Automating your customer support...

Download eBooks and Software

Ipad Video Lessons - Big Seller!
38 Million Ipads Sold... With No Ipad Instructions! That's Where You & I Come In. Works With Ipad & Ipad 2. Get Your Ipad Video Lessons Affiliate Tools... Http://ipadvideolessons.com/affiliate

100% Commissions - $8.67 Epc - Quick Click Commissions
Make Money From Your Facebook Account - No Websites, No Cost, No Fuss... $8.67 Epc -- Affiliates: 100% Commissions On All Products -- Competition Details: Http://quick-click-commissions.com/affiliates

Surveyspaid.com
New Design Is Getting *insane* Conversions (4%+)! If You Promote Surveys, You Need To Give Our Site A Try- We Promise You Will Be Happy! We Use Geotargeting And Downsells. Converts Great With International Traffic. Email Followups With Your CB Id!

Proflightsimulator #1 Flight Sim Game ($66.50 Per Month! +$7 Bonus
We Are The #1 Flight Simulator Game On CB For A Reason! Insane Conversions Of 14.6% + *recurring* Monthly Comms Of $66.50 Per Order + $97 Upsell. We *crush* Our Competitors! Get Your Tools At: Http://www.proflightsimulator.com/aff

Gov-auctions.org - #1 Government & Seized Auto Auctions. Cars 95% Off!
Highest Paying Car Auction Site On Cb! #1 Trusted US Government, Police, Repos & Seized Vehicles Auction Site (incl. Real Estate). Make $33 Or $27 Real Net Profit At 75%. Genuine Product & Acclaimed Customer Service = Min Refunds. Incredible Conversions!

Articles Index >> Ecommerce

Automating your customer support...

by Richard Grady

My regular readers will know that one of the things I highly recommend doing with any online business is automating as many of your day to day tasks as possible.

From a personal point of view, one of the tasks that takes up a lot of my time is answering emails. It isn't just answering email that eats up the hours - sorting through and deleting spam and junk mail absorbs a lot of time too. In the good old days, I used to get a couple of spam emails a day. Now it is closer to 1000 a day!

In fact, when you look at it, email isn't always the best form of online communication. Not only is there the junk mail issue to contend with but also the fact that email is not 100% reliable. Emails do 'go missing' far more regularly than you might expect. Often this is simply because the recipients email software has decided that a particular email is junk and has transferred it directly to the 'Delete' folder. Other times it may be because the recipients ISP has decided that the email is junk and deleted it BEFORE it has even been seen by the recipient! (Yes this really does happen - imagine if your postman sorted through your mail and made the decision of which letters you want and which ones he should throw away?!)

One way to help avoid the spam problem when dealing with customer support enquiries is to make use of a contact form on your website instead of posting an email address. This will certainly help to cut down on spam but it still means that you have the problem of emails not getting to their destination (and when you have a frustrated customer waiting for assistance this is not ideal).

Therefore, probably the best option on the market presently is a full-blown helpdesk system. Setting up a dedicated helpdesk is a superb way of automating your customer support and speeding up the process of dealing with enquiries and support emails. Not only that but if you use a system that allows customers to create 'tickets', you don't have to rely on email as your customers can login to a special web page and view both their tickets and your replies online.

Another feature of many helpdesk scripts is an 'FAQ' or 'Knowledgebase' section. This is simply a collection of the most frequently asked questions/queries/problems along with answers and solutions. This means that customers can search the knowledgebase and hopefully find the answer to their question without having to contact Support at all.

Some of the more advanced scripts will even scan the customers support ticket prior to submitting it and then list a few possible answers to their questions just in case they didn't read through the knowledgebase before typing the ticket out - very clever stuff.

These scripts are also very powerful in terms of how they can benefit you. Just think how much time you could save if, say, 40% of your customer support emails just stopped coming due to the fact that your customers were now able to find the answers to their questions automatically.

Having an online helpdesk is also of benefit if you travel around a lot or if you are away from the office on vacation etc. Instead of having to take a laptop loaded up with previous emails from customers, you can simply login to your helpdesk admin page and all of your previous correspondence will be online and at your fingertips. It also means that you won't have to spend hours in an Internet cafe deleting a days worth of spam at a time just to get to the important emails since only the important emails will have made it through to the helpdesk in the first place.

As with most things, setting up a customer service helpdesk is one of those tasks that is always better done when you first start your online business. That said, it is fairly easy to integrate such a feature into your existing set up and that is exactly what I have done for all of my websites...

Over the next few months, I will be phasing many of my email addresses out - I simply can't stand the spam any more! With immediate effect, all customer support issues for all of my products and websites will be handled via a central Customer Support Helpdesk.

