Many companies view customer support as a COST center. But, we believe that's a very short sighted view. Instead, customer support should be viewed as a chance to interact with your customers - and a chance to convert difficult customers into your biggest fans.  Having a lot of fans is a good way to increase your marketing reach for very little additional cost!

However, that's not the topic for today's article. Instead, we're going to propose a couple of more direct methods that you can use in your customer support operations to add incremental revenue to your business.

Method #1:  Market with your ticket resolution message

You know that email that automatically goes out to your customer stating that a ticket was closed?  Its usually short - and sometimes very ugly.  How about making it one of your best looking emails instead?  For customers who are happy with your resolution, its a nice chance to offer a look at a new product or a discount code or even just a reminder to visit your store.  You just might be surprised how many of them click through - as long as you make a good offer!

Method #2: Market with your support manuals and FAQ pages

A good place to show-off your additional product offerings without being overly intrusive is the right hand side of your documentation and FAQ or other help pages.  Just because a customer is looking for help does not mean that they don't want to know what else you have to offer.  Just don't make it the dominant item on the page.  Use 25% of the page at most to create a column on the right to showcase new products, make offers of discount codes etc.

Bonus Idea

For some companies, offering faster support can be a revenue stream.  Many users expect a delay of 24-48 hours before receiving a response to a support ticket.  However, there is a small portion of users who are willing to pay a premium for faster support on a one-off basis.  So, if you're willing and able to occasionally offer 4 or 8 hour response times along with a little bit of phone support in return for a $75 - $100.00 up-charge, then you can add a nice kicker to your bottom line.  Just make sure you offer a refund if, for some reason, you were not able to live up to the service level agreement that you committed to.