Customer service is typically a company’s first line of defense when it comes to dealing with customer inquiries. This includes answering basic questions and solving smaller problems for customers who have already made a purchase. On the other hand, support is more in-depth and typically reserved for those customers that need help after they have made purchases or are experiencing difficulties using their products.
It is important to know the difference between customer service and support in order to provide the best experience possible for customers.
What is Customer Service?
Customer service is there to help new or returning customers with questions they may have about a product, and can also include resolving minor issues that may arise when using it. This type of interaction usually happens over the phone or through email messages.
Responsibilities of Customer Service
Customer service agents are there to conduct and delight customers at every step of the customer’s lifestyle. Their main responsibility is to solve customer problems and answer questions they have related to the company’s products or services. Customer service agents are usually responsible for building trust with customers by providing friendly, fast, responsive, and efficient service because this will make them loyal customers in the future when they need more help from your business. Here are some customer activities are given below:
Providing the customer with assistance, information, or advice in order to answer questions
Responding and assisting customers in taking the appropriate steps for making a purchase
Interacting with customers across various channels such as email, phone calls, chat logs, etc.
Handling complaints and queries related to their product or service
What is Customer Support?
Customer support helps existing customers resolve major problems by acting as an “expert” on your products. These interactions happen most often via online chat sessions where you are connected live with someone who will walk them through their issue step-by-step until everything is resolved.
Activities of Customer Support
Support agents are there to provide quick and accurate answers to customer questions, troubleshoot technical problems, and provide a level of support that is unmatched by other channels.
Customer support agents can be generalists with an understanding of the variety of products in their company’s portfolio or product specialists who are experts on particular products or types of customers. Some common customer activities are:
Troubleshooting technical problems
Providing a level of support that is unmatched by other channels
Advising customers on the most appropriate product for their needs
Helping improve customer experience with company products and services
Conclusion It can be said that customer support and service are closely related but even distinct. Customer service deals with the entire customer experience and engages customers to help them have a wonderful experience and solve their problems. Customer support deals with solving technical or service-related issues for customers when they are accessing products or services from an organization.