Providing Support For Your Website
If your business recently launched a new website — or added a feature to an old one — there is a learning curve while your customers adjust to the new interface. As the website owner, providing the needed assistance can ensure that your customers’ experience with your business is a positive one. From our experience designing and developing advanced websites, we’ve come up with some pointers to help you troubleshoot issues that your customers and staff encounter while using your website.
Know your own site.
It may sound obvious, but the best way to teach your customers about your product is to understand it yourself. Whether you’ve just launched a completely new site or are training a new employee on an existing one, this self-training is vital. That way, when a customer calls needing help, you’ll know exactly where to start.
Foresee issues.
This one is particularly important when switching your customers over to a completely new site, as most people are resistant to change. Take note of the things that will be changing and warn your users ahead of time. Even with small changes, we recommend announcing it before launch with a post on your blog or newsletter to avoid surprises. For example, we recently added a file attachment tool to our management app and portal. Although a minor change, we alerted our clients beforehand and provided instructions on how to use the tool.
Know your own site.
It may sound obvious, but the best way to teach your customers about your product is to understand it yourself. Whether you’ve just launched a completely new site or are training a new employee on an existing one, this self-training is vital. That way, when a customer calls needing help, you’ll know exactly where to start.
Foresee issues.
This one is particularly important when switching your customers over to a completely new site, as most people are resistant to change. Take note of the things that will be changing and warn your users ahead of time. Even with small changes, we recommend announcing it before launch with a post on your blog or newsletter to avoid surprises. For example, we recently added a file attachment tool to our management app and portal. Although a minor change, we alerted our clients beforehand and provided instructions on how to use the tool.
Provide help resources online.
Support articles or videos can provide the troubleshooting help many need and reduce time-consuming phone calls to your office. If your site is particularly complex, consider a support section, or frequently asked questions (FAQ) page. You may even consider live chat on your site, a feature that has proven to increase conversion rates and save employee time.
Solicit feedback.
Engage your customers by asking for feedback! People like to have their opinions heard and the reviews on your company's Google+, Facebook and Yelp accounts can positively affect your search ranking. Feedback also gives you the opportunity to improve your services and communicate with your customers.
When your company owns a website, it is your responsibility to make sure it is user-friendly for your customers and to troubleshoot any issues when they arise. We hope we’ve armed you with a useful outline for mitigating common problems. If you would like help adding Support Resources, an FAQ section, or writing troubleshooting guides, we’d be happy to help you.
Support articles or videos can provide the troubleshooting help many need and reduce time-consuming phone calls to your office. If your site is particularly complex, consider a support section, or frequently asked questions (FAQ) page. You may even consider live chat on your site, a feature that has proven to increase conversion rates and save employee time.
Solicit feedback.
Engage your customers by asking for feedback! People like to have their opinions heard and the reviews on your company's Google+, Facebook and Yelp accounts can positively affect your search ranking. Feedback also gives you the opportunity to improve your services and communicate with your customers.
When your company owns a website, it is your responsibility to make sure it is user-friendly for your customers and to troubleshoot any issues when they arise. We hope we’ve armed you with a useful outline for mitigating common problems. If you would like help adding Support Resources, an FAQ section, or writing troubleshooting guides, we’d be happy to help you.
About Mira Brody
Mira Brody is an editor, writer, and marketing expert with 12+ years of experience. She has worked as a local news reporter, a writer/editor, and as a leader in large-scale branding strategy. Mira worked at JTech as the staff writer and editor for internal and client projects from March 2015 to December 2019.
More articles by Mira: The Pastas of Programming | The Good, Bad and Ugly of Company Slogans | Note Taking Improves Workplace Skills