Email vs. Comments: Which is Better?

Internxt

Internxt

Member
Have you guys ever faced angry users that won't even budge although you perfectly said that they may ask for some assistance via email support? We all understand that our support may not be available 24/7 to answer queries and concerns and some users may not even wait for a bit which led me to this thread, I want to ask your opinions on which is better. Community support via comment sections (eg. comments on discussions, forums, social media. platforms) or email support?
Share your thoughts below!
 
I much prefer email support, and no, I haven't encountered any angry users like that. Lucky you. I did have one that I told to move to another provider - long story.
 
That is amazing, we are facing angry customers every day and we offer support mainly through emails but as we answer to comments, it actually makes a difference if you have positivity and great intentions to help users.
 
It is a tricky situation. Customers have tons of options available for communication now and expect providers to be vigilant and proactive on all of them. Practically it is impossible to provide help with different platforms.

As businesses, it is important to define clear channels of customer service and support for customers and focus on them only. Most popular channels are Email Support (via ticketing system) and Live Chat ( only the volume of clients is not very high ). Social media support should strictly be avoided as it can act as a negative impact channel. Email and Chat support are best because you can clearly track two way communication and calculate staff productivity from these channels. Phone support should also be avoided as it is difficult to maintain track of the communication on phones. Social media is best used for brand promotion only.
 
tecsys said:
It is a tricky situation. Customers have tons of options available for communication now and expect providers to be vigilant and proactive on all of them. Practically it is impossible to provide help with different platforms.

As businesses, it is important to define clear channels of customer service and support for customers and focus on them only. Most popular channels are Email Support (via ticketing system) and Live Chat ( only the volume of clients is not very high ). Social media support should strictly be avoided as it can act as a negative impact channel. Email and Chat support are best because you can clearly track two way communication and calculate staff productivity from these channels. Phone support should also be avoided as it is difficult to maintain track of the communication on phones. Social media is best used for brand promotion only.
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100% -
You can't be in the all channels that your customer imagine :)
As for me - the more channels you use, the more chances that you'll make mistakes and miss some complaints from customer
 
Depending on the size of your operation, it can be daunting to handle support in discussion forums, comment systems, and the like. I've told many of my customers that they need to submit support requests through the applications I've built, and they've been okay with that. In addition, someone might occasionally reach out to me on Facebook, Twitter, and the like. I usually redirect them and have had no problems.

I use HelpScout as our support platform of choice. Everything is done via email (technically), but HelpScount integrates with Gsuite and provides an excellent platform to respond to emails. In addition, it has several apps, automation, tagging, etc.

You'll be fine if you explain why support is limited to one specific channel!
 
Comments on blog posts / social media posts / whatever are not a great place to be offering any kind of support in my opinion just because they are so difficult to keep track of and have a record of. With email or ticketed support, it is incredibly easy to quickly look up all of the past interactions with a client and see if an issue has occurred before or what steps have been tried to solve it and that just isn't possible (or at least nowhere near as easy) with support messages spread out across different media channels all over the place.

If you really want to offer support more visibly then support forums make sense, although only if you have enough volume of support requests to make them look busy and active.
 
Social media has spoiled the world. Everyone wants 'instant' support , and it's rather frustrating and annoying. Customers want everything now, now, now.

The best approach is to respond to the comments telling people to open a ticket
 
I have found Social Media is a false sense of security and appeals to ones ego more than it serves any other purpose. Having said that, the only real value in building a business, is leveraging relationships you already have. I don't mean inviting your close friends to an Amway meeting, I mean asking those you're close to what their perspective might be, what would they look for in your business.
 
Most users are too lazy to go and email you. It is easier for them to use the online chat or create a ticket in their personal account
 
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