Support for Customers: Phone or Email?

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On starting a business, the right set of customers is a dire need to maximize the profitability potential of the venture. The right kind of customers must be offered the right kind of service i.e. telephone support or email support. It is a strategic decision for a business owner to decide about the kind of services he would like to offer to his customer base. These decisions involve a lot of considerations which are important from a business point of view. Few key concerns may be;

• The Service Mix – The question has to be answered by none other than you. It is your decision to have a phone support or an email support or a combination of both. The important points that need a vision are:

1. Location – If your business is set up in a city and the products you distribution area is limited to the same city, it is always better to have a phone support. On the other hand if your product sells nationwide, it is always better to have an email support to get rid of this high call costs on out-stationed calls. However, you should keep a paid phone support too. Alternatively, you can get one of those toll free numbers for your business.
2. Accessibility – The amount of energy, money and time possessed by a business owner is limited in nature, so it is advisable to judiciously handle over-demanding clients. So, being accessible to a genuine client is better than being inaccessible to other not so important ones.
3. Nature of Product – The nature of the product is a key factor in determining the customer support one wants to offer. The complex technical features of the product can be answered only on the phone, but it has a flip side too – phone services require a lot of installation costs.

• The Competitive Environment – It is always advisable to have an eye on what your competitor is doing. The reason being there is a certain amount of trust involved with certain businesses and it is doubly essential to offer the right kind of customer support with these businesses. A clue can always be taken from your potential competitors and their actions in response to the product and its customer support offering.
• Core Competency – To know one’s own core business competency in answering customer complaints or queries is the most essential thing for a small business unit to know. Customer complaint troubleshooting through a telephone would require money, staff, time and space; while on the other hand, advantage of email is that it is high on convenience and low on cost parameters.

Customer support is very essential in today’s competitive scenario and the vast presence of technologically proficient solutions should be utilized to have a fit in the business. The use of phone support or email support can only be helpful if you are able to offer a proper redress to the clients.

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Tagged as: business, email, entrepreneurship, phone, service, startups, support