Difference between Technical Support and Customer Service

It is easy to confuse the two because they are often used interchangeably. But both these terms could not be any more different and knowing the difference between the two will help you with your brand’s support strategy. As the name suggests, customer service refers to focusing on the customer experience, whereas technical support means fixing technical issues that the customer is experiencing. 

Any brand can have both of the same in their departments; they can have both the customer service and technical support at the same time. For instance, Comcast Xfinity, which deals in internet and cable TV services, has the Xfinity customer service link at: https://www.localcabledeals.com/xfinity/customer-service that subscribers can reach out to have their issues resolved. Their first interaction will be done by a customer service rep for rapport building, etc. and if their issue seems like something that technical support from Xfinity needs to resolve, the customer will be transferred to the required agent. 

These terms will be narrowed down in this article, so buckle up. 

Technical Support

As has already been mentioned before, technical support is the type of assistance that is provided to users using the product or service on the basis of technical issues, whether hardware device or software tool. This type of support isn’t provided to all your customers, rather just the ones who request technical help. 

Technical support agents are highly skilled and trained to deal with the hardware and software of the products or services.

Customer Service

It refers to the relationship that your customer has with the brand, from pre-purchase to post-purchase. Customer service agents are trained to improve and work on that relationship to prevent it from festering; that is their only end goal.

Now that you know what either of these terms refers to, we are further going to delve into what their job requires of them.

• Primary Goals. A technical support’s primary focus is to resolve any technical issues that a customer is experiencing with the products or services. It is up to the technical support to figure out what is wrong with the product hardware or software and resolve the issue quickly while still being supportive. And that is a measure of success when the customer doesn’t have to call the support again. Customer service, on the other hand, focus on the experience that the customer is having with the product or service. And it is up to the customer service to manage the proactive approach of supporting and initiating communication with the customers. 

• Listen to Customers for Different Purposes. Since both of their jobs has different responsibilities, each of these parties is focused on listening to the customers for different purposes. Technical support focuses on resolving the customer’s issue with hardware or software as quickly as possible. He also has to make sure that the same problem doesn’t arise again. The customer support agents listen to the customers with an empathetic mindset. They aren’t listening to help customers fix their issues, rather they are listening so they can recommend a different product or a way to use the product.

• Different Perspective. Both parties also have different perspectives about how the customers’ issues can be resolved since they are both trained that way. When customers reach out to technical support about an error in their word processor, the technical support agent can help them resolve that error dialogue box that pops up. They can also help them figure out what plugin isn’t working and which one is. But if the same customer asks the technical agent about something that a customer service agent can answer, he would be clueless on how to resolve it. That is why they are separate and essential parts of resolving the customers’ issues, even while having a different perspective about it.

Brands should always be evaluating whether their support teams, customer service, or technical support, are really meeting the needs of their customers.

Final Thoughts

To sum it up, both these parties are essential for a brand in improving and building customers’ relationships with the brand. They might have different ideas on how to resolve customers’ issues, yet they essentially have one goal only and that is working on the improvement of the relationship between customers and the brand.