” 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.

So, what qualities do you want in a modern customer support person? This will vary for your business, but here are a few tips to keep in mind.

Personality Type- should be friendly, open minded and ability to think quick:

Although no one is going to know the product as well as the person who made it, a support person will need to know the best place to find the answers for all the wacky questions customers come up with. They will also need a cool temper to work through some of the more abrasive users when they get unhappy.

A person who is savvy to what your product is and the technology you’re using:

If you’re a web developer, you’ll probably want to hire a support person who knows how to use the internet. Seems simple, but it gets over looked often. Ok, so that example was a little extreme, but the bottom line is true. If your product is on the internet, then your customers will be using the internet to ask for help when they need it. You’ll need a support person who is good at communicating through writing. If your product is sold through a catalog, and takes phone orders, then your support person will need to be able to communicate well on the phone.

Finally, someone who is willing to take charge and stay organized:

You’re hiring a support person, so you can get back to what you do best, make stuff. That means the support person will be the first to see any red flags that customers are reporting. They’ll need to stay organized to communicate with you the problems when things go wrong. They also need to step up and take responsibility of reporting when an issue needs more attention than they can give.

Hiring someone you’re comfortable with to represent your company is an important decision. A decision that’s the first step in growing your product and keeping your users / customers happy and coming back for more.