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Key Takeaways
- Be easily reachable, answer their common questions and document areas that have room for improvement.
- Hire suitable representatives with a technical understanding of your products, keep a unique approach for different platforms and don’t fake promises.
As a founder of SaaS platforms, I have some key insights into what really works — from my own experience as well as that of other companies. Recent statistics have shown that around 53% of customers expect more support than in the past, and their expectations continue to rise with technological advancements. This is particularly true in the SaaS niche, where businesses mostly rely on customer retention.
I have gathered six best practices that are clear and actionable for improving customer support as a SaaS company.
1. Be easily reachable
Competition is growing in the SaaS industry. Your competitor might be trying hard to win your customers. Therefore, you can’t afford to give clients any chance to walk away from your business.
The first rule is to be easily reachable. Otherwise, it will frustrate them and make them leave you. Provide various options for them to contact your team, such as via website, phone number and email.
Be clear about when to contact your team, whether 24/7 or specific office hours. This will give them clarity about when to expect a response. Try these practical insights, and you will notice a clear difference in your customer support.
2. Answer their common questions
Not every client prefers to contact customer support. Some prefer to get answers without asking a representative.
The solution is to dedicate a separate section on your website for the Help Center. For instance, the Slack platform has a dedicated section on its platform, which contains FAQs, short tutorial videos and step-by-step solutions for integrations, billing, team management, etc.
You can also take a similar approach to help customers solve problems without generating a support ticket. Ask your customer support team about what they’re asked the most and create content for that section accordingly.
However, don’t solely rely on text. Include informational videos and infographics to inform clients about common SaaS details, like compatibility, number of users, billing and upgrades.
Avoid repeating information to ensure clarity and professionalism. You can also create a community forum on your platform where fellow users can respond to queries.
3. Resolve support issues
Connecting with the second best practice, when you’re gathering FAQs along with your customer support team, you may notice issues. Your clients might be having difficulties with your service/product or other aspects of it.
Document areas that have room for improvement and inform your development team to fix them. You should also partner up with other SaaS companies to improve your infrastructure and stability, like Zoom did. It collaborated with Equinix to deploy its offerings closer to clients via Equinix Fabric. This collaboration enhanced Zoom’s connection stability by reducing reliance on an unreliable public internet connection.
Implement this useful practice, and you will notice a major decrease in your support tickets.
4. Hire suitable professionals
You should hire customer support representatives with a technical understanding of your products, apart from good communication skills. Similarly, you should carefully recruit professionals for other departments of your organization to ensure they effectively handle customer inquiries.
You should invest a small portion of your ROI into better training, especially if your client retention is low. This will also keep your workforce happy and make them feel valued. It will boost their loyalty towards your company, leading to improved customer support.
5. Keep a unique approach for different platforms
Don’t look at every platform with the same eye. This is a major mistake many SaaS entrepreneurs make.
For instance, customers expect quick replies on live chat, so you should reply to them within minutes. However, they’re okay with getting a response to their emails a few hours late, but they expect a well-structured and detailed message. You can keep your replies short, casual and fast for clients on social media.
A great example is how Shopify differentiates support. It uses Twitter (X) for quick, casual responses within minutes, but email support is structured with complete guides, and its Help Center contains fully explained tutorials. This approach ensures customers get the right experience depending on the platform.
Similarly, some of your representatives would be better at assisting verbally, while others through writing, like live chat. You should distinguish their strengths and appoint their roles accordingly. You should also polish their strengths.
6. Don’t fake promises
I understand your goal might be to gain maximum clients as a SaaS entrepreneur. You may want to do anything to win their trust and maintain a good customer experience. Yet, you shouldn’t fake a promise because it will backfire.
For example, Dropbox once faced criticism when it promised unlimited cloud storage for business accounts. This was done only to later restrict usage due to technical and cost limitations. This created backlash from users because they felt misled.
Another instance was a SaaS company that promised unlimited recording on its video conferencing application. That feature was only accessible to premium users in reality. Customers using free or low-priced plans felt misled. They left bad reviews and ratings, ultimately damaging the business’s reputation.
On the other hand, its competitor clearly mentioned a two-hour recording limit on free or low-priced plans. Yet, it offered amazing features, like more storage occasionally. This made users happier and helped the business gain their trust.
Giving false hopes regarding your product/service will eventually disappoint them, leading to a negative customer experience. The best practice is to be clear with your prospects and clients about what to expect and to exceed their expectations by offering them better than they thought. This will help you gain their trust and receive fewer complaints.
Successful SaaS companies don’t wait for customer complaints to dictate change, but they anticipate needs and exceed expectations. These strategies will help you do the same. Don’t forget to leverage the latest software and tools, alongside a talented workforce. This will drastically improve the client assistance service and take your entrepreneurial success to the next level.
Key Takeaways
- Be easily reachable, answer their common questions and document areas that have room for improvement.
- Hire suitable representatives with a technical understanding of your products, keep a unique approach for different platforms and don’t fake promises.
As a founder of SaaS platforms, I have some key insights into what really works — from my own experience as well as that of other companies. Recent statistics have shown that around 53% of customers expect more support than in the past, and their expectations continue to rise with technological advancements. This is particularly true in the SaaS niche, where businesses mostly rely on customer retention.
I have gathered six best practices that are clear and actionable for improving customer support as a SaaS company.
