An MSP Guide to Improving Customer Experience

Last Updated on April 28, 2023

As technology advances, people want things faster, better, and available at all times. For companies that depend on online systems, an IT failure could cause serious financial loss if not resolved quickly and professionally. This is why MSPs were born.

The global managed service market is growing at a breakneck speed. Back in 2019, it was worth US$178.5 billion and it is expected to reach US$309.4 billion by 2025. Companies rely more and more on MSPs to take the reins of IT services so they can use the extra time to focus purely on their business.

MSPs are responsible for setting up IT platforms and support infrastructure. They take ownership of continuing integration, cloud security, device management, and researching new hardware and software for their clients.

However, with so much engineering in mind, it can be hard to forget about creating positive customer experiences. Luckily, we have compiled a guide to help keep your business running and your clients satisfied.

Types of support MSPs provide 

The backbone of any company is to build a great customer support team. You should solve issues quickly, and support channels should adapt to your clients’ needs. Features like 24-hour support, remote access and control, or self-service portals are desirable and can make the difference.

You should not try to implement every single support system. Remember that you will need to run frequent exploratory software testing for each channel, so you should only provide what you can sustain. Make sure you select the platforms that best adapt to you and your clients. Here are the three most popular support services that MSPs are using.  

Self-service portal

A self-service portal enables clients to access FAQ sections and tutorials to help them solve recurring issues. It should also provide access to existing tickets so the client is always on-track. This gives you time to solve the more complicated queries.

Helpdesk software 

This type of software allows customer service reps to communicate with clients easily through different channels. Helpdesk software is a user-friendly system that helps keep track of client requests and navigate issues.

Live webchat

When dealing with complicated IT issues, a phone call may not be the best option for some people. That is why webchats are ideal. They allow clients to share their screens or send screenshots over, making it easier for both parties.

What is customer experience? 

Customer experience (also known as CX) is the answer to the question: ‘How do your customers feel about your brand?’. This englobes every interaction a client has had with your company, from purchasing one of your products to talking to a customer service agent.

CX is considered one of the most important things to look after in a company. After all, a customer’s impression and opinion of a brand can impact sales, loyalty, and reviews. MSPs should do everything to deliver the best customer experience and keep clients satisfied.

How to measure customer experience 

Some companies struggle to keep track of their customer experience because there isn’t a button that generates an exact CX percentage or rate. There are great Google analytics tips and tricks you can follow to keep track of your website and software. However, it is all about analyzing the company as a whole to determine how satisfied our average client is.

Customer satisfaction surveys 

If we are looking at measuring customer experience, it would not make much sense if we did not ask customers first. To find out how your clients feel about your services, you can prepare a customer satisfaction survey and share it with them.

By allowing clients to express themselves freely, you can find out how they feel about your services. This can help you understand which areas you may need to improve or work on. Asking customers to fill in a satisfaction survey is also a great way of making them feel appreciated and valued.

When you get the surveys back, it is time to analyze the results and get an overview of what is working and what is not. Remember to be critical about your services. It is important to listen to what customers have to say.

Ask customers for suggestions 

Did you know that acquiring a new customer is 5 times more expensive than maintaining an existing one? If this does not prove that you should value your customer’s opinions, we do not know what will. A forum or online suggestion box can be a great way of involving clients.

You can dedicate a link to suggestions in the intranet so people can comfortably leave any comments. Remember that it is not about implementing every single suggestion you receive, but you should keep an eye on recurring topics and hear out what your loyal clients have to say.

Find out what the recurring issues are

An alternative to asking directly for opinions and suggestions is to look at the data you already have. You can analyze your customer support tickets to compile a list of the most frequent problems your clients face. If you find out the root cause of these issues and solve them, your total number of tickets will decrease and your customer satisfaction will rocket.

By solving these recurring issues, you will have more time to anticipate future errors. You can do this by implementing agile exploratory testing your team will be able to respond to any changes or glitches quickly and easily.

How to secure a great customer experience?

Unfortunately, we have not yet found a secret recipe to ensure customers are always happy and satisfied. It is a matter of patience and dedication. If we perfect our customer service and constantly upgrade our services and systems, we will make the customer journey more comfortable and positive. 

Strengthen your contact center

An MSP’s mission is to take the weight of IT issues off a company’s back and give them back the time to perform other essential tasks. A poor contact center only makes a client’s life uncomfortable and complicated. If we offer phone, email, and chat support, we should have the foundations to help people quickly and swiftly.

