There is nothing that kills your conversion rate and customer retention faster than a bad customer experience.

When this occurs, the issue is usually connected to the lack of proper support. Users and customers need a certain amount of guidance and support to fully understand a product or a service and to work effortlessly with it in any given situation.

A great customer journey is characterized by excellent customer support which requires different tools at different phases of the customer journey.

The top SaaS companies stand out for their level of support throughout the whole journey, from the first touch point with their brand to user onboarding and ticket management.

Two Main Forms of Support

Different forms of support can be valuable at different stages. But basically, it all boils down to either preventing a problem or solving the problem once it occurred. And that’s why along the whole customer journey it’s necessary to implement proactive and reactive support tools.

Proactive Tools

These tools are used to actively address users right from the moment when they start using a service for the first time.

In this case, the user basically needs to be shown how the service works, where to find key features and how they can get the most out of the product.

The goal here is to drive activation and engagement through effective onboarding measures and make the user fully understand all the processes features of the software application and allow them to work with your service in an optimal way.

How these tools improve the overall User Experience and prevent churn:

Such tools prevent frustration which may derive from the lack of guidance and understanding (what to do next and why) and also avoid issues that might require direct support at a later stage.

Reactive Tools

These tools need to be put in place for those users who already encountered a problem, have a question or need specific information and need to provide a solution to the issue the customer experienced.

How these tools improve the overall User Experience and prevent churn:

If your customers can easily access help and swiftly find a solution for a problem, they won’t abandon your service, even if this occurs in more than one occasion.

We all know that prevention is usually better then the cure and that it can help save a lot of time and efforts. Sometimes, though, this fact is simply ignored.

Just think about the amount of time and money you spend to recover after being sick compared to how much time and energy you actually invest in living a healthy life to avoid getting sick in the first place.

Luckily, we tend to think a little more rationally when it comes to business. There are plenty of solutions available for both, preventing customer frustration and for dealing with a disgruntled customer.

The important thing is finding a balance between proactive and reactive sources of support to make sure that users are aware of the key elements of your product and are offered the opportunity to easily collect more information if they actively wish to do so.

How to prevent Frustration and improve your Customer Experience

Let us start with the methods that prevent customer frustration and ensure an excellent customer experience within your application right from the very beginning. After all, the first impression really matters!

There are different solutions that need to be implemented and each of them has specific strengths and weaknesses.

Videos present the Product

Explainer videos are fundamental elements of a home page. Videos manage to convey a lot of information in a very short time.

Strengths: Explainer videos are very effective when it comes to presenting the main problem your solution addresses, its functionality and the basic business model.

Videos are in fact a lot more effective than text and can quickly show how problem and solution are connected to each other. Main concepts that videos usually present include what the product is, what its advantages are and some general information on how it works.

Weaknesses: Sometimes videos are used as a form of tutorial for onboarding customers or for addressing a problem. But videos are generally not perfectly suitable to explain processes.

Try to search for “How to do [..] in Photoshop/Salesforce/…” on Google and you’ll immediately see why videos aren’t the best solution to explain workflows or processes on a platform. Watching a 20-minute video and memorizing all the information it contains is tiring and time-consuming. The experience is quite frustrating especially when you suddenly realize that the video covers a previous version of the software you’re working on a few minutes after you memorized the whole workflow.

In order to apply the concepts presented in the video you may either need to watch the clip multiple times or continuously pause and rewind or go for a second computer screen to watch video tutorials while attempting to carry out a task. Video reels are excellent explainer tools but when used as tutorials, videos force users to abandon the ecosystem they’re working in and can’t provide real-time guidance.

Videos are a great form of content if used for the right purpose. The key principles to remember here are the following:

Use videos to present how your product or service works, or your philosophy, your vision and the value your solution offers to your customers.

Don’t try to explain your CRM/ERP processes and workflows in a video! This is utterly frustrating for the user, since the whole experience is a) asynchronous (meaning that support doesn’t happen in real-time but occurs outside of the actual working environment) and b) inconclusive (meaning that if the user encounters the same problem a second time and can’t remember the correct workflow, they’ll be forced to go through the whole video again) .

(meaning that support doesn’t happen in real-time but occurs outside of the actual working environment) and b) (meaning that if the user encounters the same problem a second time and can’t remember the correct workflow, they’ll be forced to go through the whole video again) . Remember that this can also be frustrating and quite expensive for you as well due to obsolescence : this form of support will force you to produce new videos every time you change your product’s interface or some steps in the workflow.

for you as well due to : this form of support will force you to produce new videos every time you change your product’s interface or some steps in the workflow. When presenting your product, keep it short and to the point. A good explainer video should be clear and convey a clear perception of your brand.

Live Demos or Webinars show the Product in Action

Website visitors who find your copy and explainer video captivating and convincing enough, will request a live demo of your product.

