As freelancers, I think many of us under utilize customer service and support as a business tool. I’m not saying we don’t offer or appreciate it. I’m just saying I don’t think we use it to our advantage as much as we could.

For example:

• How many of you send out a thank you letter after the end of the project?
• Have you ever sent out a “how’s my driving” type survey to clients?
• Do you regularly check in on clients to see if they need something new or additional help?
• Do you use a ticketing system for clients to contact you later on down the road if they need help?

It just seems to me that if we as freelancers put as much time into our customer service and support as big industries did, business would improve. I think that by improving your customer service and doings ome of the things mentioned above, that not only would your business improve, but that you would improve as a designer/developer and business owner.

What sort of customer service & support do you offer?

Personally, I’m as guilty as the next guy in the sense that I don’t really offer or do anything. Im always available to my clients via email, IM, or phone, but thats where it stops. One of my plans for this year is to work on a better email customer service system. I want to try and create a set of auto reply emails that get sent out to new leads (w/o being spammy) to check up on theme if I don’t hear back from them.

I also want to setup a set of emails that auto send after the end of a project that include a survey about our work, request for a testimonial, and periodic emails checking in on them to see if they need any new help.

Thoughts?