Some etiquette tips to get the best results from your IT support team.
Support technicians work with some irate customers as well as customers with very complex issues. When the problem isn’t a quick fix, we often end up communicating with the customer via email so they don’t have to stay on the phone with us while we sort out the problem. This saves the customer time and gives us a chance to concentrate on the problem. When this happens, there are a whole new set of etiquette rules for working with support.
Support Etiquette
Don’t lock your hardware in a hot, stuffy closet
1. When we give you a solution, give it a try
There have been several instances where I believe I found the solution to the problem and emailed the customer the steps to take to fix the issue, only to be told it didn’t work. This can be confusing for me and frustrating for the customer. But, more often than not, the fix didn’t work because the customer didn’t actually do what I outlined. Either they didn’t understand the directions, in which case it is often assumed to be my fault, or they didn’t think it would work so they didn’t bother trying. Because this has happened to me a couple of times, whenever a fix I am confident of doesn’t work, I am tempted to go in and try the solution out myself. I don’t want to doubt, but it will prevent me from going in circles looking for a problem that I already identified and solved.
2. Explain the problem clearly
Many people have a hard time with written communication. For some reason they find it easier to communicate with their voice rather than via email. It is pretty common. While I don’t understand the mechanics of it, I do find myself saying “hey, call me so we can talk, it will be easier to explain on the phone than in email.” We will be more effective if I fully understand the problem you are having. I can always ask follow-up questions via email.
3. Read the message and reply
Sometimes, as I sort through the issue, I’ll email the customer some follow-up questions. Before responding, please read the entire post and make sure you understand the questions before replying. Since we are working with more complex issues, the questions I ask probably go deeper into the technology. As a result, I may not express myself clearly via email (see previous bullet). So if you don’t understand what I am saying, tell me and I’ll try to explain again. But please…
4) Avoid ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ answers
These are rarely enough to sort out the issue and I’ll normally need more information than a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. It is better to have too much information than not enough, so elaborate on your yes or no and I’ll be able to fix the problem faster.