These prospects actually want to see the product in action and an effective product demo should revolve around their needs, prove product fit for the specific use case, show how effective your solution is and proactively address problematic areas other customers struggled with.

Strengths: Live video demonstrations and webinars involve direct interaction with your prospects. This means that your customers can ask questions and receive an immediate answer. Also, talking to an actual person and being personally introduced to a service is a form of value that potential customers really appreciate. During a webinar or a one-to-one live demo you can collect a lot of precious feedback which, in turn, can be used to optimize future presentations.

Weaknesses: At some point in your career, you might have signed up for a service just to find yourself saying “Wow, this seemed so much easier when the sales rep showed it to me during the live demo!”

In this case, you have experienced what we may call “pink webinar glasses.” This means that, sometimes, there’s a real discrepancy between an experienced sales guy that quickly showcases the top 3 features of a service and you, as a customer, working with it on your own and trying to optimize the solution in accordance with your specific needs and requirements.

Webinars and product demonstrations are great tools for selling complex software products, especially in a B2B context. But you need keep in mind the following key points:

Use live demos not only to present your product’s features, but also to explain to your prospects how your application actually delivers value and try to handle all possible objections right away

Watch your economics! It might be worth giving your prospects live demos if your business model includes a SLA that accounts for a few thousand dollars a year. If you sell product or service for a few dollars a month, you’d better look for an automated solution. You really need to find out what the return on investment actually is.

Be careful when attempting to do user onboarding via video chat! Depending on how complex your solution is and the number of new customers you acquire every month, you might need several trained people to assist your customers, and this can turn into a very expensive trap!

Onscreen Step-by-Step Walkthroughs to Onboard and Guide Users

Onboarding is the one of the most critical aspect of your user experience. During this phase, users need to understand the benefits of your solution, comfortably and effortlessly move the first steps within the software and actually see immediate results.

A positive onboarding experience leads to higher activation, engagement, conversion and dramatically reduces churn.

People need to interact with the product as fast as possible and go through the whole setup while also accomplishing the first tasks.

Onboarding tours and walkthroughs are extremely beneficial.

Strengths: using onscreen guides to guide your users through your product allows you to present all the key features and benefits in real time and steer users through a series of steps that allow them to make the best use of your product. You can focus the attention of your users on a single detail within the interface and let them interact with single elements and go through the entire onboarding process following the right steps in the right order.

Users don’t get stuck and guidance effectively fights frustration and distractions by focussing on a single task at the time. Users fully understand and interact with your product in the best possible way and receive support in real time.

Weaknesses: Onscreen guides are indispensable to a) Guide your users through the onboarding phase, explain features and benefits and set up the whole environment to start working efficiently with your software solution and to b) Allow users to access a virtual assistant that can guide them step-by-step through processes and present the best workflow but can be redundant and pretty annoying if solely used to present and point at elements in the UI. If the interface is clear, you don’t really need a guided tour to explain what each button or icon does. That might simply delay interaction with the product. You need guides to present processes and guide users through a proper workflow but pointing at and introducing obvious elements can be redundant but

Key elements of oncreen walkthroughs include:

They’re very powerful tools when it comes to onboarding new users or to explain processes and workflows (by accessing a specific guide via virtual assistant).

when it comes to onboarding new users or to explain processes and workflows (by accessing a specific guide via virtual assistant). Onscreen guides can be used to prevent support tickets since users are guided through the software in the same way drivers are guided through a new city via GPS.

since users are guided through the software in the same way drivers are guided through a new city via GPS. Walkthroughs and guides prevent frustration and support users within the software itself so that they can actually accomplish tasks while being guided .

and support users within the software itself so that they can actually . The important thing is that these guides need to be implemented within the actual software interface and not in a replica or in a separate video.

Interactive guides lead to fast interaction with the product, boost engagement and offer a seamless user experience .

and offer a . Onscreen walkthroughs can solve most of the problems connected to complexity (not related to the interface but to the processes in the application).

(not related to the interface but to the processes in the application). Being able to access a virtual assistant that can show what to do next at any time and being guided from A to B in real time dramatically increases efficiency.

How to offer Help once a Problem occurs

So far, we’ve covered three different categories of solutions that proactively support users through different phases of the customer journey.

Let’s move on to the next set of tools, specifically those that you need to implement to react to a problem once a customer needs support.

After all, crying over spilled milk really doesn’t help when your company’s reputation is at stake!

Onscreen Live Chats to Personally Address the Visitor

Livechat services like Intercom are basically mandatory. These tools are used to signal presence and show the visitor that somebody is available for immediate support.

Oncreen chats can be accessed by someone who actively looks for help or can be used to prompt useful information when a visitor is on a specific page.

Strengths: Live chats are extremely useful as they represent a form of personal interaction between a visitor (or a user) and the company itself. With these applications, it is possible to guide a visitor through the discovery process and address their questions while they’re trying to make up their mind on whether or not they want to try your product.

