When a company that doesn’t specialize in events is getting ready to throw an event, they often seek out an event agency. There are big and small event agencies, and they exist for several different reasons, but they’re a huge player in the events space. This month we’re spotlighting this event industry powerhouse, highlighting how they use event management software, and how Swoogo has developed functionality specifically to help with agency needs.
We all wish that everything went perfectly all the time. But this is real life. Packages get lost, wires get crossed, and we all forget to toggle that massively important switch once in a while.
Enter support!
For most of us, even the word support conjures up memories of hours on hold, suggestions that aren’t any better than Google, or simply a request disappearing into the ether, never to be replied to.
Agencies can’t function with that sort of back-up. They need more.
Why event support is so crucial
The result of not being able to reach support for some products is that you have more hassle, you spend more money, you waste time, or you simply give up and use a different product. None of those are good.
But with events, being unable to reach support at a crucial moment could literally mean the collapse of your event. At the very least, it generally means registration doesn’t go live on time, attendees cancel, speakers bail, or payments don’t go through. Disaster!
Good event support is especially necessary for agencies who might, at any moment, have dozens of customers running events all at the same time.
When you’re shopping for an event management platform, (or looking to switch, Hey-o!) assume that something will go wrong. We’re all human. When it does, how will they help? And what will they charge for it?
Two types of event support
For agencies there are two types of support that you can offer to your customers. They come to you for help, or they go directly to the platform’s support team. We’ll tell you how it works here at Swoogo, but you’ll definitely want to ask any platform you’re thinking about how it works for them.
Event support through the agency
For our agency customers who tend to serve smaller customers or are just starting out, this is going to be the more likely scenario. At Swoogo we have two types of users: full users and reporting users. Full users are the ones who have access to our amazing, top-of-the-industry, award-winning in-house support team. (Yes, yes, we do love them!)
What does this mean for an agency? Generally, it’s the agency that holds the full-user credentials. That means that support questions are going to come to the agency employee, who will then decide if they can answer the question themselves, or if they need to pass the question up to the Swoogo support superstars. At this level, the agency event prof is usually the one who built the event, and they’re often fully capable of answering the question themselves. (Seriously, many of our agency users are absolute wizards of Swoogo.)
But if they find themself in over their head, no problem, they have full access to our event support team, and can pass their customers’ questions on.
Direct event support
Sometimes agencies pass a full-user license directly on to their customer, especially if they’re working with a company that has a complete events team. In these cases, the agency’s customers are able to contact Swoogo’s event support team directly with all of their questions and needs.
The benefits of in-house event support
So, whichever support road you and your customers are taking, eventually, you get to the Emerald City. In this case, the actual team. So who is on the other end of your tickets?
The answer is … it depends. Industry standard is out-sourced support with access to in-house support on a pay-to-play basis.
That’s why we don’t believe in being standard. At Swoogo, all paths lead to our amazing in-house support team. We’re one of the only event management platforms that includes unlimited access to in-house event support at every level of subscription. Why? Because we think it’s that important.
In-house support means:
- You’re always talking to a platform expert
- If they don’t have the answer, they can find someone who does
- Your and their feedback leads directly to the development of new features
- In-house back-end access means we never outsource security or compliance
- You get better answers, faster
Every event management platform has an in-house support team, even if it’s a team of one. But do you get access to them? Make sure to ask.
Faster response-times
Not gonna lie, as we’ve done our research, read reviews, and listened to our customers, we’ve been pretty dismayed on their behalf at the average support response times in our industry.
Hours, and sometimes days.
Woof.
At Swoogo, we know time is money, and too much time means unhappy customers (and sometimes unfixable delays!) So we strive to give you a meaningful first response faster. Like, 15 minutes.
That doesn’t mean we fix everyone’s problems in 15 minutes. Although, sometimes we do. But within about 15 minutes you’ll get a response. Not an auto-response—a real response.
What might that look like? It might be an answer, yay! It might be a request for more information. It might be an email letting you know what our support superstar is looking into, and what their next steps are. But that response will tell you what is happening, and when you can expect to move to the next step.
We wish that were normal (but hey, we’re being the change we want to see in the events space.)
Unfortunately, even asking specifically might not get you accurate information about wait times. If you’re wondering how long it really takes to get help from your event management prospective platform’s support, check out real reviews on tech sites like G2 and Capterra. (And yes, those links go right to the Swoogo pages on those websites, because we’re confident you’ll be pleased with what our customers say about our event support.)
“[Swoogo’s] support team is amazing and invested in our success. They listen and help you find the right answers or suggest additional apps to add.”–Sharyn F
Additional event support add-ons
Now, sometimes, you need support to go over and above. No prob. You can opt in to extra-extra support. To be honest, we think it makes more sense to offer add-ons for extra event support, when you already offer great support. (Rather than kind of needing to pay extra to get … decent event support.) Most of our customers find our fantastic support access to be plenty. But some of our customers—especially customers who come to us through a big agency; who are running some of our largest events—want a little more.
We’ve got you covered.
Many event management platforms will charge a fee for these two types of support: advanced support, and day-of-event support.
At Swoogo we do as well. That doesn’t in any way mean that you can’t submit a support ticket the day of your event; but add-on, day-of-event support is high level, designed for big events, with tall tech stacks.
Advanced support is generally the same. It’s mostly for very complex event tech stacks, and for companies that are either running a ton of events, or a few very large events. Whether you need this level of support is up to you. You’re the one who knows your customers best.
When things get tough …
You can have the best designed event site, the most robust reg form, and pages and pages of marketing comms ready to go out … but if something malfunctions and you can’t get it fixed, none of that matters. We love watching Swoogo events hum along as expected! But the true value of your event management platform shines through when things get bumpy. Can they get you back on track? Will it be soon enough? Is it going to blow your budget to get it right? The answers to all of those questions lie directly with your platform’s support team. They’re really important! And when you’re an agency, there’s more than your reputation on the line: it’s all of your customers’ reps too. Choose wisely.
Make sure you check out the first two sections of our Agency Spotlight Series: Cloning Events, and More for Less.