The Product Success Approach to Customer Support

Over the past few years, the SaaS industry’s competitive landscape has been on the rise. In response, companies have been looking for strategies to differentiate themselves, and improving customer support is one of them. According to Hubspot Research, 93% of customers are likely to make repeat purchases with companies that offer excellent customer service. 

However, the story does not end here. Companies strive to provide customers with beautiful experiences and support, however, they also look for measurable results. They are increasingly focusing on customer success to measure their business activities’ overall impact. 

As a result, product success has become a subset of customer success that takes a close look at product outcomes and experiences.

But what can your product success mean for your customer support? Let’s find out. 

This article will cover: 

• What is Customer Support?
• The different types of Customer Support
• The Product Success Approach to Customer Support
• Evolving From Reactive to Proactive Product Support
• Product Success in Customer Support

What is Customer Support?

Customer support is a set of practices to provide timely, empathetic customer assistance.

You could define customer support teams as “the face” of your business, how your company answers customers’ questions, what’s their personality, etc. Their role is critical to marketing and sales, and through their information, they collaborate with product teams when making decisions for your company.

Customer support should be present throughout the entire customer lifecycle – from acquisition to retention – without forgetting expansion!

Especially in the SaaS industry, customer support is critical to your users’ understanding of the product. The best customer support agents understand the company’s product and service perfectly. In addition, they should be able to listen and communicate well with customers since customer support interactions require patience, coherence, and clarity.

The different types of Customer Support

Companies can implement customer support using different methods and channels, depending on their user’s needs. The main types of customer support are the following: 

Responsive support

The traditional one. Responsive support is no more than your company’s support when a customer reaches out to ask a question or make a complaint. Since it’s reactive, it can’t prevent issues from occurring before they arise. However, when combined with other types of support, it’s essential for a successful customer experience. 

An example of responsive support is when a customer asks for help to understand a new feature your company has launched. It can be solved through live chat, call center support, email, or applications like Whatsapp, Slack, or Facebook Messenger. Check how FROGED offers all of those integrations in just one platform.  

Proactive support

Proactive support is when your company offers support before your customers face a problem or concern. It can be done through explanatory videos, help center articles, product flows, and drip email campaigns, etc. To provide this type of support, it’s essential to maintain an updated database and track your customers’ behavior throughout their lifecycle. By doing this, you’ll be able to understand where they get stuck, what features they find challenging, and where most problems arise. 

A good example of this is to include a YouTube tutorial on your company’s website when launching a new feature or update of your product. 

Self support

A Self-support experience allows users to use a company’s knowledge and resources to resolve their questions. It can be done through case studies, FAQs, or user guides. According to the Super Office, 40% of customers now prefer self-service over human contact/interaction. A good example would be when you’re looking for an answer to a question about how to use a feature, and you find it in the FAQs.

Together, proactive, reactive, and self-service can provide a successful customer experience. If you want to know more about FROGED customer support experience and features, check our customer support category on our blog, or book a demo with us today. 

The Product Success Approach to Customer Support

As you may know, product success refers to a product that is able to meet the company’s goals while also providing the best user experience. In other words, it’s all about developing a  successful product. 

Unsurprisingly, a SaaS company with a thriving and well-organized product receives less customer support tickets, as customers are more satisfied. If we have a closer look at this, there are some great product success practices that can improve customer support: 

• Self-explanatory product: Software-as-a-Service products that don’t need a lot of explanation on how to use their features have a big advantage over others. When a customer is trying to understand how Slack works, they don’t need YouTube tutorials or knowledge base documents, as the product itself is intuitive and self-explanatory.

• More proactive, less reactive: Anticipating your customer needs before they arise is the key to achieving customer satisfaction. Customers will be less likely to reach out with doubts if they have all the tools and information they need to use your product successfully. 

• Create a complete product that won’t require another company or tool to achieve what customers want: It’s crucial to develop a complete product that won’t need another company or tool to achieve what customers want. Obviously we’re biased but, the FROGED platform, for example, has all the tools you need to increase product adoption, empower your team, provide great customer support and create brand advocates in one platform. 

Evolving From Reactive to Proactive Product Support

Back in the day, as technology was still evolving, you could only support your customers through reactive support, answering phone calls, emails, etc. However, since the last decades ‘digital transformation’, companies have focused on developing and providing more engaging, informative, and personalized service called proactive support. 

Having already discussed its definition, here’s a brief explanation of the advantages of proactive support over reactive support.

Product Success in Customer Support

As a quick overview, providing excellent customer support will lead your company to achieve product success. However, companies must remember that great customer service, support, and customer success are constant efforts. These are not features that can be introduced and left to operate automatically. They must be analyzed and improved constantly, requiring a motivated and driven team. In addition, they need patience. The rewards will come.

Bring proactive support into the mix without completely abandoning reactive support. Explore new technologies and methods, help your users get the most out of your product before they ask, and provide new solutions and tools daily. In this way, users will be less likely to churn.
Check out our FROGED customer support features and product flows today, or book a demo to learn more about how FROGED can help drive your business forward.