Customer service 2.0
Raju Vegesna August 6, 2007 01: 06 pm
Many Zoho users ask us why we provide good customer service even for free users.
I’ve seen many vendors who don’t support their free users….just because they don’t pay. They don’t recognize the time the free users investing on the product….and if the product is in Beta, they are worth even more. Other vendors give away the product and charge for support - I personally dislike that model.
We truly think customer service should not be an paid option, but an integral part of the product offering, even if it’s free. It is for this reason we include a ‘Feedback’ link for every Zoho application that’ll put you in touch directly with our developers - not just the support staff, but developers who really need to know how the product is being used.
Apart from the ‘Feedback’ link, every Zoho application has a very active discussion forums (again, with a link from every app). Our Zoho Meeting team is one step ahead as they include a ‘Live Support’ link inside the app where you can chat (ofcourse Zoho Chat) with some one from our Meeting team if they are online. Also, we try to be very reachable. You’ll find my contact information (including my mobile number) sitting on our Contact Us section.
We truly believe, good customer service is essential for maintaining a relationship with the customer. It is important for the company and the customer. The quote in our About us section says it all.
A customer is the most important visitor on our premises.
He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him.
He is not an interruption in our work - he is the purpose of it.
We are not doing him a favour by serving him. He is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to serve him.
Customer Service will be a key differentiator for Zoho. What are your thoughts on this? Do you agree that customer service should be part of the application offering?
Popularity: 2% [?]
I agree customer service should be at the forefront of any endeavor, unfortunately, ZOHO’s customer service is terrible. I would not recommend ZOHO to anyone that needs its CRM capabilities for anything other than a 2 person start-up. The outlook plug-in is not user friendly and does not serve its purpose. We used to use Salesforce and believe we will be returning to Salesforce even though the cost is much higher than Zoho.