Providing Outstanding Service Through SaaS Customer Support

For companies looking to outpace the competition, crafting the perfect product or service is only half the battle. To win—and stay winning—businesses must then strategically earn a steady flow of customers. Achieving this, of course, is multifaceted. It requires a brand to present itself as both approachable and of top-tier customer service. Unfortunately, however, many businesses tend to fixate on honing their sales department so much that their customer support falls to the wayside. 

While traditional service desks may have been suitable for handling customer service in the past, they simply won’t do in the modern market. Even worse, relying on them could put your business at a significant disadvantage. Still not convinced? Research has shown that 96% of customers won’t return to a business they had a poor customer service experience with. Yeah, you read that right—96%. This is precisely why you should consider using a SaaS platform for customer support. It offers quick relief to customers while optimizing businesses’ customer service support channels.

SaaS Customer Support vs Traditional Customer Support 

Traditional customer support relies on humans to solve problems and respond to inquiries. Even with the customer service skills needed, this inefficient system too often results in hard-earned customers being driven into the arms of competitors who have already upped their customer support game with SaaS. 

So, what is a SaaS company, exactly? Essentially, SaaS companies, meaning those that offer Software as a Service, rely on cloud-based technology to host applications and make them available to customers. Everyday SaaS examples include online storage solutions like Dropbox, typing assistants like Grammarly, and entertainment subscriptions like Netflix and Showmax. SaaS can also be used to provide customer support that utilizes modern technology to vastly improve the customer support experience. It provides all the good qualities of good customer service but in a more efficient manner. Factors to consider when comparing traditional customer support and SaaS software for customer support include the following:

1. The Ticket System 

Customer service centers typically rely on a ticket system to queue waiting customers. With traditional customer service, customers usually call the business and are either left on hold until the next available customer service agent can serve them. Or, they are told that they will receive a call back within a specific timeframe. You know it as well as we do. If customers needed help later, they would have called later! The longer a customer waits, the more annoyed they will become, and the worse their view of your business gets. 

In comparison, customer service SaaS, meaning software used to improve the customer experience, allows customers to make use of web and mobile applications to log their queries. This method alleviates the tiresome communication issues that often arise with calls. Particularly, those that are outside of your business’s control, like the customer having a poor connection. With SaaS, customers are either quickly assigned to a well-suited customer service agent through an automated ticket system or efficiently queued. Quicker response times result in greater customer satisfaction, which in turn produces happier, more loyal customers.

2. Efficient Use of Resources 

Maintaining traditional customer service desks can be a time-consuming, cash siphoning job. A business has to invest in the upkeep of communication networks. As well as data backups and the continual training of customer support agents. Failing to properly maintain the organization can lead to poor customer experiences. 

SaaS customer service is a great way for your business to ensure it efficiently handles customer service. And that it results in a smoother SaaS experience for both customers and your business. By outsourcing your SaaS customer service to a reputable customer support provider, your business no longer has to worry about the ins and outs of technical maintenance. With experts on standby, your business can avoid security and privacy issues before they arise. This, in turn, provides you with the peace of mind you need to grow. 

In addition to getting customers the support they need in the most efficient way possible, support SaaS also enables customers to solve their own problems. Believe it or not, sometimes the best way to help customers is to let them help themselves. Even more surprisingly, they agree! Research suggests that 69% of customers wish to sort out as many of their problems as possible on their own. By implementing features like chatbots and in-app messaging into your SaaS customer support, your customers can resolve their issues independently and on their own time.

3. Cost Efficiency 

For any business that strives to be a leader in its industry, it is important to minimize unnecessary costs without cutting corners. There is plenty that can be done to improve the cost efficiency of traditional customer service desks. But managing one can still end up being quite expensive. This is because it requires regular maintenance of telephony equipment and other hardware. It is also very expensive for new businesses to implement traditional customer service desks for the first time. Mostly because they require physical premises, which adds to the initial implementation fee. 

SaaS support is more cost-efficient, as it relies on cloud computing, which greatly cuts down on the need for your business to purchase the infrastructure and hardware that traditional customer support demands. Furthermore, by outsourcing your business’s customer service needs to a tried-and-true customer support provider, you can pick a solution that is specially tailored to your business so you only pay for what you need.

4. Technological Advantages 

Needless to say, traditional customer support uses telephones to communicate with customers. Though it served its purpose back in the day, the advent of better technology has proven it to bear some notable drawbacks. For example, sometimes a customer’s issue may be too complicated to solve over the phone. A customer that hangs up without a solution is unlikely to return.

Fortunately, SaaS customer support uses cloud-based technology to make problem-solving easier. Using SaaS helpdesk solutions, customers can upload files to the cloud and, if necessary, customer support agents can even take control of the customer’s screen to swiftly resolve any technical issues. This ability to run diagnostics remotely puts SaaS customer support miles ahead of traditional customer support. 

