My background in marketing pushes me to promote and actively search out word of mouth opportunities for the good work being done by the business.  Therefore, my role in customer service today makes me distinctly aware of efforts of the business to hide “help”.

Help has become a bad word. No company wants to admit that their customers might need help so they hide customer service under the fold in tiny print on their webpage as seen on the Nintendo Canada page.  Others call it “Support” so the connotations are that the manufacturer is sustaining or upholding their customers. The definition of support from Dictionary.com includes ”to bear or hold up (a load, mass, structure, part, etc.); serve as a foundation for”,  ”to sustain or withstand (weight, pressure, strain, etc.) without giving way; serve as a prop for”,  and ” to maintain (a person, family, establishment, institution, etc.) by supplying with things necessary to existence; provide for: to support a family.” Is this really what customers want when they visit your website? Don’t they just want you to help them get unstuck in whatever issue they are currently experiencing?

Why does the term “Help” have negative connotations to enterprise? The marketing assumption is that the website, the conference booth, the direct mail piece etc is  a sales opportunity to new or existing customers. If you want to sell something you want customers to believe your solution to their need is simple and easy. Having a “help” section on the website, or dedicated help staff at a conference booth could mean you have a complicated product.

The question is do customers really think this way? Aren’t a certain percentage of traffic to your website post-sales customers looking for how-to and directions? I don’t expect that when I buy new television that I will know exactly how it will work with the rest of my Audio-Visual equipment and I will go directly to the website to find the answers to the questions. What I do expect is that this information is easy and clear to locate. Too often this is not the case as manufacturers hide “help”  behind “Service”, “Support”, within the fine print and by pressing 10 for a representative.

Why not simplify? It is ok to ask for help and  to ask for directions. Better to encourage your customers to use your products to the best of their ability than to frustrate them in their search for help. Help after all means “to give or provide what is necessary to accomplish a task or satisfy a need; contribute strength or means to; render assistance to; cooperate effectively with; aid; assist” (Dictionary.com). Clear and simple.