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游戏工作室应如何提升客服支持?

发布时间:2013-02-19 17:03:38 Tags:,,,,

作者:Al Rose

产品开发和客服支持并不总是同步提升。事实,许多游戏公司都不能提供到位的客户服务,这是很令人吃惊的。特别是考虑到在线游戏经济严重依赖吸引和留住玩家,再将其转化为微交易循环的个体,缺少周全的客户服务现象就更令人惊讶了。玩家基础的扩大需要心满意足的玩家;循环的消费需要循环的消费者。所以,游戏开发者必须考虑到客户服务。

另一方面,数字娱乐产业正处于上升阶段。在过度发展的时候,公司只能应对某种程度的膨胀。在初始阶段,游戏开发是焦点——主要就是作为公司核心业务的游戏发行。客服支持通常次于游戏发行,险胜新游戏项目的设计和启动。

此外,有些工作室仍然视玩家为商品,而不是客户,这也许部分解释了为什么当说到寻求客服帮助时,玩家的期望值并不高。随着许多工作室意识到用户互动可能直接影响游戏的推广和赢利,这个状况有所改善。

客服支持越来越成为游戏开发商争夺玩家的另一个战场,那么,开发者如何改进他们的客户服务?

contact-us(from virtuallyroz.co)

contact-us(from virtuallyroz.co)

了解玩家:工作室必须与玩家(特别是年轻一代玩家)发展情感上的联系,并为玩家提供相应的客服。你应该雇用那些亲自玩游戏、了解玩家需求的人组成客服团队。

针对平台的服务:必须根据玩家类型提供客服。PC玩家通常自得于自己的电脑技术,更倾向于通过网站下载补丁,自己修补游戏的问题。相反地,主机玩家更图方便省事,往往希望容易获得客服支持。免费游戏玩家习惯于在游戏网站的社区论坛上寻找帮助。这是游戏工作室的好机会:优化非付费玩家的体验,他们就更可能向其他人推荐游戏,同时也更可能转化为付费玩家。

利用玩家反馈:明智的游戏工作室会花相当多时间和精力用于分析玩家反馈。通过客服渠道分析玩家反馈,然后回馈给开发团队,确保游戏体现玩家的当下需求。这会增加玩家的价值、游戏时间、满足感和游戏的推广率。

即时多渠道支持:游戏社区中的许多玩家依靠对等的玩家支持,但这是一个直接提供良好的客服的好机会。通过语音、邮件、在线和社交网络提供实时的服务,使玩家与开发者的互动更加方便。

社交媒体:社交媒体正在成为玩家互相联系的主要途径。社交媒体的出现还为玩家与开发者的实时交流互动提供了一种更适宜的渠道。对于规模更小的游戏工作室,这是定位游戏受众和扩大玩家基础的有效方式。

合作:没有客服经验的独立工作室应该考虑与相关的服务供应商合作。这样,工作室就可以专注于它的核心业务,让合作商来负责玩家服务。另外,这些服务供应商也可以根据游戏的开发和发展情况增减客服规模。

最大化游戏寿命

现在,游戏工作室面临重大机遇了。游戏玩家,特别是在免费游戏领域,更加看重良好的客服支持体验。随着游戏行业的进一步分化,竞争进一步加剧,明智的游戏工作室应该通过提供更好的客服来延长游戏寿命和提升品牌价值。良好的玩家服务战略可以促进游戏的发展——提升玩家体验,进而增加玩家留存率,最终产生更高的游戏推广率。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转载,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Why you need to boost your customer service game

by Al Rose

Product development and player support have not always gone hand in hand. In fact, exceptional customer service from a gaming company might be surprising. Considering that the online gaming economy relies heavily on attracting and retaining players, and then moving them to recurring monthly or micropayments, the lack of good customer support is even more surprising. A growing player base requires happy players. Recurring payments requires recurring customers. Customer service should be a given.

On the flip side, the digital entertainment industry is experiencing massive growth. In times of hyper-growth, companies can only manage a certain pace of expansion. During the startup phase, game development is the main focus – it’s all about the release of the game, the company’s core business and raison d’etre. Player support is often a secondary concern, edged out in favor of the frantic pace of design and launch of new games.

Adding to this, some studios still view players as commodities, not customers, which may in part explain why players have low expectations when it comes to receiving support. This is set to change as many studios realize that providing exceptional customer interactions, alongside popular games, can directly impact the bottom line.

As customer service becomes another battlefield for winning over players, how can developers enhance their own game plan for customer support?

Understand your player: Studios need to develop emotional connections with players, particularly millennials, and match gamers with like-minded customer service representatives. You should staff your customer service team with gamers who are continually leveling-up in the game and able to understand the needs of the players they support.

Platform-specific service: Customer care needs to suit various types of players. PC game players are often proud of their technical abilities and are more inclined to work with websites or download patches to fix their own problems. In contrast, console game players are convenience-driven and typically prefer having easy access to customer support.

Free-to-play players are used to finding support in community forums or on the developer’s website. This provides a real opportunity for game studios: enhancing the experience of non-paid players will increase their likelihood to recommend the game, potentially moving them to paid player status in the future.

Capitalize on player feedback: Sophisticated game studios spend considerable resources analyzing player feedback on their games. Analyzing player feedback via customer support channels and funnelling it back to development teams ensures that games reflect the latest player demands. The result is increased player value, playtime, satisfaction, retention and ultimately their likelihood to recommend the game to friends.

Real-time, multichannel support: Many in the gaming community rely on peer-to-peer player support, but there is a real advantage to offering good customer service directly. Providing 24/7 multi-channel support via voice, email, online and social networks enables your players to interact with you whenever and however they want.

Social media: Social media is becoming a key outlet for players to battle other players. A social media presence also allows players to engage with developers in real time, in their preferred communication channel. For smaller game studios, it’s an effective way to reach a targeted and relevant audience to and increase their player base.

Team up: Studios who don’t have the customer service expertise in-house should consider partnering with a contact center provider that does. The company then can focus on their core business, while their partner takes care of the player support infrastructure and delivery. These same providers can also scale up or down their personnel to suit the development and growth of the game.

Maximize player lifetime value

Game studios have a massive opportunity right now. Game players, particularly in the free-to-play sector, may not expect the best customer experience. As the industry becomes increasingly fragmented and competitive, smart game studios can extend their game lifecycle and improve the value of their brand by providing better customer service. A good player support strategy can be a game-changer – where fostering a culture of care will improve the player experience, resulting in player retention and ultimately, player recommendations.(source:venturebeat


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