1. Customers want to be able to help themselves, and most of the time they will
Google is a sophisticated tool for searching through the internet. If you are ever faced with a specific error message for a particular product or service then you can almost be certain that running that error message through Google will tell you exactly what your issue is and how you can solve it.
2. When customers are able to solve issues themselves, it reflects well on the company
This is true whether your company actively helped them to solve their issue, or whether they did it on their own steam. If you include thorough help documentation with your products so that users can troubleshoot most issues, this will help a great deal in increasing the number of consumers able to solve their own issues.
Customers have made it clear that the best possible experience would be a quick, effortless support experience online – and they’re leaving behind businesses that don’t get it.
Can you blame them though? The online services that we use today range from simple entertainment, to services that we are dependent upon to be able to perform our respective jobs. Given how critically important many of the online services being used today are to their users, it is easy to understand why so many customers place such great value on having access to a reliable help center.
3. Different support paths make sense for audiences and fields they target
For example, companies that deal in personal finance make their phone numbers highly visible. SaaS businesses generally focus on tutorials and technical troubleshooting, but offer live agent help as a secondary step.
Being able to identify the most appropriate form of tech support for your audience, and how you can most effectively go about delivering it to them, will be a key factor in your success here.