"In my opinion," or how to organize professional technical support

    We continue a series of posts from the category of "sharing experience." Today we’ll tell you about a place that is painful for many web services, but without exaggeration, not with us — technical user support.

    There are always a lot of questions, complaints and suggestions, therefore TeamLab has several support channels at once, including interactive ones: user voice form, email calls, user feedback page, online chat, TeamLab accounts on social networks, and help: Help Center, FAQ and blog.



    Where to write more

    So, the user can contact TeamLab support not only by e-mail, but also using the Feedback & Support form, which is called from any page of the portal. In addition to requests and suggestions, you can also go to help articles from the form window and search for the necessary information yourself.

    The diagram below shows the summary data on calls to the TeamLab support system.



    As we can see, 67% of requests were sent by email, and 33% through the Feedback & Support form. 18% of users who used the form found the answer to their question in the articles and did not send a message to the support service. This, of course, only works with the most frequently asked and simple questions. Unfortunately, it is impossible to foresee and describe all the issues in the articles.

    It should be noted that most of the users traditionally prefer email. One can only guess about the reasons for this, because it would seem that it’s much more convenient and faster to contact via a form, but apparently, a mail request still seems to them much more reliable.

    What "hurts" users

    Top calls (as, probably, for almost any other product) are always questions from beginners by type:

    • how do I register / get a password;
    • where can I find instructions;
    • What are the minimum system requirements supported by the browser and device;
    • ... and when will the salary be?

    Yes, yes, do not be surprised, it happens. On any portal there is a link to support, and periodically support specialists receive letters from users who, clicking on this link, think that they are sending a message to their administrator.

    Vote, otherwise you will lose

    The page of suggestions / ideas / wishes, where each visitor can post a new idea or vote for existing ones is an inexhaustible source of useful information for us. The most popular offers section for the Projects module . Let's go through the first five queries at the moment:

    • Gantt Chart - 538 votes
    • Appointment of several responsible for one task - 487 votes
    • Subtasks - 385 votes
    • Related tasks - 205 votes
    • Priorities of tasks - 199 votes

    We are pleased to announce that three requests, namely: the appointment of several responsible, subtasks and priorities, will be completely closed already in the next issue of the new “Projects” . As for the Gantt chart and task dependencies, this functionality is still at the design stage, because it is closely connected with all components of the module, and its introduction should not violate the integrity and simplicity of the whole solution, not to mention the significant resources that are required for implementation.

    Help Center

    All documentation of the TeamLab Help Center is divided into getting started - general descriptions of modules and additions, the basics of user and administrator work, user and admin guides - step-by-step instructions for performing one specific task, tips and tricks - useful little things that you just won’t find, but they can simplify life on the portal, as well as video instructions (so far only in English).

    Recently added guides, articles and videos created by our users - a full multilingual section .

    There are more and more elements of interactivity. Previously, users could vote whether the documentation came in handy, and the vast majority always answered positively, but it was not always clear what the discontented minority did not like. Now users can leave a comment if something is unclear and requires clarification.

    Peculiarities of the National Hunt

    TeamLab support is provided by our specialists in English, German, French, Russian, Spanish and Italian. Support experts know from their own experience which national stereotypes are fully true and which are an exaggeration. Here are briefly the distinguishing features of users from different countries.

    German speaking users . They are characterized by quite informative, polite, unemotional messages that are convenient to process and pleasant to read. As one of our support employees says, "there is no better exercise in logic than correspondence with a German."

    French speaking users. Polite and at the same time quite restrained form of treatment. But at the same time they are very meticulous, require more attention to themselves and are moody. Although, if the user receives a long-awaited solution to the problem, then emotions can overwhelm him and he can show what his eloquence is capable of. The use of English should be avoided, since they really do not like it.

    Italogiruyushchie users . More focused on making personal contacts. Even in a more or less official correspondence, the Italian will first of all try to establish human relations, by all means calling you by name and turning to “you”. An Italian letter to support will be long and often emotional, but he will not understand the deep technical difficulties if this is not necessary.

    Russian-speaking users . There are both quite civilized and adequate, as well as those who, it seems, have no idea about the norms of official communication. Perhaps the lack of experience in formal correspondence is affecting. They can rush to extremes: they either familiarize themselves or write in such a non-humanly high-flattering syllable that it is extremely difficult to understand the problem.

    Instead of a conclusion

    Although competently organizing technical support is not an easy task, which proves the negative experience of many modern companies, with successful practice all the costs will be paid back to you twice. After all, a good and multi-channel support is the best word of mouth and guarantee of user confidence. Yes, and for the sake of such reviews, I want to work further with enthusiasm:

    - “Teamlab has a full collaboration of applications for every company big or small! The support is top notch, the guides are brilliant! ”

    -“ Great show of customer support to not only respond but also work on the problem ”

    “Especially impressive is the design and thoughtfulness of the interfaces, and of course the technical stuffing. Your designers and programmers are simply gods! Respect to them and respect :-) It is very nice that you are responding in such a detailed way to letters from users, even those who are not yet “premium”.

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