What is good customer support?

Whether retail or wholesale, a startup or a fortune 500 company, good customer support is dictated by the "experience" the customer has in buying goods or services. This experience spans from the time the customer engages with the company till the time they buy and use it. It also includes the kind of support offered after the purchase or after the contract has been signed.

What are the components of this customer experience?

Did they find the product or service they were looking for?
It could be as simple as traversing a website, going through a catalog or live people demonstrating the product to a potential customer. This process should be simple to understand and digest by the customer.

Differentiation vs. competition?
Do your unique advantages come across clearly to the potential customer. How does it stack up against the customer. Is it "me too"? Customers like differentiated products. It tells them whether it can get their job done or not.

Were their questions answered satisfactorily?
During the pre-sales cycle customers ask lots of questions and are curious. Nothing throws off a potential customer than unsatisfactorily answered questions. Make an effort to answer customer questions - no matter how trivial. Validate with them that their question has been answered.

Did it meet their needs? Functionality, price, color, look and feel?
Selling is nothing but a vision match between customer needs and what the product offers.
Every customer is unique and has unique requirements - some tangible and some intangible.
Make sure during pre-sales support you address these needs. You can also influence some, not all of these needs.

Was the process they had to traverse to buy the product or service straightforward?
Nothing ticks off a customer more than a cumbersome pre-sales cycle. Value customer time and be concise and precise in your interaction with the customer. Constantly check in to see if you are on track.

Did they have a good buying experience?
People buy from people they like. They like to be served well. They want to get a "good deal".
Set low expectations and exceed them.

How were follow up questions answered?
Nothing is more detrimental to the vendor/customer relationship than bad post-sales support.
Great emphasis should be placed on hand-holding the customer through the setup period. They should never get the feeling that you are not by their side. Great post-sales support is often a harbinger of repeat business.


These are some of the factors that are instrumental in providing good customer support? A lot of times salespeople or support personnel focus too much on the mechanics of the sale and not as much on the "customer experience". What they don't realize is that this is not only a key factor in the customer buying process but also in promoting customer loyalty ie repeat customers.