Online chat support for problems that only PM staff can fix.

[ckl]

A lot of online self-serve websites have the feature of online-support. This means that when a customer has a problem with something on the website, they can click the online chat function and actually chat with a support person.

Now, I realise that PM is short staffed and probably doesn't have the budget for a bunch of support people, but the advantage of online-chat is that although it is realtime, it is not strictly one-to-one. In other words, the support person could theretically be chatting to multiple customers at any given time. And typically, there is no expectation of an immediate response like in a voice call. To mitigate unnecessary chat requests, the chat button can be placed anywhere on the site where the most common problems occur... like, for example, activations or number transfer and *not* on the main page where any john doe can click it to ask non-support type questions. You could even set it up so that the online chat button only appears if there is a problem - for example, if the number porting returns an error, the chat button appears.

Like most other websites that implement this feature, there are business hours, so the PM staff don't have to be stuck to their computers 24/7.

There are not a ton of activation or number porting problems in the forums, but when they occur, it requires immediate attention or there is potential loss of business. There is nothing more frustrating that committing to switching services, go through the setup process, and fail because of a technical glitch. As we've seen in the forums, people can get really mad.

I'm not sure of what the organizational structure of PM is but it seems like @Kalla_A, @Shazia_K, and @Mary_M (sorry if I missed anybody else) are all "on the ball" when it comes to responding to forum posts in a timely manner. Why not do this in a chat format? What I've noticed with all these support requests is this:

1. Customer asks a support question that requires a PM staff to fix.

2. PM staff responds by asking the customer to send personal info via private message.

3. PM fixes problem.

4. Customer posts a thanks.

5. No indication of what was done to fix it or what caused the problem.

6. The entire interaction happens over a space of a few hours.

Personally, I think these types of support requests are best handled through online-chat. First, it helps the customer because they can potentially get support and have the problem diagnosed/fixed within minutes. Secondly, it stops the forums from being clogged up with posts that nobody, except PM staff, can help. And lastly, the amount of these "can't activate", "number porting failed" type posts in the forums could negatively affect the perception of potentially new customers as they think there is a chance they may lose service for a while.

I think this is important because you do not want customers to get stuck trying to join PM and when they do, you need to get them "unstuck" as fast as possible.