Si Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Hi everyone, I wanted to throw this out to the WHMCS community to get some of your insight into this situation I'm in (and I suspect others have found themselves at some point in the past, or will do in the future). Happily running my one man web hosting business for 9 years I seem to have reached a point where either I lose my mind or I take on staff. We have a fantastic knowledgebase which customers have access to, and while 90%+ do this, it seems to be about the same 10% of my customers that account for 90% of my time with support tickets. How do you / would you handle this situation? It would be ok if the time spent dealing with them was ok - it didn't take up 90 hours of my life each week. I'm now beginning to ignore some customers support requests for at least 24 hours as the answer is already available in their knowledgebase, or is not somthing that they should be asking me at all. ie, how do I get .htaccess to do this and this etc. Should I put in a fixed amount of tickets per year with each hosting plan? Should I charge for support over and above? Depending on the answers I'm curious if this could lead to a feature request for WHMCS. (Charging for support tickets)? Your thoughts REALLY appreciated on this subject. Thanks Si 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PPH Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 You could always run the 10% off After all if they are using that much of your time is it worth hosting them? Or you can raise prices to accommodate hiring staff if the current pricing structure will not handle it. Tickets that continue to come in asking for support would also be diverted and handled with a canned response when it is outside the covered support items. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 This could feasibly be achieved in WHMCS with just some edits to the template files, and only allowing support tickets via the web interface. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bear Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Should I put in a fixed amount of tickets per year with each hosting plan?Doing this would just make them try to piggyback suport requests onto existing tickets or call you. I'd suggest making a set of canned replies regarding common questions and where to find the info in the KB. They ask one, you fire off the canned reply with a "if you need further help..ask us" kind of response. Teach them to use the KB, by making it slightly less convenient to ask and have the fix handed to them on the first try. We've found that helps quite a bit, along with Flash tutorials...once we teach them how to use them, that is. You could always run the 10% off I'll take 'em. Most of my customer base is made up of non-techies and beginners. What's a few more to the mix? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isdoo Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 In other support packages this is handled with 'similar' questions. So before submitting the ticket a few suggestions come up with possible answers to the question. Might be an idea for WHMCS 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldeagle Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 The ability for the system to come up with suggestions based on relevancy is a good idea. The likes of kayako etc already feature this, and although this would only prove to improve WHMCS I personally would still try and remember what WHMCS really is all about. A billing system with the ability to cater for a knowledge base and tickets. Although not a developer in php etc I would imagine to implement something like this would require work on the ticket and knowledge base side from pretty much ground up. Another way to do this perhaps may be to include a check box or two. 1 which is marked yes and 1 marked no, and this relating to a question which asks if they have checked the knowledgebase making it clear that if they supply a false declaration they would be charged a small flat fee for the support time (when it was already available all the time). Just a thought? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si Posted January 30, 2008 Author Share Posted January 30, 2008 Thanks everyone for your thoughts on this. Really appreciated! Another way to do this perhaps may be to include a check box or two. 1 which is marked yes and 1 marked no, and this relating to a question which asks if they have checked the knowledgebase making it clear that if they supply a false declaration they would be charged a small flat fee for the support time (when it was already available all the time). Just a thought? I must admit I like this idea. The only issue would be that we would have to be able to force people to use the web interface to lodge support tickets. (or at least force them to open a support ticket this way, while being able to reply via email). We use piping and I would guess that 70% of all of our support tickets are raised by email rather than through the interface. Si 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baja Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Another way to do this perhaps may be to include a check box or two. 1 which is marked yes and 1 marked no, and this relating to a question which asks if they have checked the knowledgebase making it clear that if they supply a false declaration they would be charged a small flat fee for the support time (when it was already available all the time). Have you checked the knowledgebase? Have you checked the flash tutorials? Have you checked the forums? And for kicks and giggles, Have you checked google? That should hopefully cover it. Well maybe not the last one. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baja Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Thanks everyone for your thoughts on this. Really appreciated! I must admit I like this idea. The only issue would be that we would have to be able to force people to use the web interface to lodge support tickets. (or at least force them to open a support ticket this way, while being able to reply via email). We use piping and I would guess that 70% of all of our support tickets are raised by email rather than through the interface. Si Maybe use an auto-responder that says your ticket has been received and will be handled in the order it was received. Then add the links to your knowledgebase, tutorials and forum right up top so they can see it. Plus maybe "While you wait please feel free to use these resources" Or something like that, just more professional. Not really the best idea but maybe some will catch on in the beginning. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPS Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Put everything inside the KB, when customers contact you, redirect them to the KB article. If your KB is complete, and your servers don't have issues, you won't have the need for support. Just focus on creating a complete KB. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PPH Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 I'll take 'em. Most of my customer base is made up of non-techies and beginners. What's a few more to the mix? Yes, we would too, but if 10 % causes a 90 hour work load, sorry I would consider moving them out if I could not find another way to teach them to use the KB etc. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MACscr Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Hi everyone,I wanted to throw this out to the WHMCS community to get some of your insight into this situation I'm in (and I suspect others have found themselves at some point in the past, or will do in the future). Happily running my one man web hosting business for 9 years I seem to have reached a point where either I lose my mind or I take on staff. We have a fantastic knowledgebase which customers have access to, and while 90%+ do this, it seems to be about the same 10% of my customers that account for 90% of my time with support tickets. How do you / would you handle this situation? It would be ok if the time spent dealing with them was ok - it didn't take up 90 hours of my life each week. I'm now beginning to ignore some customers support requests for at least 24 hours as the answer is already available in their knowledgebase, or is not somthing that they should be asking me at all. ie, how do I get .htaccess to do this and this etc. Should I put in a fixed amount of tickets per year with each hosting plan? Should I charge for support over and above? Depending on the answers I'm curious if this could lead to a feature request for WHMCS. (Charging for support tickets)? Your thoughts REALLY appreciated on this subject. Thanks Si Here is a hilarious and unprofessional way to handle things: http://www.market-it.com/support/faq_ask.html 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bear Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Here is a hilarious and unprofessional way to handle things: http://www.market-it.com/support/faq_ask.html lol...should make them radio buttoms so they can't choose both. Keep them busy for hours... