One day left. I am still working on launching my new website and having difficulty with plugins. And as I continue to struggle, I think about support and what they means. What will we all improve on in 2010? This experience has helped me to understand the importance of customer service and the promise of support. Some companies get it, some don’t.
Small business owners often pride themselves on their customer service. But are they doing it right? Could we all do it better? When we are frustrated with the support we receive from one of our vendors, do we stop to think how we would handle it differently? Are we implementing changes to our own systems to improve the support we provide? If your company is web-based, does your UI reflect the customer service experience you intended? Do your support manuals provide answers to common questions? Have you tested your documentation with users unfamiliar with your program?
So as we close the year, think about what you did well for your customers in 2009 and what you can do better in 2010. Ask yourself:
- Do I respond as quickly as I should?
- If I don’t know the answer, do I make every attempt to find one?
- Are issues resolved in a satifactory and timely manner?
- Have I updated my documentation to reflect new information and made it available to all of my customers?
- Is my website easy to navigate and user friendly?
Wikipedia states “User interfaces are considered by some authors to be a prime ingredient of Computer user satisfaction.” Let’s make 2010 the year that UI (user interface) becomes a priority.