Examples of Good Customer Support Sites

Hi Stephanie,

Get Satisfaction has a useful method for surfacing information -- a
dynamic search form that delivers answers as you type your question.
For example, try typing "custom bag" into the Timbuk2 customer support
area...
http://getsatisfaction.com/timbuk2

Get Satisfaction is an interesting example because it engages
customers beyond merely supplying them with information, so it's
possible for companies to use it for other activities, such as product
development in conjunction with customers.

Best,
Victor

On Mon, May 11, 2009 at 5:34 AM, Stephanie Hom <steph.hom at gmail.com> wrote:
> When users can't find the help they need contextually and land on a
> customer support site, how can we create a good experience for them?
>...
> Does anyone have examples of effective customer/technical support
> sites? I'm interested in best practices on surfacing relevant help
> topics/tools to users so they can self-serve with ease.

This may provide some direction -

Customer Support on the Web: Don't Call Us, We'll Call You:

http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2007/11/customer-support-on-the-web-dont-call-us-well-call-you.php

rgds,
Dan

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Posted from the new ixda.org
http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=41923

Timely to this topic. One note..some of these Support sites are only
accessible with a customer login.

http://www.asponline.com/awards.html

The Association of Support Professionals (ASP) has announced the winners
of its twelfth annual "Ten Best Web Support Sites" competition, a
prestigious award that showcases excellence in online service and
support.

The 2009 winners include (in alphabetical order) six Open Division
entries-EMC Corp., Hewlett Packard (consumer), Juniper Networks, Mentor
Graphics, Novell, and Verizon. In addition, four companies-Ariba,
Articulate, Blackbaud, and TriZetto-were named winners in the Small
Company Division.

The award winners were selected by a panel of judges with expertise in
Web support design and implementation, using a scoring system based on
25 separate performance criteria.

"The big news this year is the number of smaller companies that have
developed world-class support sites," says ASP executive director
Jeffrey Tarter. "Despite relatively limited resources, a growing number
of technology companies have figured out how to deliver an online
support experience that competes successfully against some of the
biggest players in the support world. That's a delightful trend to
watch."

-----Original Message-----
From: discuss-bounces at lists.interactiondesigners.com
[mailto:discuss-bounces at lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of
Adrian Howard
Sent: Tuesday, May 12, 2009 7:19 AM
To: IXDA list
Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Examples of Good Customer Support Sites

On 11 May 2009, at 20:48, Victor Lombardi wrote:

> Hi Stephanie,
>
> Get Satisfaction has a useful method for surfacing information -- a
> dynamic search form that delivers answers as you type your question.
> For example, try typing "custom bag" into the Timbuk2 customer support
> area...
> http://getsatisfaction.com/timbuk2
[snip

uservoice.com is similar service that's worth looking at too.

Adrian
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