User Support: Out of Game Support Basics
Originally published on thumbspire.com on June 1, 2017
A few weeks ago, we were chatting about in-game support for your mobile game. Now it’s time to talk about the other (even!) less glamorous, but often necessary, support channels you’ll want to consider for your game.
There may be instances in which the player can’t get the help they need from within your game. What happens if the game keeps crashing before they can contact you from your in-game support options? Or maybe someone who is trying to install the game needs help. It’s good to have some easy-to-access options available to your players who are looking for help outside the game. The following recommendations may vary depending on the complexity of your game, your budget, resources, etc, but they should be easy enough to adapt as your circumstances dictate.
Website
When was the last time you looked up the name of your game or studio in a search engine? What were the top results? Will players be able to find you easily if they search for the name of your game online? On your website, you may want to include the following support solutions:
FAQ
That’s right, our favorite acronym is back! Having a Frequently Asked Questions section, or another Help directory on your website is useful for players who may seek support outside of your game.
Contact Form
In addition to having an FAQ, you may also want to include a contact form in lieu of a link to your support e-mail address. Why? You ask. You can create a contact form where players can enter basic information that may expedite their support request. Some fields you may want to include in the contact form as a dropdown:
Game Title
Platform
Device
Request Type
Game Center or Google Play Games ID
Maybe you don’t have the time or resources to create your own website. Creating a Tumblr for your game, a Facebook page, or utilizing another similar platform is also a possibility. Be creative!
App Storefronts
As we’ve discussed, some players may immediately head to the App Store or Google Play to leave a review to vent their frustration or ask for help. While they’re there, they may check your store page for contact info as well. On the App Store, you can include a link to the developer’s website. On Google Play, you can link to the developer’s website and include an email address as well. Before your game launches, make sure the information included on these pages is current and doesn’t contain any broken links or an inactive e-mail address.
Social Media
If you have any social media profiles for your studio or game, check to make sure any relevant support contact info is up-to-date there. You can update your Twitter bio to include a link to support or pin a post to include info on how to get support. Facebook recently enabled auto-reply for Pages which allows your players to receive an auto-reply with some basic support info via Messenger.
Ye Olde Fashioned Electronic Mail
Nearly all of the items outlined above involve the possibility that your players will contact you using e-mail. We’ll dig deeper into support email best practices in our next post on user support, but to start, you’ll want to establish some basics:
Activate an auto reply that sets clear expectations for the level of support you can provide to your players.
Make sure someone is actually checking and replying to (where necessary) those emails!
All of these suggestions sound pretty basic, right? Easier said than done! If all of your time and resources are focused on creating a fun and profitable game, monitoring feedback from your players may be really low down on your list of priorities. The benefit of working with a publisher like Thumbspire is that we can take care of this for you and keep you up to date on what your players are saying about your game. This is especially helpful when tracking bugs and other issues that arise in new builds of your game!
We’ll be covering best practices for support email in our next post on user support, if you have any questions on that topic, let us know!