There are two kinds of customer support.
- Reactive customer support
- Proactive customer support
When you help an user fix their problem once they reach out on email, phone, SMS, or any other medium you offer support on, that’s reactive customer support.
On the other hand, when you identify product loopholes and reach out to the customer with a resolution before they notice it, that’s proactive customer support.
“We had wrongly charged Rs.28.35 in your previous trip because of satellite tolls, we have credited back Rs.28.35 to your charged card/account. If you have taken a cash trip please check for credits in your Uber app.”
Uber had sent that over email two days ago, and that’s a classic example of offering proactive customer support. 💯
This infographic by Freshdesk shows how the two stack up against each other.
This also reminds me of this webinar I attended a while ago, again by Freshdesk, with best practices on how to offer proactive customer support.