As a SaaS business, customer support is crucial to your overall success and growth.  Studies have shown that there is a very high chance that a customer will stop using a service or business based on their experiences with customer support.

With that being said, customer support can be both very expensive and time consuming for your business and time is money.  Therefore, it is key that you do it right the first time around.

Below are 7 tips to help you start out on the right foot with your customer support system.

1. Make support resources easily accessible

When a customer is using your app and finds themselves in need of support, they have already started down the road to frustration. There are a number of reasons they could need support.  Whether your app is not user friendly enough or the user encountered a bug, they need to be able to find that support link asap.  If it is not easily found in less than 10 seconds, that frustration starts to grow.  Any support resources should be easily accessible and visible with a tab or link.

2. Make sure your FAQ section does a good job helping your users

Most people would much prefer to find an answer to a question in the FAQ section than to have to submit a support ticket and wait on a response.  For this reason, your FAQ section needs to have the right information consumers need in order to solve whatever issue they are having.   In order to get this right, you need to use a knowledge base software that can help you measure the effectiveness of your self help content so you can make improvements where needed.  Once you have your FAQ section where you need it to be, you will see support tickets go down and customer satisfaction go up.

3. Understand the reason behind support requests and fix the issue

Support tickets typically center around lacking features, bugs or features that are not easily accessible.  Bugs within your app will always be around if you are rolling out new features or making any changes to existing code. So there is not much that can be done to completely do away with related support tickets.

As a SaaS product, you are never done building the software.  There will always be features missing from your product.  But if you notice repeated support tickets coming in for a particular feature, it would not be a bad idea to work on adding that feature.  Doing so will lead to happier customers that will continue to use your service. If you decide against adding a feature, be sure to add a FAQ explaining why and offering replacement solutions.  You do not want any customers leaving out of frustration that their request was not accommodated.

Last but not least is the issue of hidden and/or confusing features.  Both are big issues that you do not want to have. Features should be easy to find and use. If you have a feature that requires users to refer to your knowledge base (FAQ) or search for answers on how to use it, then it is time to work towards improving that feature.

4. All support requests should go to one place

Nowadays, support requests can come in through a variety of channels including email, chat, in-app messaging, Facebook, Twitter and more.  It really just comes down to what is readily available to that user at that moment.  Most questions, though, will come up as customers are using your product, so a very visible support link or tab should already be in place.

With that being said,  you will still get emails from your website, tweets, Facebook messages etc.  This can of course get confusing to stay on top of and eventually things start to fall through the cracks. The key takeaway here is to try and centralize as many communication channels as possible.  A support software that allows third party integrations is very helpful with this issue.

5. Make customer support a team effort

When it comes to customer support, every related department should be made aware of any support issues. There should also be an ongoing exchange of ideas and information between these departments.  The use of support platforms like Zoho can help streamline this process.  The world of SaaS is highly competitive and customer churn is an issue. Providing the best customer support possible is key to your success and reducing your churn rate.

6. Support should be geared towards both your app and website

When it comes to product/technical support, it should not be limited to just your current users.  Your prospects are also in need of support and they are just as important as your current users.  You probably even have more prospects than you do customers.  So not paying attention to them would not be a smart move.  When prospects are checking out your website and their interest is sparked, questions will begin to pop up in their minds.  Chances are, though, the answers are not readily available on your site.  You cannot possibly answer every question a prospective customer might have but you do want to be sure all the great features of your product or service can be easily found.

7. Reach out to new customers

No matter how simple an app can seem, it can be intimidating for some.  Make it a point to reach out to new customers via email and invite them to check out a beginners training webinar.  If you do not have anything like this in place, now would be the time to get something together.  This will go a long way in helping new customers feel more comfortable with your app and in turn reduce your churn rate.

8.  Offer live chat   

Saas is a competitive marketplace.  Users want their questions answered right away. So not running a tight ship when it comes to support can be damaging.  Make it as simple as possible for users to be able to contact you.  Having live chat available on your website provides your users with support that is in real time.

9. Provide new users with product demos

SaaS users are known to be computer savvy, but a lack of understanding of how the product works can still be an issue.  It is a key cause of churn and providing product demos can go a long way in converting new leads and retaining current customers. The best approach to this would be to do a live webinar where users can see exactly what you are doing within the app.  After the demo is done, have a Q & A session.

10. Engage with users on social media

Social media platforms are not just for connecting with family and friends.  Every business can expect that current and potential customers will be online seeking information about products, voicing dissatisfaction, looking for support and so on.  They are using these channels because they are looking for a fast answer to their needs.  Make sure you are proactively on your social media channels educating your followers and providing any support you can.

As a SaaS company, your efforts need to be focused on customer retention first and foremost. Acquiring new customers is much harder than maintaining existing ones.  If current customers are not being taken care of, you will see your churn rate increase and revenue will decrease. The tips above can help you enhance customer satisfaction and hence reduce churn.

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