Answer Customer Questions before they’re asked, 24/7

No product/service is perfect or perfectly understood. There will be questions. And as your business grows in size and markets, those questions could become problematic. Do you have a dedicated, trained staff to handle customer queries or does that important customer-relations task fall to the receptionist or just who ever happens to answer the phone next. Who deals with e-mail help requests? Even with a professional help desk, are you basically getting the same questions over and over again?

You definitely need a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section on your web site. It’s common practice now for people to seek help online before making a call or shooting off an e-mail. Don’t you? If your possible choices are 1) instant, printable answers, 2) waiting in a muzak-soaked phone queue, or 3) wondering how long it will take for an e-mail reply to be returned during business hours, you know which you choose.

But this doesn’t have to be a lengthy or time consuming process to set up. The only real issue is, what questions do I populate the page with? That’s easy and mostly already done. The person or people who regularly answer customer questions know. If your company gets any amount of questions, your people will probably be seeing a pattern. Be sure to feature the most common questions first. Also try to word the question as close as possible to the actual question people are asking. Finally, be sure the answer actually answers the question. Test the question and answer with non-staff and allow people to send e-mails directly from the FAQ page. Hone the answers as responses come in.

Once that gets started, have staff keep a record of questions coming in to see if you need to refocus old questions or add new ones. Set up a regular time for these people to meet with you and decide what content needs to be on the FAQ page. Finally, get agreement on a common answer that you feel comfortable with. This is definitely a Quality Assurance opportunity.

Another way to approach the FAQ would be to focus on what you want the customer to know about your product. Say you’ve loaded your new widget with all sorts of features that research, or your intuition, shows are not being utilized. Then add the question, “What new features of your widget am I missing?” or “What is the best way to implement the widget’s new photo feature?” Give a nice, clear answer and link to your widget’s new features page.

And for customers, current and potential, who would prefer to talk to someone live? Don’t worry you and your staff are always available, right?