The 5 levels of tech support

Technical support is not easy.

Depending on the needs of your users, it could be handled by email, live chat, knowledge bases, or even by phone.

In addition to being available on a variety of platforms, a structured support system will also be divided into 5 distinct levels. These levels include 5 pre-support, self-service, first-line support, the second line support, and emergency, a third support line.

1. Pre-support

In the pre-Internet era, if people had a question of product, they asked family and friends, they referenced the owner manual. Today, your users just 'Google' it.

And that means that most of your customers will browse the web looking for answers before contacting you. Some of your users will be huge advocates of your products and offer incredible insight on how to make the most of them and help others solve problems.

Sounds great, right?

Well, on paper, yes.

But, it is important to remember that for every good review, there could be many customers complain that do not have their problems solved and are too willing to share their experience on this line.

With this in mind, it is important to see the online forums, social media, and the comments of the site as the first line of defense. As a company, you should be on proactively search these channels to control the conversation, guide users to your own system of support, and help everyone happy.

2. Self-Service

The next level of support is to enable self-service users and is run by self-help wikis, FAQs and knowledge bases. For many users, this is a quick and easy alternative to contact a help desk and wait for a response by email.

Having a self-service site level can solve the most common queries and first free online support for more in-depth and complex issues.

3. The first support line (human contact)

Unfortunately, FAQs and knowledge bases can not answer everything.

Sometimes users need to talk to a human being.

For many customers, the first support line is the first point of contact with a person of your company.

concentrated first-line support on most common issues (you can save, learn, and use to update your knowledge base).

the technical support staff at this level have a basis for the general understanding of the product or service but do not always concern the skills to solve complex problems. Nevertheless, the objective of this group is to manage 70-80% of user problems before finding it necessary to refer the matter to a higher level.

Most of the questions here will be handled by the mail carrier, but the problems become more complex, users are beginning to turn their attention to the hotline

4. Second support line (complex issues)

At this stage, the problems become more complex.

Especially since end-users are increasingly savvy technology each year.

In fact, the New York Times revealed that 73% of technical support managers said the complexity of support calls increases because customers have become more technologically sophisticated and can solve simple problems themselves.

This means that 25-30% of the requests of technical support that could not be addressed in the first line of support, be there in the second row and are much more complicated. It requires staff with product knowledge to handle these requests for support in-depth and provide technical advice - and the ability to talk to users by phone to help them find a solution.

But sometimes even these applications require expertise more.

5. The third line support (Custom Media)

This is the pinnacle of technical support for the vast majority of customers.

third line support deals with outliers which pre-support for a second-level set could not handle, which means that the third line technical support is likely to be managed by a designated superuser, or someone even your R & D department