So…why is 24/7 full-stack support the client retention silver bullet of 2021?
First – let’s set the scene.
You’re a digital agency working with a number of clients to build mission-critical applications, lead tech strategies, drive digital transformations and be generally excellent.
You may lean into any of these more than the other, but one thing you probably share is your dread of the rightly dreaded churn, i.e the rate at which the people you built and marketed all this lovely things for say ‘so long,’ ‘Sayonara’ and ‘thanks for all the code.’
To this end, you’ve read 101 pointless articles on ‘How to increase client retention’ with such bold insights as being nice to your client, doing what you said you were going to do, not charging too much money, and providing a good service.
All in all, things you never would have dreamed of.
So why is 24/7 any different?
It’s not!
It’s just one more tip on how to keep clients.
But we happen to know it extremely well. And we’re going to tell you about it without padding this piece out with a list of truisms.
So what is 24/7 full-stack support?
If you want to go in deep, read here.
But essentially, when we say 24/7 support for agencies, we’re talking about tech-enabled, next-gen support provided by a partner to an agency’s client base.
Which is the relationship we have with Valtech, Grey and more.
What’s the difference between full-stack support and ‘traditional support’?
Essentially, it’s the kind of support required for apps as they are today.
Often with the help of SupportTech, full-stack support services monitor and remediate the application, infrastructure, any third-party services, and whatever else goes into a modern distributed app.
Why is this important for client retention?
The answer to this is twofold:
- As you already know, the increasingly distributed and complex world of application development means incidents will happen.
- How you handle one of the many types of incidents – how you manage it – can be make or break for your relationship with that client.
Get everything up and running again in minutes, you’re a superstar.
Bumble around while your client haemorrhages cash and you’re… well…you don’t even wanna know what they’re gonna say about you.
Why is support so important to clients?
Do you even have to ask? (to be fair, we implied you’d asked by writing this point).
But in case you did – losses in uptime translate into huge marks against revenue and reputation (with Walmart once famously losing about ten million dollars in less than three hours).
In short, if a client can’t trust you to safeguard their business – and they find this out the hard way – the risk of staying is just too high.
Do most digital agencies use support partners?
Yup.
We were one of the first, but now it’s quite common for support to come under the heading of managed services.
We’ve worked for agencies like Emperor, Radley Yeldar and Grey in this role.
And we partnered with ustwo to support the launch of App Store No. 1 The Body Coach.
It can be a great new revenue stream for some, and, as is the whole point of this piece, it keeps clients happy longer term.
Why is full-stack 24/7 the silver bullet of 2021 specifically
Because this is the year everything gets digital.
(In our opinion).
On the one hand, you have the rapid adoption of cloud-native development and MACH technologies, driving the demand for greener, cheaper more agile apps that are, in the minus column, more complex.
On the other hand, you have businesses who’ve just had it proved to them by Covid-19 that a digital-first approach absolutely pays off.
When you clap your hands together, you have a surge in demand for complex, distributed applications.
And they’re gonna need support.
How we can help
If you haven’t already guessed, full-stack 24/7 support for agencies is one of our key offerings.
It’s a great service all round, but it can be make or break when it comes to convincing a client you offer extra value or proving yourself in a crisis.
So to find out a little more about becoming one of our agency partners, or for anything else, just get in touch.
