SaaS Support Best Practices: How to achieve a perfect framework?

The changing face of today’s business landscape has led to a remarkable elevation in the role of Support among various business-functions. Support is vital for the growth and success of a business and, in few years from now, will be the only differentiating factor among competitors in the market. It then makes perfect sense to view support as a crucial aspect of SaaS business and making it as flawless as it can get. A survey conducted by a reputed SaaS provider has shown that inept customer support was the reason 90% of the times for customers to abandon a business. This is a staggering figure by any means and needs considerable attention.

SaaS support includes various avenues that include chat solutions, help desks, knowledge bases, and various other tools for support optimization. Discussed below are some of the SaaS support best practices which can help drive support systems to perfection –

Easy- to-spot Features

Customers seeking support are the ones who are already in irate mode to start with. If the application makes it hard for them to figure out things they need the most or more regularly, it is bound to add to their frustration. Also, if the software lacks intuition and has features that are intricate and not user-friendly, then customers will need to call for support even for things they were expected to figure out on their own. This leads to an increase in volumes of support seeking customers and longer wait times, which could have easily been avoided with a more functional product. For every passing second they have to wait to get their issue resolved, they could grow increasingly skeptical of continuing with your product. Developing software with features that are easy to perceive and utilize is one of the primary ways to initiate SaaS support best practices and achieve perfection.

Profound list of FAQs

Saas systems, by default, are not a finished product and there will always be features that need improvements. Customers looking for these changes are bound to look for help as and when they the issues arise. However, a good percentage of consumers today believe in self-service. It is highly likely that even your customers would want to resolve the issues they are facing on their own. However, it doesn’t mean that you can ignore them altogether and relax. While you appreciate their spirit of DIY, you also need to help them indirectly to find the apt resolutions, or else they would again end up contacting you for the support. Frequently Asked Questions is the ideal way to help them, but care should be taken to create a profound list of questions that customers are likely to ask you. In addition, the answers to these questions must contain everything possible that will help the customers identify the problem and resolve it on their own. Including a set of insightful, videos and graphical illustrations in technical answers to the FAQs will be more beneficial for them and will add value. Also, an easy-to-locate search-box along with drop down list of keywords will be more than handy. This in turn will help you reduce the overall numbers of customers seeking support, and will help you drive precision in your support structure.

Integrated pre and post sales support

When you think of support as a function, it is mostly perceived to exist for those who have already purchased the product or services. Even the best of the service providers stay confused about this perception and build their support structure that caters exclusively to their post-sales customers. However, businesses need to understand that they just represent a part of the total segment looking to seek support. The bigger portion represents people who are considering buying their products and services. And building a solution structure that adequately uses the SaaS support best practices can help you achieve perfection. SaaS systems cater to a range of people with different needs and preferences. Some of the common questions they would want to know is about pricing and discounts, while others want to know the compatibility features of the system. When these potential customers are provided with satisfactory answers to their queries, the chances of converting them into customers can be maximized.

While we have discussed the primary elements that can go a long way to optimize the SaaS support framework, they are by no means the only ones. Several other ways to maximize your SaaS support system’s functionality exist and must be diligently followed to guide it to perfection.

Key Takeaways

• Support is vital to growth and success of a business.
• The stake-holders of SaaS business want the support framework to be flawless.
• Developing software with primary focus on usability and functional features is essential.
• Creating a profound list of FAQs with comprehensive answers can go a long way in assisting customers who love self-service.
• Focusing on pre-sales support is important to achieve perfection in SaaS support framework.