HP Creates Global Online Consumer Support Community

As part of its efforts to offer consumers an unparalleled technical support experience, HP today announced a series of new and updated programs designed to help consumers get answers to questions quickly and effectively online.

* A revamped global peer-to-peer online support forum allows members to connect with one another to exchange insights and tips, and get answers to each other’s questions regarding their HP consumer products.
* The updated HP Customer Care website makes it easier for more than 20 million monthly visitors to find the information they need to solve issues.
* Online classes, offered at no charge, help customers with subjects like migrating to Windows Vista®, safe wireless computing and digital scrapbooking.(1)
* A series of online videos provides tips and tutorials on topics ranging from connecting dual monitors to configuring a TV tuner on a PC.

The new and updated programs reflect changes in how HP customers are sharing information and communicating online. According to Forrester Research, three out of four online adults in the United States now use social tools to connect with each other, compared with just 56 percent in 2007.(2) Traffic to the HP Customer Care site increased 18 percent from January to October 2007 compared to the same period in 2008 as more consumers go online for support.

The online community initiative is the result of recent investments by HP to deliver superior consumer technical support worldwide. Internal HP surveys show these investments are making an impact – satisfaction with HP consumer support improved 30 percent from October 2007 to October 2008 with the launch of a new customer support infrastructure, new call centers and agent training programs in early 2008.

“These programs represent a growing evolution in consumer support,” said Tara Bunch, vice president, Global Customer Support Operations, HP. “Providing a way for customers to assist each other through a community and get better support online helps us achieve our goal of improving customer satisfaction worldwide.”

HP consumer support forum

Leading these online support programs is the newly designed consumer support forum where community members can share ideas, ask questions and help other members with solutions. The forum is divided into different categories based on broad topics such as operating systems or wireless networking for notebooks. Community members can personalize their HP experiences by tagging or bookmarking key boards, threads and messages, or by adding RSS feeds to keep track of new posts on key topics.

HP plans to add additional components to the consumer support forum over the next several months, including blogs for technical gurus and community members, online seminars with moderated questions and answers, and wikis to enhance the support library with new content.

HP will be actively monitoring the forums to help identify common support issues and gain customer feedback and insights. If customers can’t find solutions to their problems, assistance is available directly from HP by phone, email and real-time chat. The HP consumer support forums are available worldwide in English and will be rolling out in additional languages in the future.

The HP consumer support forums are available now at www.hp.com/support/consumer-forum.

HP Customer Care

The HP Customer Care site has been revised and updated to make it easier for consumers to locate and download product drivers or find additional information about HP products. The site has more than 20 million unique visitor sessions per month and the updates were rolled out worldwide in more than 22 languages. Support pages have been simplified and modernized to create a customer-friendly design and flow. The improved HP Customer Care site is available at www.hp.com/support.

Free online classes(1)

HP is launching a new series of free online classes to aid consumers with a number of subjects from migrating to Windows Vista to photo restoration basics. In a recent HP survey of customers that completed a class, more than 93 percent said they would take another course and more than 92 percent said they would recommend classes to a friend. The instructor-led classes have message boards that allow students to communicate with an instructor and each other. More information about free online classes is available at www.hp.com/go/freeclasses.

HP how-to videos

HP also has produced more than 45 video tutorials, which are posted online at HP.com and on a number of video sharing sites. The initial series of videos, titled “Know Your PC,” centers on tips for learning how to use the new HP TouchSmart PC. Additional videos with tips on topics such as connecting dual monitors and retrieving files from floppy disks are available now and more will be released in coming months. HP how-to videos can be accessed at www.hp.com/products/howtovideos.