Should I provide a customer support number on my site?

A company that I recently started connects clients and freelancers in a higher quality way via online project board. (Think craigslist on steroids).

I launched in beta about 2 weeks ago and several possible customers have already asked me if I would provide them with some consulting support during the process.

Its early on in the business I definitely do want to provide support to these customers, to find out the wants and needs. The real question is, should I put a customer support number on my website?

Customer Support Consulting

asked Jul 28 '13 at 12:22

Justin
50 points

Top digital marketing agency for SEO, content marketing, and PR: Demand Roll

There are almost two questions here - one is should I provide phone support and the other is should I put it on my website. I would tend of offer phone support to those client who you think warrant it but not publicly display a number or it could have he opposite effect if people cannot get to speak to someone when they want to etc – Bhttoan 11 years ago
Yeah for me it was more of a question of "should I display it on my website". And to your point I don't want to create an issue with dependency and cause an negative affect. To some of the others points its more of question of "why not?" as I need to be gathering as much info as I can as early on as I can. If it gets to overwhelming, that will be a good problem to have. – Justin 11 years ago

3 Answers

Why not?

Try doing it for free for now. If it generates more calls than you can handle, charge $X per call. If you still can't handle the calls, charge $X*2 per call. Repeat that process changing the amount until you get to a level you can handle. And be willing to change it more as/if the business grows.

As a founder your time is valuable, treat it as such.

answered Jul 28 '13 at 12:25

Casey Software
1,638 points

Early on in your business when you don't have a lot of customers, don't have a lot of support and don't have a lot of ways to get great feedback. Absolutely you should have a number and easy ways to learn from your customers.

Later on when you have most things figured out, and thousands of customers you can maybe remove that and replace it with a great FAQ/Knowledge base of everything you have ever been asked for them to sort through themselves.

But initially, yeah - hear from your customers.

answered Jul 29 '13 at 13:24

Ryan Doom
5,472 points

I'm confused.

A company that I recently started connects clients and freelancers

Okay, but then

several possible customers have already asked me if I would provide them with some consulting

and

I definitely do want to provide support to these customers

Some points to consider.
A "Possible customer" isn't a customer. And by customer, its nearly impossible to determine which player you are referring to (client, freelancer, or someone else).

That said, I would consider putting a phone number on the site but limiting support to the particular "player" type that you are trying to attract. Off the top, I would believe there are more "freelancers" than "clients", and that supporting "clients" needs via phone is important to gain traction.

answered Jul 29 '13 at 01:51

Jim Galley
9,952 points

Agreed, my bad on the ambiguity there. Yeah I think clients are definitely going to make more use of it, and that's expected. Could be surprised though. – Justin 11 years ago