Setting customer expectations is important. And a big part of good customer service is being able to respond to your customers’ issues quickly and efficiently. It is a huge mistake however, to tell people you’ll get back to them faster than you’re physically able. If you’re the only person doing support, you’re going to have to take in consideration that you need to eat and sleep during the day. Maybe even make time for the family once in a while. The page where your customers go to get support for you product, it’s good to give them a time-line where they can expect to hear back from you. Also, keeping in mind that the internet exists in different time zones from where you are, it’s good to note the time zone as well. Here’s a good example:

” We’re here to help 9am – 5pm EST Monday through Friday. You should hear back from us within 24 hours, most times it will be much quicker. ”

That gives you enough of a cushion if there are some issues in your inbox that call for serious attention. If for some reason you’re having trouble getting to your issues, make sure you drop the customers an email. One little email from you reassuring them their questions/comments have been heard, and you will respond, will save you the headache of a thread of emails asking why you haven’t responded yet.

Another good practice that will help you sort out your issues, is giving the customers a place to categorize their request. A good example would be DreamHost’s support forms. When you submit an issue to them, there are options to indicate if it’s just a question or comment, or something is seriously broken and needs immediate attention.

The better communication you have with your customers, the smoother everything will be. Happy people all around.