23 Feb 5 Easy Tips for Improving IT Customer Support

Customer support is a foundational element of your business. A healthy customer support pillar translates to brand strength and improved client relationships. Nowhere is that more important than in IT troubleshooting and tech assistance. Since IT is a large, complex field, your organization will face questions and concerns regarding tech support issues.

If your business hands IT customer support, troubleshooting, or other forms of general tech assistance, it’s important to handle customer concerns with care. So, we’ve assembled a quick handful of tips to quickly improve and refine your approach to IT customer support.

We’ll focus these tips on general questions and concerns. Advanced inquiries are best pushed to your IT teams for further support and assistance.

If you haven’t tried these techniques yet, now is a good time to start. Even if you have, brushing up on the fundamentals never hurts either!

Tip 1 – Utilizing Empathetic Language

Any problem, especially tech-related, causes frustration and stress. When customers look for support, whether on call or in person, they’re in a stressed state. Anxiety, frustration, and anger are common things you can expect when handling customer IT support problems. It’s not always the case, but something you should expect.

Therefore, remember to use empathetic language and show sympathy to the person dealing with the IT problem. Never react with anger or engage in hostile language with the user (no matter how tempting it might be). Remember that the customer is frustrated with their current IT problem and may lash out at the support agent.

Thus, empathetic language is an important support tool. “I understand,” or “I’m sorry you’re dealing with that,” are good ways to console the user. It’s also important to emphasize you’re ready to help and want to help the user(s) fix their IT problem. Active listening and positive language can quickly turn a negative call or customer support.

Tip 2 – Note, Document, and Record

If not already, you should always record critical notes and information about the user’s problem (or problems). This creates a support ticket and makes a “snapshot” of the issues a customer is currently dealing with.

This is beneficial for several reasons. First, it may be necessary to escalate the support case to another IT specialist. But without helpful notes said specialist will not know the extent of the customer’s tech support problem. Furthermore, if the customer needs to return to the support ticket at a later time (or other difficulties cause disruption during the call/conversation), the notes you take will provide historical information so you can get back on track without the customer repeating the same issue(s).

Tip 3 – Know Services, Know Options

It sounds redundant, but it’s vitally important to know the types of services your company offers, especially if it’s rooted in IT support. Understanding these toolsets allows you to provide the right answers when working to resolve a support ticket. Intimate knowledge of services you or your company offers can lead to faster problem resolution, or, point the customer(s) to the right team who can better assist them.

However, if you don’t have this knowledge or understand the framework of your enterprise, you can provide ineffective solutions. Worse, it can lengthen the problem and cause further issues, costing everyone involved time and money.

Tip 4 – Utilize Remote Resources

These days, IT support and troubleshooting are managed online via remote resources. This takes a lot of guesswork out of IT assistance since you won’t need to explain every facet of troubleshooting. Some clients and customers will not have the same familiarity with software, operating systems, and general computer use.

Therefore, if not already, you’ll want the infrastructure to support remote support services. An example is a software toolset allowing you to directly connect to a client’s system. This will give you remote access to their computer. You can visually guide the customer on a resolution path. Doing so proves effective, versus dictating what a customer/client should do over a call. While remote support is not always possible, they’re a great alternative to traditional methods of customer assistance.

Tip 5 – Take Advantage of Automation

Finally, don’t forget to take advantage of automated processes and services if available. Automated troubleshooting, like QA bots, can streamline IT support. It doesn’t mean that a client will not interact with a person. However, automated functions can eliminate redundancies and questions that do not always require IT support intervention.

Automated processes like automatic email follow-ups, ticket creation, and history creation are a handful of simple examples that can expedite the entire IT support process.

Conclusion

These simple but effective IT support tips can enhance your entire approach to offering quality, effective tech support solutions.

However, if you’re still encountering difficulties with IT issues, sometimes even the helpers need help. For more information, contact Bytagig today.