Posted by Gail on July 2, 2009 under Customer Service Tips | 
Ok, so you were hesitant to use the Internet to make a purchase in the first place because you just didn’t trust it and you had no idea what type of help desk troubleshooting procedures existed.
And now you finally decided to go ahead and just do it!
But unfortunately, something goes wrong and you’re unable to access what you just paid for with your credit card.
What now?
Well, reputable online merchant sites understand many of the people making Internet purchases are doing so for the first time, and they understand these people will require assistance.
In anticipation of these issues, merchants have been proactive in establishing help desk support portals on their sites. The Internet support solutions customers are seeking to resolve their issues are commonly found in FAQs, or frequently asked questions, usually as a separate web page or system altogether.
And if the customer is unable to resolve the issue using the FAQs provided, consumers can often search for a “Contact Us” or “Customer Support” link. This link is available to provide the dissatisfied customer with at least one way to directly contact the merchant for assistance. This is usually provided in addition to the FAQ support as online computer help.
By reading and following the procedural instructions, most customers can help themselves speed up the resolution process through their own actions.
Yes, it’s always upsetting when something goes wrong, but customer support systems or representatives cannot possibly read the mind of the consumer, and they cannot research a consumer’s issue or purchase history without the consumer first providing the correct information to the computer help desk.
For your own sanity, when contacting a merchant for customer service, provide as much information as possible about your what the problem is and how you’d like the problem resolved. It’s the usual who, what, where, when and how that will get your issue addressed promptly, and fixed as quickly as possible. Failure to provide the information to help desk support only delays the process.
What NOT To Do
I have a Support Desk that is staffed with a regular support person who takes care of help desk troubleshooting procedures for me. This week Terry opened a new ticket that was submitted by Darrick. Instead of providing the purchase information requested in the ticket template, the only information Darrick provided was “ebook!” Terry knows people want their tickets resolved as quickly as possible, so she took the time to research the current purchases to see if she could find one for Darrick.
After finding Darrick’s purchase, she decided to reissue the download link for his purchase, since this is the most common problem people have. Here’s the response she provided:
Hello Darrick!
I’m not sure exactly what the issue is since you did not provide much information. I’m going to assume you have not received your download. In that case, I have reset the download link and sent you a link. Please look for an email from grmbusinesssolutions.com in your email inbox or junk/spam folder. That email has the download link.
If additional assistance is needed, please reopen this ticket.
Terry
Support Desk
Well, it turns out that Darrick actually wanted a refund, although he failed to
put that in the ticket. Now here’s the interesting thing, the product Darrick
purchased is through one of my clients who uses my Support Desk services for his websites. My client had spent over an hour on the phone with Darrick, patiently answering his questions and concerns after reading the eBook. He told my client he was very interested in starting the business outlined in the eBook. He never mentioned anything about wanting a refund!
Within a few minutes of receiving the ticket response from Terry, Darrick replied to the ticket with this…
Terry, FYI…….I was experiencing trouble figuering out how to apply for a
refund, and after I explained this to you, I find it funny how you quietly
disappeared. Here’s the deal. I’ve documented my correspondence with this
company, and filed a dispute with my credit card. We can draw this out for
months waiting to see how the dispute resolution dept sides, or you can
credit my account today. It’s your choice!
Here’s My Advice
The Support Desk (or Help Desk) provided by a merchant has been established and staffed to help you get a problem resolved. The people who process the tickets have been trained in customer support procedures and their only concern is to h-e-l-p you. Therefore it is not in your best interest to insult or threaten them in any way. Their only recourse is to stop working on your problem and report the issue to management.
Do this – not what Darrick did…
- Follow instructions
- Provide required information and more if necessary
- Review the site for days of service and the time to resolve issues. You’re not going to get a response in minutes…remember, there are other tickets that
have been submitted ahead of you.
- Log back into a Support Desk (or Help Desk) to update your ticket when necessary. Not every Support/Help Desk accepts a reply via eMail. Read all the information inside your ticket to determine how to update your ticket information.
Posted by Gail on June 30, 2009 under Customer Service Tips |
Where do you go for Internet support solutions when your Internet purchase goes wrong? I remember my first purchase on the Internet – I approved the payment and then nothing happened. Now what? Where’s my digital product?
Well – that’s over five years ago and the Internet has progressed far since then with much more helpful information being provided to guide you through a purchase. In fact, most reliable sellers now provide step-by-step instructions through the purchase, even what to do when your payment has been processed.
