Live help desks are too annoying

Web hosts, take note! Anyone who has ever bought something online, particularly domains or hosting, is familiar with online chat. Usually you visit a site only to be immediately accosted by about a dozen pop-up chat boxes.

Rick, Peter, and Catherine are always giddy to serve me. But I’m never that giddy about seeing their fake names and faces flash up in front of me unexpectedly. It’s just like walking in the store and being barraged by salesmen.

It is understandable that companies need a way to help customers with questions. Why not provide an actual support number? How about you have a chat box, but include a large-font note saying, “Click here for instant support.” I’d much rather this than an annoying pop-up.

The Importance of Web Hosting Support

When shopping around for a good web hosting provider, you want to make sure the host you choose puts a substantial emphasis on support. Although your website might be perfectly fine most of the time, it only takes one incident of trouble to realize your web host is nowhere to be found. Lack of quality support can be detrimental to your website and expensive, if you run a business.

It is crucial to your website’s success to have a host that offers support, and having a wide variety of support options to choose from is certainly a plus. Some useful support options are:

Email – Check for low response time. You don’t want a host that takes a week to answer emails.

Support tickets – Similar to email, response time is critical.

Chat – Some hosts offer online chat directly from their websites. Test it out to see how often they are online and how quickly they offer support.

Telephone – Although phone communication is less common these days, it is still needed. When you call, do you get a recording, a call center, or an actual technician?

Knowledge base and/or FAQ – Whether it takes the form of a wiki or some other publication, a web host can save itself and you a lot of time by publishing answers to frequently asked questions.

Forums and Community – Big hosts have the advantage of having a large body of users. Some provide forums so that those users can communicate and support each other. Sometimes, this is even faster than traditional support methods.

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Managed or unmanaged dedicated server hosting?

When shopping for a dedicated server, one decision customers are faced with is what type of support they need: managed or unmanaged. Choosing the right one is critical for your server, but there’s often a huge difference in price between the two.

As the name implies, managed hosting means the server provider takes care of everything for you. The services available vary from host to host, but will always include traditional server administration tasks like installing software, system reboots, and hardware installation as well as security and general maintenance. Managed hosting is the preferred route for most first-time dedicated server owners, but with the helping hand comes additional costs.

For the faint of heart or experienced server admins, good deals can often be had on unmanaged servers. With this support option, the provider will install the operating system you request and leave the rest to you. You will need to install all necessary software for your site to run, troubleshoot any problems (except hardware malfunctions), secure your server from hackers, and make sure everything stays up-to-date.
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Get Support Queries Answered Faster

No matter how few domains you own or what web host you use, at one point or another you will have an issue that requires the attention of tech support. It may just be a simple question, or your website may have gone down. Either way, chances are good you want a quick reply. While this is to always been expected from your registrar or web host, there are steps you can take to ensure your support query is answered as fast as possible:

1. Be specific.
Support personnel need all the facts in order for an issue to be fixed quickly. What is the problem? When did it first start? Is there anything you could have done to influence the problem? What steps have you already taken to try and fix the issue? What is the error message and number? If applicable, what operating system and web browser do you use?

Answering these questions can help support staff quickly rule out possibilities. If they don’t have to ask you or look around for basic information, the problem will be fixed faster.

2. Tell it like it is.
Nearly all support ticket systems require you to select the severity of the problem from a drop-down menu. Available choices might range from low to high, or non-essential to critical. If asked the priority of your issue, be honest. Filing a “critical” support request because you forgot your FTP login will just aggravate tech support and possibly delay resolution.

Many support systems also ask you to choose a category such as “Sales” or “Domains” when filing a request. Make sure you pick the right one.

3. Be polite.
In a perfect world, everything would work flawlessly. No one likes it when things break and getting down to the root of some problems can be frustrating. However, there is no excuse for being rude. Escalating tensions will just make the problem harder to solve, and if you’re polite, technicians will be more willing to go the extra mile to resolve your issue.

Photo: Flickr