Web host's support audit
We have been testing web hosts since 2 years. So far there has
been sent thousands of single requests to the customer support departments.
We ask non-professional questions as well as the expert questions simulating customers
with different backgrounds, e. g. home users, IT managers, web developers
etc.
Testing is performed in non-stop 24/7 mode within 3 different time zones:
| Time zone |
Day |
From – To |
| Office hours |
Monday - Friday |
8 a.m. – 8 p.m. |
| Night |
Monday - Friday |
8 p.m. – 8 a.m. |
| Weekend |
Saturday, Sunday |
0 a.m. – 24 p.m. |
We test multiple communication channels that a web host uses
for supporting customers:
How often should the customer support be tested?
We believe consistency is key. The permanent audit brings the most valuable
results. The question is how much information would the web host like to
have. If the audit
program lasts more than a year, in addition to the
regular reports we supply also quarterly ones. They can explore interesting
long-term trends.
Please see one of our suggested testing scheme:
| Time zone |
Number of requests per week |
| Web host |
Competitors (3 companies) |
Total |
| e-mail |
phone |
chat |
e-mail |
phone |
| Total |
8 |
6 |
2 |
12 |
9 |
37 |
| Office hours |
4 |
2 |
2 |
2 * 3 |
1 * 3 |
17 |
| Night |
2 |
2 |
|
1 * 3 |
1 * 3 |
10 |
| Weekend |
2 |
2 |
|
1 * 3 |
1 * 3 |
10 |
How do we assess the answers from web hosts?
Based on our experience we set up the five-point evaluating system:
| Points |
answer Description |
E-mail response time |
Customer satisfaction |
| 5 |
the perfect answer that reflects all particular questions, includes comprehensive description of the problem with link, price and solution
example attached if applicable |
< 1 hour |
 |
| 4 |
the clear answer that reflects all particular questions, some minor
details are missing, e.g. example or suggestion what to do next, link
or price |
< 4 hours |
 |
| 3 |
the general answer without important details, some particular questions
left without
answer |
< 12 hours |
 |
| 2 |
the poor or user-unfriendly answer, no particular question answered
or misunderstanding the question |
< 24 hours |
 |
| 1 |
no response from the customer support, e.g. holding the phone line
for more than 5 mins |
> 24 hours |
 |
A sample always tells more
The following sample question represents an actual item in our records. We realized
the customer support audit for a certain web hosting company based in the
United Kingdom.
Sent: March 30, 2006 at 4:30 p.m.
Subject: Cron jobs
.. do you support Cron Jobs feature for launching periodic tasks - scripts?
If so, how many records in Cron could we have per web hosting account? How
often can we launch a particular script?
For benchmarking purposes we tested also three competitors of the web host.
Among them there were two leading web hosting companies (let us call them
"WebHost1" and "WebHost2"). Here is how they replied:
| Company |
WebHost1 |
WebHost2 |
| Points |
5 |
2 |
Customer
satisfaction |
|
|
| Answer received |
April 3, 2006 at 1:37 p.m. |
March 30, 2006 at 9:43 p.m. |
| Response time |
93 hours 7 mins (almost 4 days) |
5 hours 13 mins |
| Text of the answer |
.. Thank you for contacting us. For
more information on Cron Jobs just refer to this link: http://www.webhost1.com/cron_jobs_link
Please Note: On shared hosting packages like Plan A/Plan B/Plan C
packages it is advised to run the cron job every 5 mins or above.
Using a lower number will queue up the jobs and this can potentially
cause unnecessary load on the servers.
If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact
us.
Sincerely,
WebHost 1 Operator |
.. I believe there is a cost involved
with having cron jobs, however i'm not entirely sure therefore I will
escalte this ticket.
However can you please provide us with your customer ID so we know
what kind of hosting package you're on and provide you with the correct
answers.
Regards,
WebHost 2 Operator |
| Answer evaluation |
clear and comprehensive answer, both the link with detailed information
and suggestion included |
poor answer, no valuable information included, no particular question
answered |