Web Hosting Customer Support
One aspect to consider when looking at the best web hosting providers is what type of customer support is available. Most will offer either one or a combination of the following options – email, online help, or phone support. Each has pluses and minuses, but depending on your own preferences and needs, you will want to consider which option will be of most help when you need it.
Email customer support is the cheapest and in many ways, least effective in terms of answering your questions. You can’t rely on an immediate response which can cause some frustration if you are trying to solve a problem plaguing you at that moment. You also don’t have the luxury of the immediate back and forth dialogue that may be needed to answer your questions. The upside is that it’s available 24/7 and for simple answers that can wait until tomorrow – it’s completely useful.
Online help includes live chat, tutorials, help pages or troubleshooting, even forums or message boards. It’s an effective and efficient answer for people who are generally comfortable with navigating their way around the computer but need directions on a specific task. The upside is that help is immediate, and easy to access and understand – particularly if the web host has a well organized knowledgebase or for someone who is fairly tech-minded.
The downside is there is no personal touch. Aside from live chat which can also divert you to help pages, you are working with a computer not a person. For some this is a plus, but for most it can be a pain.
The other solution is phone support. The most ideal set-up is 24/7 phone support so your worries can be put to rest whether it is regular business hours or not. The big bonus here is you get to talk to real live support personnel and if you can understand a word they are saying, then it’s an immediate and personalized fix for your problems.
But understand just because you know what type of hosting customer support your web host offers doesn’t necessarily answer the question of whether or not it’s helpful. To know for sure, test the waters – make a few phone calls, fire off a few emails, ask a few online questions and see if you like the results.
