Why customer support is so so crucial for SaaS vendors…

If you’re anything like the SaaS companies we’ve partnered with, we can probably guess that your efforts in creating the absolutely perfect product are way up there, keeping you awake at night as you strive for an awesome product that will knock your niche market’s socks off.

That’s all well and good, but today it’s not just about being at your innovative best and beating off the competition. In these tech-aware and social media times, great customer service has become a huge factor in ensuring your product’s success.

Let’s be honest: you might have a killer service that has wowed critics and reviewers galore, but if you have a customer support system that sucks, no one is going to be buying that killer service for much longer.

Nothing beats great customer service

Without a doubt, nothing beats a great product with an awesome user experience that also has a great customer support system behind it – just in case those valued customers need it, you know, the ones you targeted with those huge budgets in sales and advertising…

As an example, look at the team behind FreshBooks.com, with phone support available for all its invoicing and accounting customers, coupled with random cakes (yes, cakes!) delivered to customers for a real feel-good factor. Their efforts have meant their customer support efforts have already become almost legendary – as well as inevitably boosting revenues for FreshBooks.com.

We’re not suggesting you go and grab your apron and start baking (well, you could…), but if you want your SaaS product to be truly successful, investing in a customer support framework may well be the difference between making it and closing up shop when the budget runs dry.

Getting to grips with the basics…

Your customer support framework should at least start with an interactive website (meaning contact pages that guarantee a response to queries within 24 hours, a telephone number that answers direct calls, or a ticket system that customers can use to resolve issues), as well as social media accounts and 9-5 phone support.

These are the bare necessities if you want the minimal level of customer satisfaction. However, if you want your customers to truly fall in love with your service and for the service to sell itself through glowing recommendations, it’s down the road of 24/7 support for you and your team…

24/7 support: the ultimate method to ensure your service (and revenue) grows

OK, 24/7 support is not for everyone, and for many startups and smaller businesses it can seem to be way beyond their often limited resources.

But in the SaaS industry, keeping those customers happy – and subsequently longer – is critical in order for your company and service to grow. SaaS products by nature are available 24/7 and accessible by customers from across the globe, so 24/7 availability and support becomes crucial. As a result, that extra level of interaction that 24/7 support can offer may just be the best investment your company makes.

And that investment doesn’t have to be astronomical.

At Galil Software we offer a high-value, low-cost Tier 1 Support service that ensures your product has support throughout off-peak hours. Our service rids also you of the headache and overhead of hiring a Support Manager, in turn reducing costs by up to 70%.

Perhaps more importantly, we help ensure you don’t lose customers AND money, and really can help boost your service retention and revenues.

Retaining customers is a much cheaper option than acquiring new customers. You’ve done the hard work in building that customer base – now keep them happy!

Feel free to contact us if you need advice or assistance regarding our Tier 1 or 2 Support services.