When we’re making a marketing plan for a company—ads, blog posts, video content, meetings, and real-world promotions like events—we often forget something that stays valuable for good companies no matter how big they get.

I’m still struck by how different the support is at PayPal and Venmo, even though they’re the same company. Back in the day, when I ran a repair business in the Bay Area, PayPal froze a few paychecks from customers that we’d deposited online. We opened a resolution ticket and it took something like 7–10 days to get those funds available again in our PayPal account—not the best experience as a business customer in those days. With Venmo, from the same company, we had a much better experience every time: strong live chat and a phone callback option. They fixed access to our business account in about 30 minutes and sorted the phone number with a simple but effective verification. After that, I could recommend their services to my friends and to our Workdesk community.

That’s how it works: one satisfied customer today can bring five more tomorrow. It’s a natural cycle for companies that care about value. We have to watch and keep track of every piece of feedback and every ticket. So here are what I see as the crucial parts of an effective, reliable support team:

Takes your business to the next level and puts you in direct contact with customers who have a fresh question that needs solving right now.

Helps you answer common questions quickly and consistently.

A callback request that visitors can leave on your support page so you call them when it suits you.

The classic option—a simple form or a ticket created right inside chat.

You can find all of these support tools in WorkdeskApp, and it’s free to start. We hope you’ll enjoy these approaches and features to build a strong, reliable customer support service.