Few things in life can be as frustrating as technology gone awry. Who hasn’t aggressively hassled a suddenly-defunct printer, copy machine, or frozen touchscreen? As our lives have become increasingly dependent on the conveniences of modern technology, we’ve also made ourselves more likely to explode when these new features aren’t accessible.
When tech trouble visits your website, the pressure is doubled. You know your website is your digital storefront to everyone online, and you’ve likely invested significant time and money into its presence. So if it goes down, or fails to perform how you need it to, it’s understandable if you feel like throwing your computer at a wall.
Enter: tech support.
As important as technical support is for your website’s success (and your sanity), it’s rarely a strong consideration when people are looking into having their website built. Like many of life’s unfortunate events, it’s all too easy to believe they “just aren’t very likely.” Call it optimism or call it denial, when it’s part of your website-hunting mentality, regret is likely to follow.
The thing is, websites can be tricky — especially in the current online marketplace. Today’s websites need to be built well, complete with thorough SEO elements implemented onsite and offsite to get visitors on it. Literally billions of websites are competing for limited attention spans, so getting your website found by potential patients online is challenging enough. Having them land on a website that isn’t functioning properly is a serious step backward for your online presence.
Complete technical support is imperative for a smooth experience of promoting your business online. But the truth is, there is a wide variance on how different companies define what “complete” tech support is. Consider the features below that we believe offer the best support for website clients.
Fast Turnaround
Perhaps the most critical feature of any technical support service is its ability to get you the help you need in the most efficient way possible. This becomes especially true for serious glitches (like a website that’s gone offline) but applies to smaller issues as well. Ultimately, you need to know that someone with technical skill is aware of your issue and is working on a solution. Getting the problem solved could take varying amounts of time, but communicating with you about its progress is essential.
If, when looking into website developers, you encounter complaints about clients having a hard time getting a response at all from their support, quickly move onto other options. Lack of efficient client communication is a red flag that likely entails other weaknesses in customer service and satisfaction.
Resources for Self-Help
Having a team of actual people to help you solve a technical problem is ideal, but also means that you’ll likely have to wait your turn. Getting an issue solved might take a few days if it’s not a serious one, and could potentially be something you’d be able to fix yourself with a bit of extra knowledge.
The most complete technical support services recognize this. They offer resources to empower clients to fix smaller problems on their own, while also being available to walk clients through it if need be. The key here is having options, and in the best case scenarios, the support team is available alongside various forms of helpful information, like articles and how-to videos.
Well-Trained Support Staff
We’ve all had the experience of talking to someone in customer or tech support who just didn’t quite know how to help us. Talking to a poorly trained support staff can quickly feel like a big dead end. Thorough training and extensive experience with website development (and even your business model or industry) is an ideal feature of your website development company. After all, what’s the point of calling the experts if they’re lacking expertise?
Friendly Service
Technical issues can be hard logistically, and emotionally. They often strike when we least expect (or want) them to. Having an understanding support member helping you can make a stressful situation more bearable. Although technical support teams are often separate from customer support teams, cross training (to a certain degree) is desirable, and fairly obvious when it’s been overlooked.
If your website is having issues, and you’re contacting the company who built it for you, there’s no reason for them not to be polite and understanding. They may or may not be responsible for the exact problem you’re facing, but they definitely should be eager to help you resolve it.
Websites are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to building your business’s online presence. Your website’s backend structure, off-site development, related marketing campaigns, and technical support team all play critical roles in your overall success, and how easily it comes.
At AudiologyPlus, we’ve made responsive, reliable, and friendly technical support a high priority. From offering clients our Training & Help Center, complete with easy how-to videos, to our guaranteed response time of 24 hours, we take our clients’ success seriously and do everything we can to support it. You can learn more about all of our offerings here.
