What Is Customer Support Operations?

In today's world, the customer is truly king. Providing top-notch customer support is critical for retaining customers and increasing revenue. In fact, according to research, 58% of customers are willing to pay more to receive a better customer experience. 

With numbers like that, it's clear that investing in customer support and CX is more critical than ever. That's where customer support operations come in. In this article, we’ll break down everything you need to know about customer support operations and how they can help your business succeed.

What are customer support operations?

At the forefront of every customer-centric business lies a team of dedicated individuals who make it their mission to ensure that the customer support team is equipped with everything they need to carry out their roles smoothly and effectively. This team is known as the customer support operations team, and their goal is to provide an optimal environment where the customer support team can excel in assisting customers with their needs.

To achieve this objective, the customer support operations team strives to establish and maintain processes, policies, and technologies that improve the customer support team's work efficiency in delivering timely and satisfactory resolutions. They also keep a close eye on industry trends and customer feedback to identify areas that could benefit from improvements and upgrades.

What kind of companies should set up a customer support operations team?

Does your company need a customer support operations team? If your company falls into one of these categories, they should consider setting up a customer support operations team:

• Companies with high customer volume
• Companies with complex products or services
• Companies in the tech industry
• Companies with multiple support channels
• Companies with international customers
• Companies struggling with customer satisfaction

Overall, any company that values customer service and wants to provide high-quality support should consider setting up a customer support operations team. 

What are the different customer support operations roles?

So, what exactly is a customer support operations team comprised of? Here are the most common customer support operations roles:

• Operations Manager: oversees the entire support operations team and ensures everything runs smoothly.
• Support Analyst: analyzes data and provides insights to improve support operations.
• Quality Assurance Analyst: monitors and assesses the quality of customer interactions with support agents.
• Knowledge Manager: responsible for creating and maintaining a knowledge base of support articles and resources.
• Training Specialist: ensures that all support agents receive proper training and ongoing education.
• Workflow Coordinator: manages workflows and ensures that support tickets are adequately prioritized and assigned.

What are the responsibilities of a customer support operations manager?

The customer support operations manager is the leader of the customer support team. They are responsible for tasks such as:

• Overseeing the day-to-day activities of the customer support team
• Developing and implementing policies and procedures to ensure effective customer service
• Analyzing customer service data and metrics to identify areas for improvement
• Creating and managing customer support training programs for new and existing team members
• Monitoring customer feedback and identifying trends and patterns
• Handling customer complaints and escalations
• Collaborating with other departments to ensure a seamless customer experience
• Developing and managing the customer support budget
• Setting and achieving customer support KPIs and goals

What skills do I need to have a career in customer support operations?

If you're interested in a career in customer support operations, you should have the following skills and qualifications:

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills
• Ability to think critically and problem-solve quickly
• Patience and understanding when dealing with customers
• Familiarity with customer service tools such as CRM systems
• Knowledge of customer service best practices and procedures

However, depending on the specific role, you may need additional skills and experience, such as management skills or proficiency with a particular software program. Therefore, it is essential to research the job requirements before applying for any customer support operations role.

Benefits of having a customer support operations setup

Now that you know what customer support operations are and the roles involved, you may wonder why companies should bother setting up a team. Here are some benefits of having a dedicated customer support operations setup:

Can help you scale your customer support team efficiently

Having a customer support operations setup can help scale a customer support team efficiently by allowing the team to be organized and consistent in their support efforts. This can include implementing standard operating procedures for handling customer inquiries, prioritizing and delegating tasks, and providing clear guidelines for communication and escalation. 

With these practices in place, the team can handle a larger volume of customer concerns without sacrificing quality or customer satisfaction, ultimately leading to a more efficient scaling of the team for long-term growth.

Can help integrate data into your customer support processes

Customer support operations can help integrate data into your customer support processes by providing a centralized system for tracking and analyzing customer interactions. By storing all customer data, interactions, and support tickets in one place, the support team can easily access and reference relevant information for each customer inquiry. 

Can help you structure your customer support team properly

Customer support operations can help structure a customer support team properly by providing clear roles and responsibilities, establishing communication channels, and defining processes for handling customer inquiries. With a well-structured support team, each team member can focus on their specific tasks, communicate efficiently with other team members, and provide consistent and high-quality support to customers. 

Can help you improve customer support workflows

Customer support workflows are essential for keeping customer support teams organized and efficient. By creating standardized and automated workflows where possible, the team can quickly address customer inquiries without sacrificing quality or accuracy.

Customer support operations can help improve these processes by mapping out each workflow step, implementing the necessary tools and technology to facilitate ticket handling, and training the team on the best practices for each step.

Can help you improve customer support processes

Many times, your customer support processes may not be optimized for efficiency. By leveraging customer support operations, you can improve these processes by utilizing data-driven insights to identify areas of improvement, implementing automated workflows where possible, and providing detailed training to the team on best practices.

Can analyze the performance of your customer support team and come up with actionable recommendations

There's always room to improve when it comes to customer support. A customer support operations team can help analyze the performance of your support agents and provide actionable recommendations on how to improve.

Can analyze customer feedback and make recommendations

One of the best ways to understand how customers perceive your customer support is to ask them directly. A customer support operations team can analyze customer feedback and provide recommendations on how to improve.

Can reduce churn rate

Your churn rate is the number of customers who stop using your product or service. A customer support operations team can help reduce this rate by providing training to help your customer support team, optimizing ticket resolution times, improving customer communication channels, and offering informative FAQs and other self-help materials.

Can improve customer satisfaction

Customer support operations are crucial in improving customer satisfaction by providing support and an ideal environment for the customer support team, enabling quick resolutions, maintaining high standards of service quality, and ensuring prompt responses to customer queries. Resolving the root cause of customer complaints, empowering support staff with proper training and resources, and proactive communication helps businesses provide prompt, reliable, and consistent service to customers while building trust and loyalty.

Helps you understand your customers

Lastly, customer support operations can provide valuable insights into who your customers are and what they need. By gathering data on customer demographics, preferences, buying patterns, and more, your business can gain a better understanding of the customers you're serving and how to improve their experience with your brand.

Wrapping things up

Customer support operations teams are at the forefront of the effort to create exceptional customer experiences, providing support agents with everything they need to deliver timely and satisfactory resolutions. Companies that have high customer volume, complex products or services, operate in the tech industry, have multiple support channels, have international customers, or struggle with customer satisfaction should consider setting up a customer support operations team.

The benefits of having a dedicated customer support operations setup include the ability to scale customer support teams efficiently, integrate data into customer support processes, structure customer support teams properly, improve customer support workflows, and analyze team performance to make actionable recommendations.