I'd have to agree with the ticket system, with email piping. This covers both direct email and ticket management all in one.

I do feel a ticket system is the best method, however i think other methods should not be discounted, for example, the phone gives your customers a more personal feel, on the other hand live chat is also a good method, however i would only recommend it for sales as it is unethical to supply support using live chat.

I feel forums play a big part, it brings a hosts customers together - they can have there downsides, however i feel there are more upsides to it - i would however advise against a forum unless you have a fair few customers, there is nothing worse than going onto a site with 2 or 3 members tops in the forums IMO.

Unethical? How? I see it as quite likely inefficient, but unethical?

I personally can not see how a company can give support over live chat, however yes i agree my wording was a little wrong there and inefficient is a better word for it.

Live-chat is best if your client base is spread over many countries and either your support is not able to understand or clients are not able to make you understand there problems (it happens often). It is very good and economical for real time interaction.

Thanks.

As I customer I would prefer Live Chat.
As a service provider I would prefer a ticket system

I think about clients comfort level and accordingly I will say Live Chat is best as that gives the client updates instantly.

If we give good chat support many issues are solved instantly and thats what all clients love "Best support when they want"

I think phone support is great for sales bcoz we talk live to the customers and in this the chances of conversion are also high and combination of ticket and chat is good for support.

I prefer Ticket System becuase of it's Pretyped Reponses (Save time )

Forum would be the way to go if you can ever get the customers involved. They could help each other out on simple issues. next would be a ticket system.

I chose Ticket System, Knowledgebase, Toll Free Phone. Most people do not use the Knowledgebase though but I have found that if you build a good KB it will help you with your tickets. You can have the KB suggest several responses and then you will be able to answer the ticket more efficiently.

Hello ,

I would rate the live chat system and the ticket system. Live chat is always a best key for a success provided you should have knowledgeable techs to work on live chat system , there should be a limit while accepting the no of chats and techs that are working on live chat should have admin access to the servers stuff.

We do it provide it, its my personal experience and I think we are doing a great job with ticket and live chat support too.

just see how it will works. you should get the best results.

Clients find ticket system somewhat disturbing...so some offer Telephone support and messenger support. The idea really is putting yourself in their shoes..customers tend to panic at any instance (I dont blame them though)...and they often post 3 tickets within a gap of 10 minutes just to try to say "HELP!HELP!"...again I dont blame them, but its not good. In case of an emergency offering a telephone and messenger support line really gives them a bit more calm knowing if they are still stressed they can call...so I'd say a mix of all is required for a steady relationship.

Regards

I would prefere ticket system.

Tickets work fine for me however some clients perfer live so I do livechat as well as phone but only the management handles the phonelines as its such a small call vollume.