Support channels

[romsourcing]

What is the most effective way to communicate with e-customers?
If other, please specify.

[WestHost]

Personally I would rather deal with clients through e-mail/web ticket. That way I can make sure that I have covered all bases and included as much information as I could. It is also nice to have everything documented for future reference.

[g2webhosting]

Reckon the most useful support channels are:

Live/Web Based chat..... instant response being the best feature

Online Support Helpdesk or tickets.....recorded messages, can back-track through previous tickets for resolutions etc......

Although support forums are good too as customers can get to know other customers, share ideas and help each other!

[mgunnin]

I prefer web ticket over anything, keeps things organized and easier to take care of.

[Liquid Hosting]

Depends on the business, but in this case I voted ticket. If you are running a very personalized service (with prices to match), then your clients will most likely prefer email, which is more personal than ticketing. However, the majority of mainstream Web hosts will be able to get by with a ticketing system, as mainstream clients have come to expect this. And, after all, ticketing is the easiest way to keep track of things.

[dotDavid]

It depends on what you're charging and whether it's not going to kill your margins to actually offer thorough phone support.

To be honest though stick with what's proven: e-mail
If you have any larger clients that you want to help a bit extra throw them your phone digits. :)

[cyberhostuk]

I prefer web ticket over anything, keeps things organized and easier to take care of.

Agreed! Ticket support is usually much quicker as several techs can have access to the ticket system instead of one person via email for example.

Also, it's great to have a centralized support system and gives you the ability to track things like average response times and see tech replies and make sure they are doing their job properly.

[InnoHosting.com]

We use ticket system. Keeps everything nicely organised.
We have emergency telephone support and SMS.

[ArielHost]

Different customers have different requirements for support. It's always a good idea to offer telephone support if you can, and certainly at a minimum you should have a help desk that allows tickets to be created via email.

[theheavenly]

The customer feels more satisfied when we say a "Hi" or "like to hear over their problems" through our phone rather over the mail. But when the issue is more technical, its better to communicate over the web ticket which helps to understand and trace out the problem more easier.

[interburst]

A forum can be very useful because members tend to stick around more to see whats going on. Therefore the customer will remember you and hopfeully recommended you at soem point.

The problem is keeping the forum up to date. I wouldn't like the look of a host where no one can be bothered to post on their forums.