most frequent tags.

Then, you’ll need to group the issues and questions based on the type of inquiry or the skills needed to solve them. After identifying the categories, train your team accordingly and create a sustainable communication network among all departments.

Provide Powerful Tools that Help Your Customers

Be it a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system or another type of platform, all companies have a central dashboard that they use to view and administer their clients’ information.

But, unfortunately, not all CRMs are created equal. You’ll have to make sure you furnish your team with a robust platform that allows them to deliver top-notch service. You also have provided a safe environment and that your employees can help customers without having unnecessary access to their sensitive information.

ADVANTAGES

There’s nothing more frustrating than contacting a SaaS company for a technical issue that they can’t solve. While it does happen to even the biggest providers, having a powerful CRM that updates regularly and doesn’t lag will help ensure fast service every time.

HOW TO PROVIDE THE RIGHT TOOLS

In many cases, the only ones able to identify shortcomings in the tools you use are the support team. So, you’ll need to start by asking them which of the challenges they face may be due to the tools you currently have in place.

More often than not, you can corroborate these issues through testing or monitoring. Once you’ve verified the issues, work on developing or acquiring new platforms that provide solutions for current and future obstacles.

Deploy a Knowledge Base Software

Creating a knowledge base is an extremely effective way to save your team a significant time. In a nutshell, a knowledge base is a collection of company resources that your support team can turn to whenever they have any questions.

ADVANTAGES

Knowledge bases can be deployed for internal purposes and as customer-facing tools, both of which have different advantages.

Developing a knowledge base for your customer will give them the ability to find solutions without having to contact your support team at all. On the other hand, internal knowledge bases can help your employees find the information they need through one single platform, reducing search time by as much as 35%. This, in turn, can also help reduce hold times by a large margin.

How to Deploy a Knowledge Base

Knowledge bases can be useful in a variety of scenarios, but you should find the most common instances where your company can benefit from them. Next, you have to set up an internal knowledge base team that will be in charge of creating and uploading content.

You’ll also have to find a solid knowledge base that has all the collaboration and safety features your company needs. Standalone platforms like Document360 usually make the best choice thanks to the number of dedicated features they offer.

Document360 provides a series of collaboration features that include commenting on each individual article and the ability to highlight important information. The knowledge base also allows you to assign different roles and can support thousands of files in a variety of formats, which means it can grow with your company.

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Finally, your team should develop a content creation calendar and optimise the different pieces every-so-often.

Improving Your Customer Support Team’s Efficiency

Improving your customer support team’s efficiency and saving them time can have a huge impact throughout your entire organisation. Besides keeping your team motivated, it can also improve customer satisfaction and empower your employees to confidently handle any situation that comes their way.

By supporting multiple channels, dividing your support department, and giving them powerful tools you’ll increase the chances of delivering spectacular service every time.

Additionally, a knowledge base can help cultivate a skilful team and an informed customer base that work together to find solutions quickly.

Also Read: What is Knowledge Centered Service (KCS): Complete Guide

The post 5 Ways Your SaaS Customer Support Team Can Save Time appeared first on Document360.

Tom Hooker, Author at Document360

Why Customer Service Skills are critical to your business success in 2019

Competition is increasing

Customers are louder than ever and will make bad experiences public

Customer expectations are growing

Customer service is becoming a key brand differentiator

Customers are moving away from products to ongoing services

Customers want to help themselves

The Role of Customer Service in the Digital World

Digital evolution and its impact on customer service

The modern buying experience

What do good digital customer service skills look like?

Be responsive to your customers

Offer a diverse range of contact channels

Develop Omni-channel communication capabilities

Adopt a Knowledge Base to help customer help themselves

How Knowledge Management Reduces Your Service Costs

Contents:

Benefits of Effective Knowledge Management

How Knowledge Management Can Reduce Your Service Expenses

Allow Knowledgeable Employees to Reclaim Their Workday

Reduce Employee Churn

Avoid Recreating Resources that Exist Already

Cut Research Time

Lower the Frequency of Costly Mistakes

Develop Standard Workflows and Processes

Yield More Satisfied Customers

Result in Faster Training and Onboarding

Avoid Hiring External Consultants

Implementing Effective Knowledge Management in Your Organisation

How Knowledge Management Can Help You and Your Customers

Contents:

The Importance of Knowledge Management in Large Companies

Analysing the Four Keys to Effective Knowledge Management

Content Management

Expertise Location

Lessons Learned

Communities of Practice or CoPs

How Knowledge Management Can Help You and Your Customers

Improve Communication and Collaboration Across the Board

Develop a Better Approach to Customer Acquisition

Empower Team Members and Customers to Solve Complex Problems

Reduce the Amount of Time Spent Searching for Information

Help Establish a Customer-First Culture

Avoid Wasting Resources on Creating Materials that Already Exist

Lower Churn and Increase Retention Rates

Implementing Knowledge Management in Your Company

Top 9 Document Collaboration tools for Growing Teams

Table of Contents

Introduction

What is Document Collaboration Software?

Significance of Document Collaboration in Business

Track your team’s workflow

Improve productivity

Empower employees with information

Provide faster feedback and quick decision making

Open communication with teams

Encourage employee involvement

Supports remote working easily

Eliminate organizational silos

Features To Look For In Any Document Collaboration Tool

Real-time editor

Autosave

Versioning

Commenting and feedback options

Cloud Storage and sharing

Tag a team member

Ability to organize files and add tags

Tracking changes and notification

Integrations and extensions

Top 9 Document Collaboration Software

1. Document360

2. Zoho WorkDrive

3. Google Docs

4. Dropbox Paper

5. Microsoft Word

6. ClickUp

7. Monday.com

8. Confluence

9. Notion