Grant UK • Customer Support Portal
Ensuring 24/7 customer support was in easy reach for all Grant Customers.
We were approached with a brief to create a new Customer Support Portal that would be added on to their existing website. It was intended to be a post sale tool that would provide all the resources needed to answer questions and resolve issues customers might have with their Grant heating systems.
It needed to be an alternative to the existing phone support system which was great when trying to resolve unique issues but most of the time the issues being diagnosed were very similar. A better way was needed to problem solve these using online tools to reduce the number of customers on hold for long periods of time and provide 24/7 365 support and information.
Effectively Grant wanted to improve the overall customer experience and ensure all their customers were getting the most out of their products through prompt and effective support.
Grant provided us with a detailed brief, research and requirements documentation. We scrutinised and broke down the requirements into manageable tasks and undertook a UX (User Experience) review, plotting optimal information architecture and customer flows to deliver the most effective online support experience.
We then reviewed the brand and site design aspects to ensure the UI (User Interface) felt consistent, holistic and intuitive. We then provided Grant with a detailed proposal on how we would approach the project and what we intended to deliver along with our recommendations.
The gateway to 24/7 Support
With such a diverse range of heating products and accessories clear signposting was required to help customers find their correct product type and appropriate information from the homepage of the portal. We achieved this with simple cards comprised of icons and colours representing each category to help users get started. We also created a dedicated support search function so a customer could type in their query, alongside quick links to featured types of support customers might need quick access to.
Providing users with support options for their chosen Product Category.
When a user has selected their products category they are presented with a number of choices they can explore further. These range from FAQs to troubleshooting articles, to manual downloads and videos guiding users so they can identify and solve their particular issue. To help users identify where they are each product categories unique colour palette is used to accent pages so at a glance a user can see what product category they are in.
Step by step guidance in many forms.
Sometimes a choice will lead to a file download, others a video but most of the time it will either open an accordion to reveal a quick answer or detail rich page. These pages can be formed of detailed text, step-by-step instructions or media-rich content such as images or videos that will tell the customer exactly how to diagnose and solved their issues. To help other users each page can be rated to help other users find topics that have been of use and inform Grant what support knowledge has been most useful.
Access support anywhere.
Ensuring the support options and content were accessible on mobile was key to the format as we all know that when we encounter an issue or problem we don't have the answer to the first thing we do is grab our phones and search for answers. All content within the support portal is designed to work effectively on all devices, so problem solving heating problems is never out of reach for Grant customers.
Support for Professionals as well as Homeowners
Whilst Homeowners may be the true end customer for Grant's products the people who install and maintain these products also needed a similar level of support to help them solve issues Homeowners could not do themselves. A similar solution was delivered for the Professionals side alongside additional functionality for them to purchase spare parts and find their local sales representative.
