Technical and customer service
Both customer service and technical support play a role in organisations. However, there are important differences between the two.
- Customer service focuses on the customer experience.
- Technical support focuses on solving a technical problem or issue in the quickest and most cost-effective way.
What is technical support?
The Business Dictionary defines technical support as:
“User-friendly assistance for people experiencing technical problems with electronic devices.”
The main purpose of technical support is to resolve a technical incident or problem. These incidents are either perceived or actual defects in the service or product for which the customer is seeking support. Therefore, the technical support engineer/representative and the company must:
- Identify what is not working properly
- Solve the problem as quickly as possible
- Maintain a friendly and supportive atmosphere
In most cases, the key success indicator is that the customer no longer has to contact support.
What is customer support?
Customer service takes a different approach, focusing instead on the customer experience. Customer service is defined by the Business Dictionary as:
“A range of services provided to help customers use a product cost-effectively and correctly.”
This means that a customer service representative can also take a more proactive approach to supporting and engaging with customers. Importantly, customer service does not have to be technical.
Different customer approaches
Good technical support means listening to correct. A technical support representative tries to solve your problem as quickly as possible. Tech support representatives listen to symptoms, try to replicate the problem and provide a quick solution.
Customer service representatives listen with empathy. They put themselves in the customer’s shoes and try to understand what the customer is trying to do. They don’t listen to correct, they listen to suggest. This could be recommending a new product or another approach.