Customer Services and Interaction

I have been using Community Server 2 for about two weeks now and I have to say this. It's defiantly not one of those apps where you can figure things out just by playing with it (casually of course)

The amount of options available is daunting and it really took me a while to get used to how to create a blog. Now, I haven’t really looked into its documentation and RTFM, I don't even know if it has a documentation to begin with, so when I had a problem last night enabling anonymous comment, where did I look first? I posted my question on their forum.

Thanks to the community, I was able to get assistance quickly. The developer of the Community Server pointed me to this site "Souplog" which is mainly dedicated to Community Server Tips and Tricks and I loooove it, just love it. Not only I solved my issue, but learned many other tips and tricks as well.

This brings me back to think about again the importance of community support and customer services.

A product can be bloated and hard to use, but if you have a strong community support with plenty of information flying around, plus a prompt team of developers constantly on the look to give out tips and tutorials to the users? With services like these, customers feel safe and learning a software becomes a non-issue.

What most people want is "security" in any shapes and forms. If we buy your product and we have a problem, will there be resources on hand for us to solve it? will there be people to help me out? Will there be services that solve it for me? If you can answer yes to all of these questions, I believe the customers will choose you over others.

Let me tell you a story of mine. A year ago, I was hosted on a server because they had tons of functionalities for me to choose from and for a price that I just couldn't refuse, so what was the problem you ask? Customer service. I don't even know where to begin. The list of troubles started from shutting down servers without notification in advance to slow responding time. Long story short, when my customers start to call me in the mooring asking me why their website or email server was done, I was running around like ants on a hot plate.

My main focus of business is my customers, I really want to reduce my attention span in other areas. I want assurance and security. I need my hosting to be reliable and if there ever is a problem, I have time to respond and there will be people who can help me, QUICKLY.

So I found my current host and they are grrreat. Within an hour or so, I normally can have my problems resolved. If I have a more generic question, they have a very active community around to answer questions.

They are more expensive, yes! But overtime, I sleep better, I was able to focus on my main objectives and more importantly, I waste a lot less time dealing with hosting and the saved time well covered the extra expense. Money well spend.

So if you ever find yourself thinking how to make it out there, then let me assure you, your customer services and your community support will make a world of difference.

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