In addition, in 2016 alone, small to mid-sized organizations lost an average $1million due to several hours of downtime caused by various hardware & software issues. For larger enterprises, the average loss was much bigger – around $60 million. Companies are losing a sizable part of their revenue due to these mundane issues, which is why everyone is looking for ways to curb the problem.

To save individuals and companies from such tech-related troubles and losses caused by them, today there are online platforms that help them find tech-support easily. As the reliance on electronic devices continues to increase rapidly, the world definitely needs more such solution providers.

In experts’ opinion, the sector is expected to see a minimum growth of 10% in 2017, which could be easily interpreted as opportunities for new players. For aspiring entrepreneurs who want to capitalize on this growing trend of online tech-support search portal, here is the post that will guide them through.

Business Model

The main aim of tech-support search websites is to connect technical professionals with service seekers.

This is how things work on an online in-home tech support search platform:

For service providers

• Technicians register to the site as per their skill set
• Mention different details like field, experience, etc.
• Add the amount of money they would charge for every task or per hour
• Work according to their convenience and pick location and time which is suitable

For service seekers

• Find the service they want/ or list a job if it isn’t already listed
• Register on the website and add different details like preference, address, timing, card details, etc.
• A technician visits them at the given address and resolves the issue

Also Read: Easiest Way to Clone On-Demand Service Marketplace – Must Have Script Features

Revenue Model

A tech support search portal can generate revenue through following channels.

Commission- A commission based revenue model allows the website owner to cut a percentage of the total amount received from the service seeker before releasing the payment to the technician.

Advertisement- The website owner can run on-page advertisements as an additional revenue stream.

Membership fee- Service seekers can also become members, nominal fees can be charged to the member service seekers. The perks of becoming a member is that they get extra discount on every technician visit.

Apply for the job- Whenever a technician wants to become a part of the website a fee is charged which they have to pay before becoming a part of the company.

Partnership- The owner of such a website can partner with the manufacturer as an installer fleet. The owner can yield revenue by handling the installation process of specified products of partner manufacturers.

Website features

Homepage- When a visitor opens the homepage of your website, it usually takes 8 seconds for him/her to decide whether to stay and browse or close the website. Therefore, it is extremely important to focus on the homepage design.

An in-home tech support website should keep the information on the homepage to bare minimum. All the prime services that the company offers should be kept on the homepage (with proper categorization) to make it easier for visitors to find the service they are looking for.

How it works?

There are many business models coming up these days. It has become difficult for consumers to know how one is different from the other. Thus, it is immensely important for a website to have a dedicated section to explain how their website works.

It is like taking your customer on a stroll through key features of your website and making it easy for them to understand how the website works. When looking for tech support, many customers have doubt about different factors, which is why this dedicated section is important.

Testimonials

Testimonials and user reviews are an integral part of businesses that offer some sort of service. Firstly they are useful as they help the consumer in decision making. Putting testimonials on your website is also a great way to earn customers’ trust.  Also, if you want to reap the maximum benefit of testimonials, place them as so that users can easily see them. For example – put them on homepage, right below the key details about your business.

Also Read: Business Models That Throve Online Service Sector In 2017

Well-Defined Categories

A technical service providing marketplace can offer a variety of services, ranging from computers, laptops, to Wi-Fi etc. To make it easy for service seekers to find the right service, the website must have a well-segregated section of each service they provide. The benefit of having a well-segregated section is that service seekers can easily find their specific issues and can easily list their jobs. Adding relevant picture thumbnails along with the category can help the service seeker identify the category easily.

Quality Assurance

The biggest challenge for such online platform is that they have to build trust in the customer through the service provided by the tech-support professionals, over whom the website owner does not have any direct control.

One of the ways to build trust is testimonials, which we have already discussed. The other way of building trust is by doing an extensive background check on each registered technician. Highlighting the ways you conduct an extensive check and adding the review and rating of a technician would help your online tech-support search business greatly in building trust.

Referral and credits

Provide offer to customers who invite their friends to use your website’s services. You can offer some discount to such customers that will further encourage them to utilize your service more. This way you can also enlarge your customer base.

Become a tech

Other than satisfying the needs of the customer it is very important that your tech-support search platform also has a dedicated section to allow technicians to become a part of your company easily.

A dedicated section must be in place from where technicians can register. This section should include different details to be filled out by the technician so that the company has all the details of the person working under them.

Partnership

As discussed earlier a website can include a partnership program wherein a manufacturer can partner with the website owner. The website owner will handle the installation process of the specified gadgets. The website acts as an installer fleet to increase the sales and fewer the returns of the manufacturer.

Popular Online Tech Support Search Platforms

HelloTech

• Founded in: December 15, 2015
• Founded by: Richard Wolpert

Computer Courage

• Founded in: 2006
• Founded by: Adam Schwartz

Technicalities

• Founded in: 1999
• Founded by: William Henderson

Conclusion

Professional technical-support service marketplace sector is growing at a fast place. As mentioned earlier, as people’s dependence on gadgets is increasing, they need a quick solution if something stops working. To cater this type of urgent requirements, there is definitely need of tech-support search portals that can quickly connect them with right technician.

The sector is growing but is still relatively untapped; making it full of opportunities for new players. And by following guidelines provided in this post, the new players can enter & establish themselves in the market rather effectively.