The Order Process
Here’s the general order process:
- If you are purchasing hard products, you will probably be using a shopping cart. This holds your products just like a shopping cart at the market. As soon as you’re finished shopping, you go to Check Out to enter and process the payment.
- If you are purchasing a digital product, you click on a Buy Button somewhere on the sales page. The Buy Button will take you to an order page to obtain customer information and the form of payment.
- Once the form of payment has been entered, you are asked to supply the required information, such as credit card number or PayPal log in.
- After you have provided the payment details, the payment is processed and you should be given instructions on what to do next. This may include 1) Click Here to Return to Merchant to obtain your download, 2) Click Here to receive your download – this is the actual link to your product to save on your computer, 3) Look for an eMail from – this directs you to an eMail that is sent to the eMail address you provided. This eMail will contain information about your order, including instructions.
When you make a digital purchase, you are added to the merchant’s customer
list. To do this, the merchant must send you an eMail asking for your permission to add you to their customer list. This eMail requires your confirmation and should tell you to click on a link that has been provided in the eMail. This is called a double opt in and is required to satisfy the CAN-SPAM Act. Once you give your permission by using the activation link, the merchant can send you other offers via eMail. These follow-up eMails are not SPAM – you have given your permission by using the authorization link. This is referred to as permission based marketing.
What to do When the System Hiccups
When you’re using the Internet, you’re constantly being passed through different systems that are connected together through routers. That means you could lose a connection at any point in the order process.
Don’t Panic!!
Reputable websites have contact information on their site for you to use for questions and issues. There are many different ways they can provide customer support and include:
- Phone
- Online Chat
- Help Desk Support
- eMail Address
Any of these methods will work, the only issue is how responsive are they and how fast do you need assistance? If you are contacting your web hosting
company because your site is down, then you need immediate help. Most hosting companies will have an online chat during regular business hours. This allows you to get assistance now in lieu of waiting for someone to respond to an eMail or Help Desk Support ticket. Look for an option to get a hard copy of the chat in case you need to reference it later.
I really like using Help Desk Support because they usually have a Knowledge
Base of self-help articles that may resolve my issue without opening a ticket.
If you can’t resolve your issue, then open a ticket.
About Help Desk Systems
When you open a ticket with a computer help desk, you will have to wait for
your issue to be addressed. This means there may be a lot of tickets ahead of you if it’s a busy merchant. Expect to wait anywhere from 2 – 16 hours for a response. This means you need to check your eMail to see of a response has been sent. Look to see if the ticket resolution time has been provided on the computer help desk. This should tell you what hours they work and if they are closed over the weekend.
Internet support solutions will vary from merchant to merchant. You just need to know where to look to find assistance. You’ll usually find this information on the merchant site as “Contact Us,” “Customer Support,” or something similar. Just follow their instructions and you should have no problem getting your issue(s) resolved.
Posted by Gail on May 27, 2009 under Network Marketing Success |
Network marketing opportunities are everywhere on the Internet. It’s easy to get sidelined with new products, new compensation plans, new promises of riches in record time. Wow – looks like you should dump the plan you’re with and go with one of these! You’ve been getting no where fast and this new MLM must be your ticket to success.
The Biggest Mistake You Could Make
If you actually follow through and jump on this new plan, you may have just made the biggest mistake you could ever make. You see, new programs are built on the hype and promises that are made to reel you in. They need people fast and what better way to get you than with psychological tricks that are the mainstay of old-time marketing?
The main promise these network marketing companies make is that you will get rich just by promoting their program. If it were that easy, don’t you think everyone would be rich? After all, this seems to be the main promise they make – do you see anywhere on their site what you have to do to be successful with their program?
Look at it this way….a network marketing business is built on relationships. If you’ve been marketing one program and suddenly switch to another program, what message is this sending to your followers? To be successful, you have to be consistent. Program jumping is not the way to build your business and it’s not the way you can succeed in network marketing.
Marketing on the Internet the Right Way
There will always be new network marketing opportunities. The right way to market on the Internet is to:
- Select an MLM
- Find a marketing system you can duplicate
- Train your downline
- Stay on your program and purchase the product(s)
Don’t choose the latest fad, designed to take advantage of some new site or loophole in Terms of Service. Successful Internet based marketing is done using established procedures, proven to work when the last big fad has stopped working. These are the methods you should be using for long-term success.
