To make sure that your support program is performing appropriately, follow these simple steps:
From time to time, perform a simple Web search on "customer service" and "your game." See where people are discussing your support program, and what their concerns are.
Monitor the fan sites and message boards daily. Take this information to heart and plan to have staff respond on these forums.
Periodically review a sample of the feedback. Make sure you know what the top issues are and what's being done about them.
Consider surveys or a customer service audit by an independent firm. While most businesses employ some method to follow up on customer satisfaction, this is an area the gaming industry as a whole has not given a great deal of attention. Very few games today seem confident enough to employ this technique.
Track statistics on wait times. Set goals and plan for emergency situations to keep your customers from spending an undue amount of time waiting for assistance.
Create a quality control team to check on customer service. Test your staff. Take a walk in the customers' shoes and see what the view is.
Customer service surveys for Anarchy Online taught the company two important lessons:
The quicker customers received assistance, the higher they rated the overall customer service of the game.
When customer service staff were given survey results that pertained to them, the same staff rated a full point higher on the next round in over 90 % of the cases.