Okay I will have live chat, email, and phone information on my site for support issues. Do you know if having a "trouble ticket" or similar option is important. I think I am satisfied with what I have decided on but I want to make sure I am not missing something that customers prefer over these options.

Well, "trouble ticket" is really just a fancy name for managed incoming and outgoing support-related emails. Systems that assign ticket numbers and manage email are handy but really add mostly to your experience as a supporter as opposed to your clients' experience as a supportee.

I think customers do appreciate trackable trouble tickets. Not knowing what progress is being made to resolve an issue can turn UGLY, especially if the resolution becomes drawn out.

Thank you for that insight. I had not thought about the trouble ticket being trackable and more up to date as far as the client's perspective. I will go on and look into adding a trouble ticket system.

One other advantage to the trouble tickets is that a user can review past incidents. Often a user will ask how to do something that they may have had done a year ago (or more). It's very easy for them to re-read a previous ticket and get the answer.

Knowing that someone is working on something is a big benefit for a central system. Being able to see if the issue was actually resolved (both from your end and the customer) is what we mainly keep it for. Having a central system allows any staff member to update the ticket too.

Even if you're only one person, I'd go with tickets so that you never get the email of "I emailed you, didn't you get it?" - with a ticket system they can see online whether you got it or not.

Wouldn't it be awesome to avoid those type of emails and I hadn't thought for even a moment about how they could easily return to their previous tickets for refresher support as I call it. Thanks again for more awesome tips!

Having a helpdesk is definitely better than having email support, which is really untrackable and could turn out to be really bad, once you have got a lot of support tickets.

That is exactly what I am trying to avoid and why this is a really great option for me to add and an overall solution for many of the issues I was worried about.

Some web hosting service companies will take care of triuvble ticket fo ages and some of them will take care of non trouble within few mins. So that is the question not on how that is called but what the company behind it

I'm not sure I follow what you are saying. Do you mean that some companies are very slow to respond to various tickets? If so then that is wrong. Each ticket should be acknowledged and worked in a timely manner. Customer service should be a top priority.

I think a tickets system is an essential thing to have when running a hosting company...

A ticket system for your clients to be able to request support is a must, IMHO. As others have stated, it will benefit both you and your clients, greatly.

I agree with the others on a ticket system. This will help you keep track of the issues your customers have and if there are recurring issues.

I would much rather have my support ticket system full of a client knowledge base (for clients to look back on) than having my already overgrown inbox too full.

Most clients also love the idea that many ticket systems are setup now to allow via email replies (on their end).

Good support system is a must for hosting company i think - if not having third-party helpdesk/livechat than email based ticketing system is best choice - especially for smaller companies where reply can take more than few minutes (required on livechat) - an agile one with you'd like to use.