What level of Technical support should we provide over LIVE CHAT?

[Silvatech]

They are not. This is something a host must do from within their hosting management system and Cron. to pipe certain emails to support tickets.

It is better to have a specific email address that will do this, but then even so the ticket generated would not identify the client, so still unknown if it is the client communicating with you.

On top of it, its difficult to assign a chat regardless to whom ever needs to take care of the situation. Ticket allows you to send the exact details to whomever needs them. When I get phone calls from my local clients. I make a ticket for them. So we know the date it occurred what the issue was etc.
You get into to many communication issues otherwise. (example) Lets say I find out a week down the road a repeated issue that seemed to be user related is not. With tickets I can look quickly find similar examples of the same issue and then send it to the appropriate technician.

 

[hmb-patrick]

Live chat support is always good to assist clients but only Level1 support should be provided. For Level2 and level3 issues clients should place tickets.

 

[cheapdedicated]

This is why any host should have their client management system (WHMCS/Hostbill/CE etc.) on a separate server to that of clients accounts, so if the server goes down then clients can still contact you and visa versa.

the thing with live chat and emails is as i stated earlier you have no idea if it is actually the client you are communicating with, so support tickets from their clientarea means they need to be logged in to contact you, so then you are covered for any mishaps like the client saying i never contacted you to do anything related to my account. if its from their client area then they takes responsibility, but with live chat/email they cant as you have no way of saying it was them contacting you

True I agree entirely. If you host yourself on the same server with others you will go down with the rest and you will not be reachable.

 

[easyhostmedia]

True I agree entirely. If you host yourself on the same server with others you will go down with the rest and you will not be reachable.

I also have all client contact details in a mailchimp account, so even if the server with my site on goes down then i can still go into my mailchimp account and message all clients.

 

[Irene Rogers]

the thing with live chat and emails is as i stated earlier you have no idea if it is actually the client you are communicating with, so support tickets from their clientarea means they need to be logged in to contact you, so then you are covered for any mishaps like the client saying i never contacted you to do anything related to my account. if its from their client area then they takes responsibility, but with live chat/email they cant as you have no way of saying it was them contacting you

Actually, there are live chat services that allow you to verify your customers without leaving the chat, just by asking them to log in to their account or without a single question if they are already logged in. When set up properly, the agent chat app will immediately show when the user is logged in and even provide the agent with some additional details about the account (literally any information you decide to pass to the app) - customer's contact details, how long they have been your client, any account stats, etc.

Chat transcripts are also trackable, no matter which live chat software you use. All chat providers I know offer this in one way or another.

 

[easyhostmedia]

Actually, there are live chat services that allow you to verify your customers without leaving the chat, just by asking them to log in to their account or without a single question if they are already logged in. When set up properly, the agent chat app will immediately show when the user is logged in and even provide the agent with some additional details about the account (literally any information you decide to pass to the app) - customer's contact details, how long they have been your client, any account stats, etc.

Chat transcripts are also trackable, no matter which live chat software you use. All chat providers I know offer this in one way or another.

Live chat is still not a real viable way to provide more than level 1 support. to link to clients accounts you need one that integrates into system like WHMCS, but even the stardevelop one that WHMCS use is not good as the end user cannot request the transcript to be emailed or printed and if they need to provide a screenshot or attachment they cannot do this through the live chat.

 

[Collabora]

It is better to have a specific email address that will do this [pipe email into ticket system], but then even so the ticket generated would not identify the client, so still unknown if it is the client communicating with you.

A ticket system integrated with your billing/crm software will identify a client's profile email. If request is from an unknown email you can direct the reply to the proper email/client. Thus if requester is not client, client will tell you "I didn't ask that" or something similar.

the thing with....emails is as i stated earlier you have no idea if it is actually the client you are communicating with, so support tickets from their clientarea means they need to be logged in to contact you,

As stated above, an integrated ticket system will match the FROM address with a client's profile email. Client would not need to get onto web, log in, etc

Customer's would prefer using email than the web-based ticket system. My brick and mortar customers verbalize this to me on a constant basis. I am sure your regular ol' hosting customers have the same preferences.
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[easyhostmedia]

A ticket system integrated with your billing/crm software will identify a client's profile email. If request is from an unknown email you can direct the reply to the proper email/client. Thus if requester is not client, client will tell you "I didn't ask that" or something similar.



As stated above, an integrated ticket system will match the FROM address with a client's profile email. Client would not need to get onto web, log in, etc

Customer's would prefer using email than the web-based ticket system. My brick and mortar customers verbalize this to me on a constant basis. I am sure your regular ol' hosting customers have the same preferences.
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The live chats that integrate with WHMCS are useless as they don't give a lot of features.
If a client contacts me via livechat (tawk.to), facebook messenger, email then they must provide a support pin which they get from their clientarea when they login.
They cant even open a support ticket unless they provide the support pin

 

[Collabora]

The live chats that integrate with WHMCS are useless as they don't give a lot of features.

But you were also saying the same thing about email support. I was responding to the email functions you described
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[easyhostmedia]

But you were also saying the same thing about email support. I was responding to the email functions you described
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that's why i stated the best option is through a support ticket, as also it is logged the whole ticket on the clients account and within the management system.

live chats and emails dont do this, even the stardevelop live chat WHMCS uses does not log and transcripts into clients accounts as all it does is integrate the coding into your WHMCS installation and it does not allow clients to request an emailed or printed copy of the transcript or allow them to add any screenshots or attachments to a chat.

 

[cheapdedicated]

that's why i stated the best option is through a support ticket, as also it is logged the whole ticket on the clients account and within the management system.

live chats and emails dont do this, even the stardevelop live chat WHMCS uses does not log and transcripts into clients accounts as all it does is integrate the coding into your WHMCS installation and it does not allow clients to request an emailed or printed copy of the transcript or allow them to add any screenshots or attachments to a chat.

I agree with you that the best way to offer support is through support ticket system. Emails are hard to collorate in cases of a prolonged problem that needs a history. The same is true of live chat

 

[Andrius]

With online chat - basic support only. It is not possible to provide good quality support and chat at the same time. Ticket system is a must.

 

[Paulius777]

I hear most of you saying, teach your clients to use tickets. How do you handle clients who put ticket link into live chat, in order to get a faster respond?

 

[SenseiSteve]

This depends on who is handling live chat. If it's the sales department, do you want them handling tech support questions or do you want a tech answering them?

 

[Kickassd]

We generally only supply Level one support over chat and phone. Anything that requires divulging account information or modifying an account has to be handled in tickets.

 

[zenex5ive]

Live chat is useful for sales/billing queries and emergency support issues.

 

[archlinux]

Good question.

I've had quite a few issues recently with providing too high level support requests over live chat. I think when it becomes as serious as needing to login to a website to check it should be done via tickets (for security reasons also).

agree with you , and don't forget to add there some spammer will make you waste time

 

[MechanicWeb-sho]

I am trying to formulate set of questions ONLY to be answered over a live chat for the team!

This should be the right way to do it. As for us we only answer questions regarding cPanel/PHP features or something that is an inquiry. If something requires a tech to look into their hosting/website, we ask them to open a ticket.

 

[storminternet]

Basic support or support issues that can be managed easily via control panel can be resolved in live chat support.
For critical issues where you need more time for the investigation ticket system is always recommended.

 

[hostdare]

I would agree that only basic support should be provided with live support,remaining should be forwarded by ticket system.
We usually provide sales support .