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If you run a business, you understand that both customer service and technical support are essential. However, the two terms are often mistaken for each other.
These terms are different, and they have different meanings for your business. Understanding the difference could help you create better support strategies.
Generally, technical support is about helping your customers fix technical issues. On the other hand, customer service majors in customer interactions and experiences.
Understanding Technical Support
Technical support is your business’s assistance to customers if they need help with technical products and services. This may include software tools and hardware devices.
Therefore, you won’t have to offer technical support for every sale you make. Some customers may not require it.
Technical support representatives are trained to understand how software and hardware products work. If your products and services are complicated, your technical support representatives will need a lot of training.
Understanding Customer Service
Customer service is an essential part of your business practice. Unlike with technical support, you need to offer it to all customers. It refers to a set of practices that aim to improve customer-business interactions.
You must implement customer service practices through your pre-purchase, purchase, and post-purchase processes. It has to be felt in all your touchpoints with customers.
Every member of your staff must understand the value of customer service. They should help you promote smooth interactions with all your customers.
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Customer Service Vs. Technical Support?
The main difference between customer service and technical support is how often they need to be administered. Technical support is only offered when necessary. However, customer service must be incorporated into every business aspect.
You don’t have to administer technical support if a customer doesn’t need help with technical products or services. However, you would still need to administer quality customer service.
Customer service is about merging practices that aim to maximize the value of your interactions with customers. If you have excellent customer service, customers will enjoy every interaction with you.
The biggest confusion between the terms is in the fact that technical support representatives also need to have excellent customer service skills. However, this fact isn’t exclusive to technical support reps.
Anyone who interacts with your customers must have great people skills. They must understand the value of customer service to your business. These staff members include marketers, customer service agents, and cashiers.
Technical support is an integral part of your customer service strategy. However, it isn’t everything. Good customer service includes empathy, communication, friendliness, and competence.
Understanding Customer Support
Customer support isn’t synonymous with customer service. Customer support aims to assist your customers if they require non-technical help. Customer support practices include finding the best products for their needs, updating payment methods, and making special purchases.
Technical support can be classified as a type of customer support. However, some businesses that offer customer support won’t have to offer technical support. If your business sells shoes, for example, you may need to offer customer support. However, you won’t need to worry about technical support.
In conclusion, technical support and customer service have a lot of similarities. However, they are not the same. They have unique roles in your organization, and none of them can replace the other.
However, both of them focus on improving your customers’ experiences. Technical support is all about resolving technical problems on behalf of your customers. However, customer service is about ensuring your customers have the best experience. You can incorporate customer service into all aspects of your business.
