A customer support (CS) process will vary depending on the product, company culture, and part of the CS agent’s personality.
A CS process is considered effective when: Within the time limit, we handle as many requests as possible while ensuring that there is no abandoned customer.
In the long term, effective CS process will
- increase sales
- increase the number of 5-star reviews
- reduce refund requests
- reduce bugs reported by the customers
Below is how I have done on a daily basic to achieve it.
CS Agent’s Daily Plan
- Review & Identify the request type
- Set priority
- Critical bugs
- Pre-sale questions
- Cross-sell questions
- Troubleshoot the issue
- Review release plan & new feature requests
- Follow up
- Update documentation
- React to new issues 😀
Customers do not have a plan. They come suddenly and spontaneously. You never know how a day will pass.
But as a CS agent, you must to have a plan, whether it’s for a day, a week or a month.
You need to keep track regularly, anticipate the new issues and plan for what might happen.
That’s why, in every working day, I make time for things that weren’t planned and make it a part of my job. So that no matter what problems arise, I will still make sure the work goes smoothly and no customers are left behind.
Process to Handle a Typical Request
Should we handle a request not related to our product?
Sometimes a customer might come and ask you something that is not related to your product directly. They might be your potential customers or not.
As an exemplary CS agent, you should solve the customer’s problem instead of trying to sell the product.
That said, you need to create a clear line about what you can or can’t support. Friendly but firmly.