Support talked to users in a dry, short, and formal way. Users were offended. For example, here:Client: Hi, how to raise the VPN on the server?
Support: Your server is in order, we do not do server administration [closes the ticket].
Support right? Rights. But the client was offended. Because you could write the same normally:Client: Hi, how to raise the VPN on the server?
Support: Good afternoon! I can’t help you set up a VPN because we only provide support if something doesn’t work on our side. But we have an article in the knowledge base on how to simply raise a VPN. Thank you for contacting [closes the ticket].
What has changed? The client realized that he was not sent, and that they still respect him, but the service is not included in the package. For those who find the first phrase too dry, there are elements of etiquette that all polite people use. There is a clear next step.We try to give a maximum of technical things for a minimum of money, and support has traditionally remained overboard: it is expensive based on the cost of the monthly VDS tariff. But it turned out that you can change a lot quite cheaply. We have changed. And tested. Below are a few basic things:- How to politely answer, if we don’t help.
- How to remove red tape from answers.
- We must not forget to apologize if the problem was on our side.
- How to answer in the case, not "you are in a balloon."
- Why respect is not the word “respected” at the beginning.
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Sometimes users turn to us for help with server administration and other things that are not included in the support. We are not going to provide such support and are forced to refuse the client. Because our position has always been simple: sufficient reliability + maximum functionality from VDS hosting for minimal money. Support is a big expense item. It is necessary to minimize staff. But, as you see, when we write: “We do not do server administration, the servers are in order,” the person reads: “I do not care.”Why? Because the administrator understands what support is, how it works, and how VDS support differs from application support in a virtual machine. For him, such an answer is normal - something like a compiler message. Nobody is offended by the compiler, right?But in recent years, we have increased the number of business owners who take VDS to do their bookkeeping, and people who work with SEO, social networks and YouTube, as well as traders. All these people, as a rule, do not understand such details, and for them the whole service is one big “black box” that simply allows you to solve the problem.Therefore, rule number one: you need to explain your actions . The template looks like this: say hello; explain why this does not work; suggest the next step; if the problem recurs - note for marketing that you need to write an article about the solution in the knowledge base. Give thanks.At first, we did not understand why some customers wrote in social networks that they were rude to them. Then it turned out that the problem is precisely in such dialogs, when only one extremely short dry answer is given in the spirit: "The problem is not on our side." We called back, explained all this and understood that a person treats the very fact of refusal normally. The question is in tone and attitude. Therefore, you need to spend an extra 15 seconds and give at least a minimum of help. This is called "participation", and even if you actually sent a person to Google, he understands that he was politely drawn the border, and not sent.Do not forget to apologize
One of the worst problems that leaves a customer unhappy is when the ticket was successfully resolved, but they did not apologize. When the problem was on the hosting side in the sense.This leaves a peculiar feeling that support has done a favor.It is clear that this is also very simple to correct with one simple rule: do not forget to apologize if it was in us .Respect is not a chance
If you start the answer with the words "Dear customer", then the client will not feel respect from this. Respect is to try to save the client’s time by all means (as much as possible for support). The most effective way is not only to show that you are helping, but to really help. At a minimum, indicate where to dig if there is no answer with full instructions. The difference in mood between the faceless robot and the person for the client is not very big, but noticeable:Normal: "The server is currently turned on and available for connection."
Good: "We have already turned on the server, it is available for connection."
Normal: “Your appeal has been registered and received for processing. Please expect an answer. ”
Good: “I registered your appeal, it was taken into processing. Please expect an answer. ”
Here it is also important that it is clear who took responsibility for solving the problem. The ticket did not fly into the black hole of the backlog, the particular operator accepted your task, and he is responsible for its solution. Yes, it’s still a “company”, not an operator, but it’s much better.But the difference between streamlined wording and specifics is simply huge:: « - RUCLOUD () . VDS . .
. VDS ».
: « - RUCLOUD () . - VDS . . VDS . ».
That is, if we know the protagonist, then we need to leave the passive voice: “it was done” - “we did it”, “the server will be turned on when ...” - “we will turn on the server when ...” and so on.Passive voice- - (« »), (« »). , . « » « - ». . .
As it turned out, a passive voice was in almost every ticket. In the case of more complex examples, he turns our normal meanings into complex readable constructions. And to avoid this is easy.Examples
It was:"Dear Customer! Your server was blocked due to the placement of the KPortScan3.exe program on the server, the activity of which is prohibited in accordance with the terms of Appendix 1 to the Public Offer Agreement, clauses 2.3 and 2.4. The server is unlocked. Uninstall the program. "
What's wrong?- There is no handshake characteristic of etiquette: if this is the first message, then you need to say hello.
- We remove the passive voice.
- There is no explanation why the server was blocked, how to unlock it.
- There is no next step for the user.
It became:Good afternoon! We had to block your server due to the KPortScan3.exe program installed on it, which violates the terms of Appendix 1 to the Public Offer Agreement, clauses 2.3 and 2.4.
To unlock the server, please:
- Fill in all fields of personal and contact information.
- Confirm the specified personal and contact details with documents by sending us a scan copy or passport photo on the pages with your full name and place of residence.
- Describe in detail the intended purposes of using the server: the software installed on it and a description of their actions.
- Remove the program from the server that caused the VPS to be blocked.
Thank!
