Why Customer Care Matters for Your Software Development Company

Running a software development company can be a complicated situation for a variety of reasons. Whether it’s due to the extremely detailed aspects of software design or determining how to best meet the needs of others, it can be tough. One thing that many software development teams struggle with is customer care. In today’s blog post, we’ll review a few ways that customer service and customer care should matter for your team.

Software Development Company Way #1: Functionality

The first way that your software development company can assist with customer care comes down to how your website works. When you design a website that is easy to use, it builds a sense of trust. Additionally, it’s important to make sure that customers or potential customers understand who you are and what your organization is all about. It matters a lot more than you might think.

According to research from the Super Office Group, 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience.

Customers who have a positive experience are more likely to come back for future needs. Providing easy pathways for customers to request more information, to request a consultation, or pay their bills will further interest customers in your company. A functional website is just the beginning. 

Way #2: Interaction

The second way that your software development company can improve your customer care profile involves how you contact customers. Much like the website functionality we discussed above, making it easy for customers to contact your team is essential to being customer-focused. Whenever possible, provide a variety of ways for contact to be made. 

Telephone, email, and social media platforms are a few examples. Depending on the size of your team, email and social media might be the best options–especially after traditional hours. Whenever possible, it’s best to quote a response to email within 24-48 hours. Chat provides a more flexible format because chatters can share key information quickly in a more casual format. Remember: a quick response can lead to a quick sale, a quick resolution, or a quick transition to the next question. 

Software Development Company Way #3: Support

The third way that your software development company can enhance your customer care programming comes down to how you manage support services. While most organizations do well in handling customer service at the beginning of a sales agreement, many stumble when it comes to fixing problems further down the line. In the eyes of many customers, this is a brush-off and it can tarnish the business relationship. Let’s look at ways of avoiding the slump.

Bottom line: your customers want to have their problems addressed as soon as they happen. Much like the customer service component we’ve already discussed, there’s a good chance that customer support needs will arise outside of traditional hours. Providing self-service options that contain usage guides, frequently asked questions, and videos can assist with minimizing contact with support teams.

When customers need to contact support for software or development issues, providing multiple contact platforms is a way to address the way that modern companies and individuals work. While phone calls are a great tried and true method of communication, many organizations have shifted to using email, chat, and social media apps to handle real-time requests. Outfitting an email/chat team (even a small one) with high-quality informational documents that can be shared with customers is a great start. It will also be beneficial to add a service ticket system to track requests and manage performance. 

Software Development Company Way #4: Balancing Product and Support

The fourth way that your company can significantly impact customer care is the trickiest one: finding balance between product sales and product support. In this section, the rest of today’s blog post comes together. A company that is great with sales but weak with service is destined to fail. It might not be quick, but it will be painful. Adjusting expectations and sharing resources appropriately is a key to ongoing success. This boils down to relationships.

Relationship building and relationship management are other ways of explaining sales and service or product and support. In the beginning, customers are wooed into your product line through a mixture of different sales techniques. Once they are active users of the software suite your company has developed, many organizations will want some additional training or assistance with more complex processes. These requests can lead to new features in future upgrades.

Shifting into relationship management can be a simple process. Take an opportunity to do a bit of outreach at different benchmarks: 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, 120 days, 180 days. Quick, friendly check-ins with key stakeholders can show that your development team cares about their success. Similarly, answering any direct support inquiries quickly can show that you are invested in being partners in their success. Making strides can pay immense dividends on both sides of the situation. Customer care and software development go hand in hand. The concepts that we’ve discussed today are just the beginning of the conversation.

Ayoka Systems: Merging Customer Care and Software

Now that you’ve seen a few ways that customer care matters in software development, it’s time to join up with us. At Ayoka Systems, our team has decades of experience in designing custom solutions to meet the needs of any organization we work with. We can provide ways to meet or exceed your needs. When you’re ready to better meet your customer care metrics, don’t wait–contact us right away!