Tech support and customer service have their important individual roles in every organization. While these two job functions have something to do with direct communication with customers, they have unique differences.
You need to know the distinct qualities of these job functions to help you provide the best services to your patrons and, more importantly, offer the best customer experience possible.
Read this article to help you understand all about tech support and customer service.
What is tech support?
Technical support or tech support is one type of customer assistance that lets you help your customers make the most of your products. The goal of tech support is to be able to resolve users’ technical issues in a timely, immediate, and cost-effective manner.
Examples of technical issues that need to be addressed include login errors, installation issues, and other technical difficulties. Tech support can be performed through a phone call, live chat, or email.
It is the responsibility of technical support representatives to:
- Identify the customers’ problems
- Give proper solution as quickly as possible
- Ensure a friendly, supportive, yet professional tone
The success of your tech support efforts depends on whether a particular customer does not have to contact your technical support team again.
What is customer service?
Customer service is another type of assistance you provide before, during, and after your customers buy your products or services.
Unlike tech support, customer service is more focused on offering a great customer experience to individual consumers. Thus, it does not have to deal with the technical aspects of your products or services.
Your customer service representatives can take the initiative to reach out to your customers to offer support. It can be performed on various communication channels like phone calls, email, live chat, SMS, and different social media platforms.
Excellent customer service should incorporate the following:
- Quick response time
- Correct resolution and positive interaction
- Customer satisfaction
Ultimately, excellent customer service can be achieved by meeting your customers’ expectations.
Tech support vs customer service: Customer approach
Technical support and customer service have varied goals. And because of that, these two have their approach when it comes to interacting with customers:
Tech support agents listen to resolve issues
As mentioned earlier, the main focus of technical support is to provide the right solution to your customers’ technical problems as quickly as possible.
Your tech support agents should be able to identify the technical deficiencies of your particular product or service. From there, they can troubleshoot or communicate with the right department to make sure the issue is resolved once and for all.
Customer service agents listen to recommend
Customer service agents, on the other hand, put themselves in the shoes of your customers. They try to understand your customers’ sentiments and what they are aiming to accomplish. They empathize with customers as they listen to recommend either a new product, service, or approach.
The goal here is to be able to provide a positive experience in every customer service interaction. More so, your customers should be happy and satisfied with your products and services by the end of it.
Tech support vs customer service: Service availability
In terms of service availability, customer service can be accessed by any customer who needs it — whether their purpose of acquiring this service is to ask questions, complain about a product or service, or request assistance.
As for technical support, it can only be obtained by customers who specifically requested it. Customers who seek tech support are usually experiencing technical issues with your product or service that they are not able to fix on their own.
These customers need expert help from your tech support representatives, not just any regular customer service agent.
Tech support vs customer service: Required agent skills
There are particular skill sets that you should look into when hiring agents for these two specific job functions.
Customer service agents should possess the following:
- Stellar communication skills
- Can think outside the box
- Empathy
- Adaptability
- Creativity
- Patience
Customer service agents can effectively communicate with any type of customer at any time of the day. They should be able to make your customers feel like they are valued and that their pain points are properly addressed immediately.
On the other hand, technical support agents should possess the following:
- Strong analytical skills
- Problem-solving skills
- Excellent communication skills
- Technical skills
Comparatively, many of the skills required for technical support agents are similar to the skills needed by customer service agents.
However, your technical support agents must have in-depth technical knowledge about your products and services. On top of that, they should possess teaching capabilities to make sure your customers can get the help they need.
Difference between tech support and customer service – In a nutshell
To cap it off, customer service provides general information or resolution about your specific products or services. It ensures that your customers receive a pleasant experience on each customer service interaction they have with your business.
Equally crucial to your business, tech support is focused on providing the correct resolution for customers experiencing technical issues with your products or services.