An effective way of doing this is by training your engineers as software and systems evolve. It is also important to review call quality frequently by implementing different quality assurance methods. This makes sure any errors are addressed before they can be repeated.

Manage expectations 

The best way to achieve a positive customer experience is to be transparent. You should consider your staff capacity and your usual volume of queries. Even though you may want to provide 24-hour responses for tickets, this may not be realistic for your company.

You can build an informative Help section and encourage people to use self-service tools for easier queries. You may also want to categorize different types of issues into different communication channels. If customers only contact you via email, this could cause soft and hard email bounces, which can be very frustrating for customers with urgent issues.

Set up clear roles for your employees

Not only do you need to direct your agents to different channels and services, but your technicians should also know exactly what their role is. Depending on their expertise and experience, they should be doing call-handling or resolving the most complicated tickets. By building strong teams and defining clear tasks, you will ensure a great customer experience.

How to escalate tickets well 

Your MSP’s ticket system should work like clockwork. Tickets are not something that can be improvised or thrown together. There should be a rigorous plan to solve different types of tickets. Implementing tags or categories can be a great way for tickets to go through to specific teams. 

Technicians should also be able to classify tickets into different priorities. This ensures critical tickets are solved before any other less urgent ones. It is also the technicians’ responsibility to update ticket statuses accordingly. If there is a call back needed or the ticket has been resolved, the platform should move the tickets around.

Customer reviews

When it comes to investing money and trust into a company, we have all dived online to research what others are saying about it. A good online reputation is key to your MSP’s success. Almost nine out of ten consumers around the world read reviews before buying products.

As much as we like positive reviews and compliments, we also need to deal with the negative ones. You should not take criticism personally, as it can stop you from focusing on what is important. You should promote empathetic customer service so you can solve the reviewer’s dissatisfaction.

Create quality culture

The last thing you should study is how to create a quality culture. This is a collective working behavior where all employees try to achieve the best results. If the company has a strong structure and is well organized, the work environment is perfect to motivate employees to give their best. 

When building your team you should look for certain innate skills. An eye for detail, strong soft skills, and great communication skills are traits you should keep an eye on. If employees have these natural abilities, it will be easier to train and motivate them.

Why CX is crucial for MSPs

Some business owners will think that taking care of customers is only important to increase revenue and sell more products. However, MSPs also depend on their client satisfaction to survive and grow. Here are some of the reasons why customer experience shapes an MSPs journey to success.

Increase your revenue

It has been found that a completely satisfied customer contributes almost three times more than a somewhat satisfied one. This could be one of the most surprising advantages of adopting a customer-centric strategy.

Yes, an MSP’s goal is not to sell. But just like a selling platform works on its ecommerce usability to increase sales, you should do all that is in your hands to attract customers into hiring your services.

Word of mouth is your strongest ally

The overall customer satisfaction score for US businesses is 74.4%. If we want to climb above average, we must be self-critical. Online reviews are a great way of checking what others are saying about us. If we use them correctly, they can also help us grow.

This is why we should make reviews our allies, not our enemies. Customer advocacy is extremely important to attracting new clients. This can be done through dedicated review sites or a social media campaign that centers around user-generated content

Fight off the competition

Building a reputation in a highly competitive market is not easy. You have to use every tool you have to make potential clients notice you. Providing an excellent customer experience is just the tool you need to empower your business.

If your clients notice that you take care of them like no other MSP does, you will have loyal clients for life. At the end of the day, a company that makes you feel comfortable and safe is all you need to choose between one MSP or another.

Be certain in times of uncertainty

The COVID-19 outbreak has brought a lot of uncertainty. Businesses around the world are learning to remotely manage everything. Others have had to close their businesses in the face of economic difficulties. It has now been confirmed that during a crisis, human connections are the most important thing.

Being able to rely on an expert hand has become more necessary than ever. Clients trust MSPs to take the weight of IT issues off their shoulders. We should be the solution to their problems, not an extra problem to worry about. 

Final thoughts

If you thought customer satisfaction is not important for an MSP, we hope you now understand why it can make or break your business. Make sure you analyze and keep track of your clients’ opinions, either by sending them surveys or checking review sites frequently.

Save this guide to come back to it whenever you think you are not offering the best customer experience that you can.

Author’s Bio: Kate Passby is the Head of Marketing at Global App Testing, a trusted and leading end-to-end automated mobile app testing solution for QA challenges. Kate has over 8 years of experience in the field of marketing, helping brands achieve exceptional growth. She has extensive knowledge on brand development, lead and demand generation, and marketing strategy — driving business impact at its best.