It doesn’t really matter where you respond to a customer question if it’s only seen by the customer.
That’s the problem with one to one support. Answering questions via a ticket system, email, phone, or social media doesn’t reduce the number of questions you get. Each question will typically only be seen by the person who asked the question.
But a hosted community is a game-changer. A single good response to a question might be seen by hundreds, even thousands, of visitors.
In times like these, where the number of questions is rising and the ability to provide one to one support is declining, you need to drive your customers to the community first.
Your support teams should aim to tackle the toughest questions only. The community should tackle the rest.
Look at the journey customers take to seek help and insert your community into that journey.
For example:
- When your customers are on hold, they should receive a message inviting them to try the community first.
- As customers are filing a support ticket, they should try asking in the community first.
- As customers visit the contact section of your website, they’re informed to try the community first.
Fitbit (below) has the right idea.
Click here for full image
(alas, this would work better as a pop-up and a clickable link).
You have an incredible opportunity right now to definitively prove the value of a community against any other channel.
Your organisation (and your customers) need your community now more than ever.
Connect with your support team and start looking at embedding your community into the support journey your members take.