Provide support even when not asked for

We all know that customer support is extremely important. No solution is completely fool-proof and no product is completely error-free.

Customer support is a key interface that customers will have with you and your company.

We also all know that one upset customer can be devastating to your brand as angry customers will spread their dissatisfaction exponentially more than happy customers spread their satisfaction.

Don't wait to be asked to provide support

A lot of us have been tech for a while and are likely familiar with Managed Service Providers (MSP). An example of an MSP is a Wireless LAN MSP that sets up and maintains your company's wireless network.

The best WLAN MSPs know that they have to provide reports and constantly monitor for issues and bring observed issues to their customers before the customer either realizes that there is an issue or before they ask for assistance.

MSPs that wait for their customers to come to them, even when their services may overall be better, tend to fail because of the perception of failure associated with silence during issues. Even when the issues are due to the customer and have nothing to do with the MSP's service.

With our products, we must seek out issues to fix. To inform. To mitigate. To learn from. To delight.

Set up alerts and act

Define areas that can break that would impact your customers experience with your product or service.

When you are alerted - try to AVOID ignoring them as noise. Make the effort to reach out and try to help.

The customer may no always respond, but if they do; you'll likely learn something.

Plus, let's face it. A lot of us are proud and often refuse to ask for help. But, if asked, many will gladly accept it. Assume all of your users are the same way.

At Cleavr we have internal alerts set across several key paths. If an alert comes up, we reach out. Sometimes, we find bugs. Sometimes, it's a user error.

Either way, what we learn from it we put into action. If it's a bug, we fix it. If it's a user error, we look at ways to trigger warnings for the user, or point them to resources to help them resolve issues, or, best yet, enhance our product to make it work.

Don't let your users swim in a pool of frustration when using your service. Be proactive. Actively seek out issues to fix.