The correct technical support system frees teams and facilitates more one-on-one, tailored help.
So says Thijs Hartveld when talking about technical support's role in creating a great customer experience. And here, we explore how Mapiq's support system has evolved to support this model.
You were one of the first hires at Mapiq. How did the support team evolve since then?
After creating our triage ticketing system for Technical Support, our team members were free to focus on what they do best. Developers got back to developing while support staff could focus on finding patterns to improve customer experience and for product improvement suggestions.
The support team placed a big emphasis on creating a great support experience for our customers. We identified pain points and started having conversations with customers that were frequently in touch with Mapiq and Support so we could come up with solutions. We also started measuring Customer Effort Scores and actively following up with customers to get more insights into what we were doing well or not so well.
Ultimately, all our efforts led to precious insights, supported many conceptual ideas to improve the support journey, and further kick-started our support experience developments.
Why the move to a customer experience model?
Customer experience is nothing new, nor is it limited to support. Customer experience is your customer's journey with you as a company, from sales acquisition to facing bugs. And we realized that there was much more value we could bring with support that could enhance the overall customer experience.
We were already looking into principles that would make the journey frictionless, just like using Mapiq. Being more proactive instead of reactive, improving the self-serving possibilities, and guiding the customer towards the right resources when faced with an issue.
We knew we were on the right track when we spoke again to our customers. Pain points we identified in many situations got verified. And with this knowledge, we started to plan how to remove said pain points, improve the experience, and make it effortless.
What is the customer feedback on Mapiq’s support?
What we've frequently heard from our customers is that Mapiq stands out because it provides the following:
- Fast responses with concrete action points
- Transparency over their tickets and what team is going to pick that up
- A personal touch in which the customer experiences that we understand their situation and know their workplace setup.
Looking at these points, they are a great compliment to the team. However, I'm thrilled that our values are also coming through here.
What more can customers expect?
When we realized that our current support situation was mainly focused on reactive support, we decided to create a solid proactive layer where customers were updated on current product health statuses and could find solutions from several channels, also known as conversational support.
Rather than creating this functionality ourselves, we now use Intercom as a proven solution that integrates with our platform seamlessly.
Customers can expect more self-serving possibilities, active guidance to relevant resources to help them in their journey, chat services (note that we will start small and expand over time) and even tours through our product. Best of all, these functionalities do not require any channel switching, but will all be provided from within the app.
How will human support stay relevant in an evolving world of AI and chatbots?
First and foremost, we should embrace the world of AI and chatbots. It can automate many of our processes and help customers get quick answers to questions. Additionally, it can help scale a support department without increasing the team's headcount.
Of course, simply having it doesn't necessarily mean it works well; that is where humans will remain relevant. AI and chatbots are significant developments, but it needs to learn and be given proper input to function correctly. It doesn't know everything, nor can it resolve all customer queries. It should act as a filter for support to deal with complex, sensitive topics that still need the human touch.
What advice would you give to Mapiq users?
Engage with the possibilities coming your way! Please take a tour, explore our knowledge base, and serve yourself. Most of all, feel free to share your feedback and let us know how we can further optimize the customer experience!
