The gaming industry has seen phenomenal growth in the last few years and continues to record unprecedented increases during the COVID pandemic. According to research from Newzoo, the industry is set to yield a whopping USD 19.68 Billion in revenue by 2022. The report also predicts a surge of 3.2 billion people who game, demonstrating the industry’s future growth potential.
The industry’s potential for growth on a global scale seems limitless, yet only a few of the major companies place an emphasis on customer support, with some providing customer support services through third-party vendors. The remaining companies, on the assumption that gaming products are a one-time purchase, do not provide any additional customer support or services.
When a game launches, most companies will focus on the design, development, and marketing of the game. Customer support services, another crucial aspect in the game, is usually overlooked. Providing excellent customer support service will provide a competitive edge in this rapidly growing market, with generated revenue increasing as a beneficial outcome.
The Benefits of Providing Customer Support Services in the Gaming Industry
Regardless of industry, once the customer/client-provider relationship is established, an increase in customer satisfaction will produce a positive impact on any business. By providing top notch customer support, companies will be able to concretely measure the satisfaction level of customers, receive real-time feedback from gamers to improve their products, create brand loyalty, and enhance the player’s lifetime value.
These days, businesses, in a variety of fields, view customer support of any kind as a source of revenue rather than just an increase in operating costs. In a similar vein, the gaming industry should look at support services in gaming as a revenue generator, as these services directly impact their business’ bottom line.
Strong Gaming Support Results in Beneficial Outcomes
Better Player Understanding:
Like any user experience for a consumer product, players face such challenges as game lag (from software or hardware updates), bugs in software, etc.
And since most players have experienced conventional customer support centers in other facets of their daily life, contacting, and eventually resolving, an issue through this method is already a familiar process.
A lot of games, however, have limited access to their customer helplines, and a prompt response, even if when making a 1:1 inquiry, is unlikely. Oftentimes, players will reach out to the company’s website where they will view the Frequently Answered Questions (FAQs) page. Or they will confer with other people who are facing similar issues. Neither of these solutions are particularly constructive and can leave the players extremely frustrated.
By having a customer support team that embodies individuals who can match the gamer’s mindset, or have agents who play these games themselves, companies would have a better understanding of the gaming community, as well as provide the optimal gaming support solutions for their users.
Better Customer Segmentation:
Gamers come with different mindsets and gaming environments (devices). The games released today are cross-platform games, meaning gamers can play these games on various outlets such as the PC, mobile, consoles, etc. It is essential for companies to understand these differences when tailoring their support for each individual.
For example, a) PC gamers generally possess technical know-how and will research the problem in an attempt to fix it, through various websites and searches or by downloading patches; b) Console players typically prefer a hassle-free experience and will seek guidance through customer support. A minority of these players may join communities to find ways to resolve their issues; c) Mobile gamers, due to nature of the device, are more inclined to contact customer support in connection with game when they are active.
By having a personalized customer support system, companies can design customer centers to match the gamer’s needs in a granular level.
Real-time and Multichannel Support:
With advances in technology within the customer support process, companies can offer around-the-clock customer support with various multichannel support tools such as Voice, Chat, AI Chatbots, email, and social media.
As previously mentioned, gamers are the most active customers and will go to any lengths to enhance their gaming experience. Having customer support services that enables easy feedback through various open channels will eventually improve the customer retention rate and create word-of-mouth marketing. Reflecting the users’ opinion during development will allow for a better product and will increase gamers’ satisfaction. In order to understand some of the common problems facing gamers, the company should constantly strive to receive feedback from the users.
Some Final Thoughts
With a rapid expansion of the gaming industry, competition between the game developers will only intensify. By solely focusing on game development and overlooking customer support, a loss of customers over a period of time may result.
When choosing a customer support provider, looking to see whether the provider’s solutions are all-encompassing, as well as whether they possess an intimate knowledge of the service mentioned above, are important factors to consider. Latis Global has years of experience in providing customer support to numerous global game developers, with detailed understanding in this area.
