Live Help Tips & Recommendations for Excellence
Below are a few tips for how to stay prepared while Live Helping, drawn from the Liaisons and other Live Helpers.
Know Your Liaisons
Liaisons will usually announce to Live Help when they come on-shift. If you're Live Helping, you should try to keep aware of which Liaisons are currently on-shift so that you can refer difficult calls to the right people. There will always be two Liaisons on duty for the Main grid, plus an addition Liaison for the Teen grid, plus other Linden staff doing a variety of duties across the grid. If you missed the announcements, feel free to ask in the Live Help channel so that you know who the on-shift Liaisons are in case you need help!
Save Early and Often
Because IM/chat is lost in the event of a crash, it can be very worthwhile to note names when you're helping. Then you can at least make contact again if you lose the call.
Be Aware
Know the Terms of Service and the Community Standards. It can be very useful to have an understanding of what these documents contain and how to explain it to new and unknowing Residents. Also, you might want to keep a notecard of useful Second Life resources (technical forum, support wiki, etc) to hand out to Residents if they ask a question you don’t know the answer to or they want to find more information.
Taking Ownership
The general approach with Live Help is that the first person to answer the caller is taking the case – the exception being the short 'Someone will be with you in a moment.' messages that are used when it gets busy and people are waiting for a while for an answer. Once you’ve started talking to a Resident who has asked a question in Live Help, it’s best to consider it as “yours” to bring to completion from that point on. Of course you can ask for help if you’re stumped and shouldn’t feel pressured not to “pipe up” if you’ve also got an answer. It’s just easier for everyone to work together as a team when we can all rely that when someone starts an IM call, they will finish it.
Live Help Etiquette
● If a fellow Live Helper has jumped in and answered a question, let them lead on it. If they need help they can ask for it – and if you know something and feel it would help them – IM the Live Helper direct and pass on the tip. It can sometimes be disconcerting for the caller to have two people throwing ideas in at the same time.
● If you have gone to help someone by TPing to them, or are following up when they close the channel, be sure to point this out in the help channel so that others know it is being dealt with.
● Keep in mind that some Residents are not natural English speakers, or may be inexperienced at online communications so try to avoid too many slang phrases, abbreviations etc. Not everyone knows what brb, av, fps and 'tp please' mean. Remember we were all new once!
● Don’t spam the group chat! I think we’ve all made a group chat mistake and accidentally sent the wrong message to a group chat, but abusing the group chat by sending your “My club is having a hot Av contest” every day is cause for removal from the group!
● Speaking of group chat, please don’t use the Live Help group channel to report your own support or other issues. If you have a question, please send an IM to the Live Help group for help instead. : )
Example Case Process
Although all Live Help calls are different, please use the below as a simple guide to how to help people when they send an IM to Live Help. Always use your judgement and remember the role of Liaisons where Live Help is concerned (see below):
● A Live Help call comes in, you decide to take it on – you gather information about the problem, make sure they have tried the easy things like clear cache and uninstall/reinstall if that seems fitting.
● Is this case urgent? A goo attack, reproducing objects, significant asset issues, or something else that you feel sure is serious? Then contact a Liaison with a direct IM.
● Otherwise, if you know of a good resource, point them to any web sites or places that could help – always pointing out they can call or email support.
● If it needs an answer there and then and you don't know the answer, be sure to ask in the Live Help channel for advice/assistance. The other Live Helpers may know a tip or be able to help you answer the question.
● If you're still stuck, feel free to ask an on-shift Liaison for advice via direct IM – then pass that advice on to the caller.
● If all the above hasn't helped, then where appropriate refer it up to a Liaison either by asking the caller to IM the Liaison directly, or pass on the details so that the Liaison can take it on.
Don't Leave too Early
Sometimes Residents will often follow an initial question with a second one, which you'll miss if you close the session too early. Try to leave the session open for a bit after you’ve answered the question or until the Resident leaves the session themselves.
Following Up
Often, when a caller is inexperienced or they crash or they have been waiting awhile – they will leave the Live Help IM session before they’ve gotten an answer. These are often the people most in need of help, so follow up is important. Before you IM the person directly to see if they are okay, pop a short 'will follow up' message in the help channel they left – so that everyone else knows someone has followed up.
Better to Say Something, than Nothing
Even if you do not know the answer to a particular question, it can be better to say something rather than leave the caller with no response at all. Nothing wrong with admitting you're not sure, and referring them to support or to other resources, or to the forums where they can ask the question. For example:
“'That's a great question, I'm not sure about that one myself! Let me ask around for you, see if anyone else knows…”
If you’ve asked in the Live Help channel and still are unable to locate an answer, it’s best to point the Resident to the forums, Support Wiki or recommend they email support directly (support@secondlife.com) for an answer to their question. Although it may seem like they didn’t get an answer, pointing people toward resources they may not have been aware of is definitely a win- plus it’s better than no answer at all.
The Role of Liaisons in Live Help
With two or three Liaisons for 6,000+ Residents, it’s needless to say things can get very busy. Although Liaisons try to keep an eye on the Live Help channel, there will be periods when they will not be able to. They may be with a Resident trying to help them, or in direct IMs, or at the Welcome Area where the volume of chat is high.
Liaisons are there to back you up should you need them, but do not expect them to be reading the group channel or every Live Help IM, as this is unlikely and sometimes impossible. If you do need them, IM them direct rather than in the help channels – as they are far more likely to spot direct IMs. Having as much information as possible before you contact them can really help as well.
