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Article Title:
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The Advantages of Customer Self Support in a Downturn Economy

Article Description:
====================

With today's economic challenges forcing management to tighten
spending, companies are looking for effective ways to sustain
excellent customer service while maintaining or reducing overall
expenses.


Additional Article Information:
===============================

487 Words; formatted to 65 Characters per Line
Distribution Date and Time: 2008-07-24 11:36:00

Written By:     Anne Sych
Copyright:      2008
Contact Email:  mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]



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The Advantages of Customer Self Support in a Downturn Economy
Copyright (c) 2008 Anne Sych
Novo Help Desk Software
http://www.novosolutions.com/



With today’s economic challenges forcing management to tighten
spending, companies are looking for effective ways to sustain
excellent customer service while maintaining or reducing overall
expenses. The implementation of a customer “self support” model
provides an excellent means to optimize customer support
spending. A survey published by the Association of Support
Professionals revealed that the average cost to resolve a support
issue by telephone was $27.78, to resolve by email was $28.78,
while to resolve by web self support was only $3.75. Calls
managed through a self-help tool can reduce manpower and build to
huge savings fro your company.

Help Desk Software with an integrated Knowledge Base allows
website owners to provide a web based communications channel
allowing clients to resolve their own issues. Self Help content
is placed into “articles” which are readily available for
retrieval through the portal. The customer can simply go to the
website and search for an answer to his issue. Search relevancy
displays search results with the most relevant articles listed
first, making it easy for the customer to quickly find what he is
looking for. A web based version of the software can allow
implementation within hours/ days of installation.

Shifting the mindset of your customers to a self-help scenario
need not be a scary endeavor. The following are a few of the
recommendations highlighted in a report published by the
“Association of Support Professionals”.*

Encourage customers to search the Web first:

Web support should be emphasized in company publications as the
preferred method of support. Customers using telephone support
can often be coaxed to try web support through “on-hold
recordings” recommending the speed and simplicity of this Web
service.

Fine-tune your Web navigation:

Often small changes in your current website navigation can result
in huge gains for self service. For example, replace typical
support contact email addresses with prominent links such as “Ask
a Question” or “Find Answers” that link directly to the knowledge
base. Duplicate the links in multiple locations throughout the
site.

Post new knowledge base content quickly:

When your telephone support staff gets issues that are not
addressed in the knowledgebase, create a system where they
promptly send an alert to knowledge base administrators. Some
knowledge base systems allow end users and/or telephone support
staff to create new articles on the fly, which get sent to admin
for approval. This keeps the knowledge base constantly updated.

Look for new ways to leverage support site investments:

The infrastructure of a Web support site can sometimes handle
other customer-related tasks such as downloads and the
distribution of beta information. The architecture is in place
and the interface is already familiar to the customers. Security
can be set by administrators as desired to manage permissions.

Soon your customers will be empowered to find answers to their
own questions on your website, all-the-while saving your company
money.

 * Doing More With Less, Published by The Association of Support
Professionals, pgs. 2-3. 




---------------------------------------------------------------------
Anne Sych, Marketing Manager for Novo Solutions, Inc. Novo 
Solutions, Inc., is an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) in 
Virginia Beach, Virginia specializing in Customer Support 
Software. Free trial versions of the Novo Help Desk Software,
Knowledge Base Software and suite of web-based Customer Support 
Solutions. Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] for more information.
http://www.novosolutions.com/


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http://www.novosolutions.com/



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