What Makes Great Customer Service? 

Anyone interested in improving their customer service game surely has a million questions running through their head. Let’s start with the simplest, yet also the most important. What does customer service do? 

At its core, customer service refers to the various ways a business works to ensure customer satisfaction remains high even after the goods (or services) exchange hands. Customer support is a subsection of customer service that is focused on technical problem-solving and product feedback. For the sake of this article, the term ‘customer support’ refers to both customer support and customer service. 

Customer service is a non-negotiable aspect of any business, as it involves the business interacting directly with the public. Customers who require customer service are often already easily irritable, as they are facing an issue. Though, with exceptional service, the interaction can quickly become a positive one capable of leaving customers with a great perception of your business. Not only are such customers more likely to become loyal to your brand, but they are also likely to recommend your business to others moving forward. To reap its benefits, you must master the attributes of good customer service. 

Speed and Immediacy 

One of the most important things customers look for in customer service is immediacy. When they contact customer service, they are typically dealing with an issue that needs solving in real time. Make them wait and they will show themselves the door—to a competitor who won’t ask them to. 

As a rule, 2/3 of all customers expect their queries to be responded to within ten minutes. This can be difficult to achieve with traditional customer support, especially when different departments are spread across different contact points. SaaS customer support can help speed up customer service by implementing technological solutions, such as a chatbot that’s capable of answering commonly asked questions. 

Ease and Efficiency

For customers, the speed of customer service is second perhaps only to its efficiency. Customers are likely to be put off if they have to navigate hurdles and go through long processes to find the help they need. Conversely, customer service that emphasizes ease and anticipates customers’ needs inspires confidence in your business. SaaS customer support does both by ensuring that customers are either connected to the right customer service agents or guided to the right solutions thanks to an intuitive interface.

Ease of Access

Furthermore, good customer support should also be easily accessible. This can be an issue for traditional customer support desks, which can leave customers on hold for extended periods. Thanks to well-designed interfaces, SaaS customer support makes key information far more accessible. 

When considering accessibility, you should also weigh what communication routes your customers are most comfortable with. It’s worth noting that having multiple communication channels for customer support is best, and implementing SaaS customer support can ensure your business meets your customers where they are. Not to mention, inquiries tend to be resolved faster when customers are spread across different channels. 

Accessibility can be achieved by allowing customers to access SaaS customer support through in-app or web support. Though this provides an obvious advantage over traditional customer service desks when it comes to accessibility, there are still best practices that should be adhered to when implementing it. Most importantly, locating the customer service application or widget on a business’s site or app should be easy and intuitive. This can be done, for instance, by placing the customer support button somewhere easy to see, such as the site’s header. 

In short, SaaS customer support can help you curate a pleasant customer support experience to earn the oh-so-valuable customer loyalty you need to stay on top. 

Building Successful SaaS Customer Support 

It takes a bit of legwork to ensure that a business’s SaaS customer support functions optimally, but the investment is well worth it. When implemented properly, SaaS customer support lessens the likelihood of customers jumping ship—and for a smaller price tag than traditional customer support, at that. 

SaaS customer support that adopts an omnichannel approach makes things easier for both customers and your business. By doing so, customers’ communication histories are made available across all channels. This eliminates the tiresome need to reiterate the same information to different agents. 

As established, customers love their independence. Hence, it is a good idea for a business’s SaaS customer support to offer resources for them to troubleshoot on their own. This can be done by providing an easy-to-access FAQ page that answers the most commonly asked questions and reported problems. By collecting and storing all relevant information in a single hub, customers can help themselves on both their own terms and time.

Should You Outsource Your SaaS Customer Support? 

The truth of the matter is that the list of benefits of outsourcing SaaS customer support goes on and on. The other truth is that even large businesses struggle to establish 24/7 customer service via the traditional model. Outsourcing agencies can solve this problem by providing around-the-clock customer service for the customers you promise to serve. 

Outsourcing SaaS customer support can provide your business with the tools needed to thrive—including but not limited to omnichannel support and up-to-date security compliance and data backup. Some customer support providers may even provide additional services like multilingual support. 

Although it’s clear that outsourcing your SaaS customer support is the best move for your business, it can be hard to find a customer support provider to cater to your individual needs. Fortunately, Helpware has you covered with the SaaS helpdesk your business deserves. 

With Helpware, you can arm your business with our Digital Customer Experience to ensure maximum customer satisfaction. Build a custom SaaS team by choosing from a suite of useful tools, including technical support, chat support, email support, and multilingual support, to help you serve customers worldwide. Take the first step to meet your customers on their terms, the way they deserve. Contact Helpware today!