Chat platform offers free tech support via smartphones

Xprt are offering confused computer users free technical support and shopping advice via their simple smartphone messaging app.

The combination of immediacy and informality offered by smartphone messaging platforms make them an ideal framework for efficient customer service. Apple already encourage their customers to seek help via messaging chats with their experts and we recently wrote about Haptik, which replaces call centres with a WhatsApp style multi-topic chat platform. Now, Californian start-up Xprt are offering confused computer users free technical support and shopping advice via their simple smartphone messaging app.

Xprt hosts live one-to-one chats with reliable experts, enabling consumers to solve all their technical difficulties without having to scour through manuals or place hopeful queries on message-boards. To begin, customers download the free app and create an account. They select whether they are in need of technical support or computer shopping tips. Next, the app asks the user to fill in some details about their enquiry, prompting them with options and short questions. Customers usually have to wait no more than a couple of minutes before their chat begins.

Each expert is rigorously vetted before joining the team and they all have their own profile — complete with picture and description — to make the whole experience a bit more friendly. When the troubleshooting chat is finished, customers are asked to review their expert and are given the option of leaving a monetary tip. They can specify the amount themselves and are not obliged to pay anything if they don’t want to. Xprt then retains 30 percent of the tip amount.

Despite an abundance of information, the solutions to technical problems still elude many consumers. Are there other experts who could be accessed on demand in this way?