The peculiarity is that we do not see what is happening in the OS on VDS, but our service can detect malicious activity on virtual machines according to certain patterns. Of course, false positives are not ruled out: “KPortScan3.exe” can turn out to be both a program falling under the prohibitions of the license agreement and peaceful software.It was: Dear Customer!
The inability to generate a new password from your personal account follows from three possible options:
- The server is turned off or the OS does not work on it.
- The Hyper-v Server Manager (for Windows) or VPS-Guard (for Linux) service, which is responsible for generating new passwords, is not running.
- Port number 28795 of the new password generation service is closed by a firewall.
In this case, only two options are possible: you can recall the password that you set, or we can recreate the server with the current hard drive connected to it to transfer data.
In this case, you will receive a clean OS on the server, it will be necessary to perform all the settings and administration again. You can also transfer your data to start working.
It became:Hello!
If you cannot generate a new password, then there are only three options why:
- The server is turned off or the OS does not work on it.
- The Hyper-v Server Manager service (VPS-Guard, if the server uses Linux), which is responsible for generating new passwords, is not running.
- The port 28795 of the new password generation service is closed by the firewall.
If you can’t remember your password in any way, we can recreate the server and connect the current hard drive to it to transfer data.
At the same time, the server will have a clean OS, you will have to reconfigure everything and transfer your data.
Write if you still decide to recreate the server.
What is the difference? Instead of just bringing the bad news: “You are a fool. If you can’t remember the password, then everything is lost, remember, ”we offer help and an alternative solution to the problem. We warn what disadvantages he has, we suggest writing, if you still decide.It was:Dear Customer!
We cannot recommend that you disable the firewall for security reasons.
For example, the Wannacry ransomware virus, if it detected an open SMB port, did not wait for an invitation and simply encrypted the entire contents of the disk. To get infected, you don’t even need to run suspicious .exe files, but you can just turn off the firewall, which the system does not allow.
You can always open any port on the firewall for any protocol if you need to install a network service on your server. There is no need to disable the entire firewall.
What is wrong here? The tone of a strict teacher. I hate it! And customers also feel it. Just explain our actions:!
.
- Wannacry, SMB, . , .exe-, . .
, . .
We hope that we were able to answer your question and convinced you not to disable the firewall. Here is a knowledge base article on how to open a separate port. If you still want to disable the firewall, then please confirm the action in the response message.
There is also a nuance. Support staff can leave notes about the client, and if it is clear that this is not only the owner of a large business, but also a former Linux admin, the dialogue will be in the spirit: "Disconnected, but just in case, remind."It was:Dear Customer!
Unfortunately, transferring funds between accounts is not possible. Only return possible.
Refunds are made in accordance with paragraph 5.5 of the Agreement within 10 business days with a deduction of 10% of the amount to replenishment accounts.
To apply
- Log in to your account.
- Delete all your servers.
- In a free form, write a request in the feedback form.
Everything seems to be good here, but there is an important point. We often ask to make a request for some action with an account or server directly through the feedback form. This is not very convenient for the user, so we began to explain why we complicate his life: the site is well-authorized, thanks to this we are sure that the request is really made by the account owner. This is especially important when requesting a withdrawal of money. It became:Hello!
Unfortunately, we cannot transfer money between accounts.
The only way to transfer the amount from one account to another is to issue a refund and put the money on another balance. This is not the fastest procedure, but if you are ready, write a request for a refund through the feedback form in your account.
We ask you to do this through the form on the site to be sure that scammers are not trying to withdraw money from your balance.
We have from time to time 30-ruble tariffs on weak hardware appearing on the stock. When they are not there and the client puts a ticket, the answer looks like this:Dear Customer!
“Cheap VPS” is not available for order.
It is necessary to do all the previous exercises: apply; explain what is happening; take the next step (here we offer an alternative or give a promotional code so that it is not offensive). Hello!
The server at the “Cheap VPS” tariff may have restrictions for ordering. If you try to order a server, you have a different amount displayed, then the server for 30 rubles has ended and is no longer available. So that you do not get upset, we give you a 30% discount on the promotional code ***. It works for all other servers, including promos. The promotional code is cumulative with other discounts.
What happened in practice
From the point of view of commerce, any work with support is either additional training or an increase in the number of operators. An easy way to reduce the number of operators is to make ready-made response templates for repeated tickets. The problem with templates is that people understand that these are templates. We simply rewrote the existing sets of ready-made answers in human language. 90% of tickets are recurring, so just rewriting the templates in the direction of greater clarity and humanity helped. Making more templates was also very useful, because it helps to get rid of common phrases.We started to write in more detail, give more specifics, talk about our next step or help the client with his next step, have become easier and more humane. All this affected the support work so far in the form of a much better mood in the responses to the tickets. Employees were often thanked after closing, which in the past years were isolated cases.Atypical cases remainOften the client feels like in this joke.:
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This feeling of hitting your head against a wall comes at a time when you describe the problem in detail, and you are answered with a template from the first line. Well, you know, when calling a provider: “Have you tried to restart?”The main task of the first-line employee is to understand in time that this is something extraordinary , and not to send the template in the spirit: “Try turning it on and off”. This is also solved, but more difficult. But we have some groundwork for doing this. If you want us to talk about how support for VDS hosting looks like, what customers are knocking at, what problems we solve and what can go wrong - tell me. We will tell.