The following is a guest post by Ashwin Tutak, Director of Support Services for YourMembership.com.
All too often customer support is confused with customer service. Customer service needs are (generally) unrelated to the product itself, such as billing issues, address changes, etc. Customer service is a simple answer to a direct question, with no correlation to you or your goals. Customer support, on the other hand, is an on-going relationship and assistance provided to a customer and the product or service they purchased. The level of support given to customers can range from basic self-help to direct one-on-one personal support.
YourMembership.com certainly provides customer service, but a distinguishing factor in our extraordinary customer retention rate is our support services. We offer unlimited direct one-on-one support via phone and Internet to customers all around the world. Whether you are a self-learner who wants to research your own solution or you want the guidance of a friendly voice, our support offerings are personalized to every customer’s abilities and needs. For the savvy user, they can often find answers on their own using our in-line help text or searching our FAQ section. For quick questions that aren’t readily apparent, a customer can open a support ticket for a same day response that is often given within a few hours. For more in-depth questions or needs, a customer can request a phone call and can speak to us directly for as long as it takes to ensure they understand the answers to their question. Our support commitment ensures that all questions are answered by the time the call is ended and that they are complete and accurate. Our support team is not directed to keep calls to a minimum amount of time, nor are our customers charged per call. YourMembership.com support listens to customer feedback to not only improve the product itself but also to improve the support services that our customers utilize every day. This year we implemented a grading system for our support reps. They are charged with being a partner in your success, not an anonymous voice on the other end of the line.
YourMembership.com has built its support in-house from the ground up to be an educated and diverse team. Every support team member has at least a four-year degree in subjects ranging from computer science to graphic design to communications. When interviewing candidates for these positions, we place a high emphasis on problem-solving ability and effective communication. But most importantly, we recruit good listeners!
From the inception of their online communities, customers are partnered with a dedicated, veteran support specialist. Ensuring our customers utilize the many features of our software in the ways that best fit their missions and goals is what drives our dedicated support team. After all, the success of our customers directly impacts our success. We are partners in the entire process.
Even after our customers launch their YourMembership.com websites to the world, the support specialists are there to follow-up regularly with our customers to educate them about new features, review their sites and recommend actions.
YourMembership.com support does more than just answer technical questions. We strive to understand what the customer is asking and anticipate future questions and training needs. Top-notch support is more than just our goal. It is our reality.
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Ashwin Tutak, MBA is the Director of Support Services for YourMembership.com. He has been with the company for nearly 6 years. His background includes QA, Network Administration, IT project management and consulting. He enjoys cruising, camping in front of his Xbox and hates bananas.