I am confident that this will improve the overall 'support experience' for both my customers and me :-)

If you are interested in installing a similar helpdesk on your own website/s, there are numerous options when it comes to suitable software. I chose a product called eSupport (link below) and whilst this is a very powerful script, I am hesitant to give it my full recommendation since the installation/set up process was, how can I put this, slightly painful. It doesn't help that there is no manual for the software which means that new users are left to figure out how it works by trial and error or by trawling through hundreds of posts on the company forum. That said, I am advised by the software creator that a manual is in the process of being written and will be available soon. As I say, an excellent and powerful script once installed and configured but definitely not for those lacking patience (and indeed, some computer knowledge). If you opt for this script, my advice would be to get the publishers of the software to install it for you. You can find out more about eSupport at: http://www.kayako.com

Other alternatives (neither of which I have tried myself) include Perldesk ( http://www.perldesk.com ) and Cerberus ( http://www.cerberusweb.com ). One advantage of Cerberus is that there is a free version :-)

About the Author

Richard Grady has been helping ordinary people earn online since 1998. He writes a free newsletter which is published every two weeks. To subscribe (and claim your free gifts), visit: http://www.thetraderonline.com/newsletter.html

News on Internet Marketing

Cyberset Distinguishes Itself from Other Internet Marketing Companies with Its Dedication to Personalized Service
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- As the private sector aims to further exploit the many benefits of e-commerce, more businesses are seeking high-quality Internet marketing services. For comprehensive ...

Internet Marketing Company Reveals Results of the Poll, "Which Link Building Strategy Works Best For You?"
Internet Marketing Company (http://www.internetmarketingcompany.biz) Reveals Results of the Poll, "Which Link Building Strategy Works Best For You?"Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) February 04, 2012 Internet Marketing Company, a search engine marketing company, announced today the results of the poll , "Which Link Building Strategy Works Best For You?" on the Facebook® platform. ...

Internet Marketing Expert Cheryl Heppard Teaches Strategies to Attract Clients and Increase Profits
Host of Get Busy With Clients to lead monthly group coaching call for members on how to implement a strategic marketing plan that attracts clients and increases revenue.West Bloomfield, MI (PRWEB) February 08, 2012 Cheryl Heppard, business and marketing coach, will be leading a group coaching call for holistic practitioners, healing professionals, coaches and solopreneurs for members of her Get ...

People Polled on "What is the Best Link Building Strategy to Get a High Page Rank Website?"
Internet Marketing Company ( http://www.internetmarketingcompany.biz ) Reveals Results of the Poll, "In Your Opinion, What is the Best Link Building Strategy to Get a High Page Rank Website?" on the Facebook® Platform (PRWeb February 07, 2012) Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/seoservices/internetmarketingconsult/prweb9175836.htm

SearchMarketMe, Internet Marketing Agency Owner Network Embrace "Tipping Point" as Internet Marketing Expenditures ...
SearchMarketMe and its network of 100+ independent Internet Marketing Agency Owners celebrated news this week that internet marketing expenditures have reached the "tipping point" versus print media, as total internet marketing services expenditures are expected to eclipse print media spending by several billion dollars in the USA, in 2012. Internet marketing expenditures will now trail only ...

An Internet Marketing Company With a Big Heart
Web Marketing Pros is Donating Internet Marketing Services to Outreach International(PRWEB) February 02, 2012 Jacksonville Beach, Florida based Web Marketing Pros is donating Internet marketing services to Outreach International, an organization which provides long-term investments to generate growth in marginalized regions and countries.“We will be giving Outreach International free Internet ...

Audience Management and Internet Marketing
From March 22 to 23, 2012, the annual eTarget conference is taking place in Moscow. It is the premier event in Russia where businesses interested in online marketing and brand management can meet brand marketers and proven practitioners, learn and get inspired from detailed case studies.

PLR Internet Marketing Invites Bloggers To Contribute
Warren Wooden from PLR Internet Marketing is opening his online doors to fellow bloggers, and online marketers in the form of guest post submissions. Guest posting has long been seen as one of the more powerful forms of link building, and traffic generation techniques available to the part-time, and professional blogger alike, and yet are still being underused by both groups. ...

SearchMarketMe Providing Free Class From Its Online Training Portal for Prospective Internet Marketing Business Agency ...
During the month of February, SearchMarketMe is providing free access for investigators of its internet marketing business opportunity to the first class in the Agency Owner Training Portal. The first class, "MGMT 101: The Money U," describes the proper application of the unique business model, The Money U, which helps SMM Agency Owners to succeed where other single operator businesses may fail ...

Paton Internet Marketing Recognized by Constant Contact’s Corporate Office
As a Pillar Trustee and a proven leader in the community, Todd Paton and Constant Contact have brought highly successful outcomes to Paton Marketing Clients. Paton Marketing was recently recognized by Constant Contact as an exemplary business partner. Paton Internet Marketing is a progressive leader in the field of Search Engine Optimization, Website Development, and [...]