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPS Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 lol...should make them radio buttoms so they can't choose both. Keep them busy for hours... - That was great! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonO Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Here is a hilarious and unprofessional way to handle things: http://www.market-it.com/support/faq_ask.html Haha! Not a bad idea at all Limit a Support Ticket to say a certain number a week, or they have to pay per ticket after their limit. It seems that when a ticket is closed, the customer can still reply into it so it would need to be changed so when a ticket is 'Closed', it instead has a message saying "This Support Ticket has been solved. If you require further Support regarding this issue, please open a new Support Ticket". But I do like the ticket limit idea a lot, if it was in WHMCS I would most likely use it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomas Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 I really don't see the point of a "ticket limit" - clients will just ask another question in the same ticket and what are you going to do then? Ignore them? "Premium Support" sounds better to me: a customer will have a ticket reply in say, 24-48 hours, but premium support 'guarantees' a reply in 12-24 hours (if possible of course - but they will still get prioritized). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPS Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 but premium support 'guarantees' a reply in 12-24 hours (if possible of course - but they will still get prioritized). - WOW, that is a horrible premium.... Our normal support replies are 5-45 minutes, with average of around 15. When we need help from our admins, the average reply from an admin is 5-10 minutes. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonO Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 I really don't see the point of a "ticket limit" - clients will just ask another question in the same ticket and what are you going to do then? Ignore them? I know what you mean, that is why I mentioned that you close a ticket. But unfortunately a customer can still reply to a closed ticket so they can still do it. If a closed ticket stopped them replying then you wouldn't have this problem. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomas Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 - WOW, that is a horrible premium.... Our normal support replies are 5-45 minutes, with average of around 15. When we need help from our admins, the average reply from an admin is 5-10 minutes. That's great, but i was just giving an example. Seeing you're that fast you don't need this feature, having that much time on your hands, eh? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomas Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 I know what you mean, that is why I mentioned that you close a ticket. But unfortunately a customer can still reply to a closed ticket so they can still do it.If a closed ticket stopped them replying then you wouldn't have this problem. But still: I don't think a customers will be that pleased to buy extra support tickets if the problems they're having isn't caused by themselves - which causes you having to manually add ticket quota, which costs time (and money!). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPS Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 I have a different definition of "premium" than you do. I don't even think the reply time I quoted above is a premium time frame either. Premium support imo should be 5-10 minutes average. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si Posted February 1, 2008 Author Share Posted February 1, 2008 I don't think support perse, should be divided up into 'normal support' and 'premium support'. That just complicates things re what tickets you reply to quickly and which you don't. More work. I'm thinking more along the lines where those who offer dedicated servers offer a 'managed server' or 'unmanaged server'. ie, in shared hosting plans you could have a price 'with support' and a price 'without support'. Depending on how you run your business and the approach you take, support should always be pretty fast and if I had to wait more than 12 hours on a support ticket being answered I'd soon be looking elsewhere. I would be expecting support within the hour. (at least during normal business hours). However, what I would like to do, is have some sort of enforceable limit on support and if it can't be introduced as a 'feature' of WHMCS, then the possibility of seeing some sort of statistic in the reporting section that shows me a list of those customers who submit 1) the most 'new' tickets and 2) the most replies to tickets. In this way if I couldn't introduce a business 'policy' I could at least contact that customer and advise them that we can't sustain their level of support on the business model and hosting plan they are on. They either pay more, or I lose them. It's that simple. If any of you want them, you are welcome to them. This for me right now is all about being picky and streamlining my business so that after the time I've spent building it up, I can begin to actually enjoy the residual income it brings me. That was why I started this business, not to become a slave to people who couldn;t be bothered doing something for themselves. Just my 2 pennies worth. Si P.S. In the UK we used to have a 'directory enquiry' system on our telephone where we rang 192 and were able to ask for any business or residential telephone number free of charge. I used it all the time and never looked at the yellow pages or the telephone directory. Now, it costs to phone the range of directory enquiry companies there are and I only do it if I'm REALLY stuck. People (at least my customers) contact me for the smallest of things. A victim of my own success I think. Si will know, so I'll ask him. Never mind google, lets ask Si. (if only I could be as profitable as google lol). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uberhost Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 Should I put in a fixed amount of tickets per year with each hosting plan? Some companies offer a premium response time at a cost, versus a standard response time that is free. If you've ever opened a ticket with the cPanel support team, you know what I mean. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bear Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 They either pay more, or I lose them. It's that simple. If any of you want them, you are welcome to them. Done! I don't offer super cheap hosting plans, or huge specs either. Most of my client base are people that don't have a strong grasp of the technology involved, and occasionally need some hand holding. My pricing and business plan allow me to do so. I've found that the bulk of the really needy customers stop being so needy after a while, and they then become fiercely loyal because of the service they receive. That works for me. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasonBV Posted February 2, 2008 Share Posted February 2, 2008 As someone mentioned in the other thread, I think a great feature that would help reduce support would be to have the user put in the keywords they were creating the ticket about, having results from the knowledgebase automatically populate before forcing the customer to click "I still have a question" to open up a support ticket, forcing the customer to atleast look at the search results for their question. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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