Live chat programs are also viable when it comes to moving leads down the funnel toward a product demo and they can also be useful when it comes to direct users to support when they experience a problem with your application or platform. Live Chats boost trust and brand engagement and offer a direct connection between customers and companies which is much faster than email or support forms.

Weaknesses: Onscreen chat applications can be used to quickly address simple problems but can’t be adopted to guide users step-by-step through the entire onboarding process during a trial and can’t be used to actively guide users that are trying to solve a problem. Live chats are precious when directing people to other resources or to support but can’t usually be used proactively because once the user needs to contact you via live chat it means that it’s too late: they’re already confused and need help.

Key principles to keep in mind:

It’s okay to signal your presence on different pages of your site, but you mustn’t sound too pushy …think of a store clerk that keeps asking you if you need help when you try to buy something and you get the idea

…think of a store clerk that keeps asking you if you need help when you try to buy something and you get the idea People must know whether they’re talking to a human being or a chatbot. If the first contact is done by a robot, make sure that people who reply also have the option to talk to real people

Live Chats lead to a higher conversion rate when it comes to people who decide to try your product but can’t guarantee engagement and activation at a later stage after users try your product

Live chats enhance the whole user experience but too many pop-up questions can be utterly annoying especially for returning visitors or users.

FAQs, Community Support and Product Documentation

Sometimes, questions are dealt with via live chat or other forms of direct support. Some other times, people are invited to look for support outside of the product or platform and go through FAQs, documentation or even invited to look for solutions in forums and communities.

Strengths: FAQs and product documentation can prevent people from swarming to support and can be used to both provide more information to potential customers who are evaluating your solution and to offer a quick duct tape solution to a minor issue that a user might experience.

Weaknesses: This form of support represent a quick fix to support but it can easily lead to frustration. A user who suddenly is confused or can’t complete a task needs to solve their problem as soon as possible. Leaving the platform they’re working in, looking for solutions around your site or external forums and finally going through tons of documents can only result in a very poor customer experience. Customers feel abandoned and know that either they learn how to sort out the problem or they’ll have to submit a support request and wait before finishing their task.

The main points concerning FAQs and documentation are:

This form of content can be useful to address doubts that visitors might have about your solution when they get in touch with it for the first time.

that visitors might have about your solution when they get in touch with it for the first time. FAQs and other documents are virtually useless when your application is extremely complex since it would take forever for a user to go through all the questions and search often doesn’t help with forums and tons of pdf documents.

since it would take forever for a user to go through all the questions and search often doesn’t help with forums and tons of pdf documents. This kind of information is also victim of obsolescence exactly as video tutorials.

exactly as video tutorials. This form of support can’t be used to onboard users who try your product for the first time since they are not embedded in the product itself and because help is again asynchronous (users first need to read and then go back to your product and go through the process).

and because help is again (users first need to read and then go back to your product and go through the process). FAQs, articles and community support can take some work off your customer support team but they’re rarely connected to a great user experience.

Ticket Management Solutions to quickly Intervene

Even in the best relationships, something can go wrong sometimes.

When problems occur, companies need to have a system in place to collect and quickly address support tickets.

This can be done with specific helpdesk solutions like Zendensk although many onscreen live chat applications also implement similar features and vice versa.

A great user experience is obviously connected to a smooth interaction with the product. That’s why we talk about proactive tools as an essential component of a solid growth strategy that can truly make or break your product.

But companies are often judged on the basis of how they deal with problems and their level of customer support drastically affects their reputation.

Strengths: An effective support request management can show how efficient your company is and can inspire trust. Users know that the interaction with the company doesn’t stop once they subscribe and feel supported and valued by the brand. Ticket management tools allow businesses to collect, organize, prioritize and deal with requests rapidly and systematically. This creates an automated and optimized workflow that contributes to the whole customer experience.

Weaknesses: Some ticket management tools appear complicated at first and creating a natural workflow may seem overwhelming. However, once the setup is optimized it is extremely easy to monitor tickets and gather interesting data through embedded analytics. Integrating existing knowledge base suggestions can be frustrating if the process is not monitored and optimized.

Key takeaways:

Helpdesk solutions offer great customer support 24/7

These solutions are effective when it comes to improving the overall customer experience when the company is required to react to a problem

Setting up the environment can be intimidating at first because similar solutions are meant to be fully customizable to scale up to enterprise level

to scale up to enterprise level Customer support tools integrate perfectly with mobile devices

devices Analyzing metrics is an excellent way for product managers and developers to identify potential areas of improvement.

Wrap-up

These are six different forms of support that usually coexist and integrate to make sure that the customer experience is smooth and that there is virtually no friction during the entire customer journey.

If you want to access a list of powerful software solutions that fall into specific categories presented alongside different stages of the customer decision making process you can read my article on the best tools for customer support.

And if you want to know more about onscreen guides and onboarding walkthroughs you can check out Userlane , request a live demo and start with your free trial today!