Starting an online business to provide individuals with tech support is a great way to generate passive or full-time income. And with options in the B2B and B2C space you have the ability to scale quickly. While providing tech support is relatively easy with adequate skills and knowledge, it is difficult to accept credit cards for. Did you know that payment gateways for tech support businesses are considered high risk? The number of chargebacks the industry receives and rampant fraud is part of the reason.
So, once you’re ready to start your own email tech support service, here are a few steps to ensure the process goes smoothly and efficiently.
The Rise of the Tech Support Industry
The tech support industry is one of the largest industries worldwide. IT services and companies are expected to spend more than 1,016 billion dollars in the global economy in 2019 alone. The use of smartphones and portable devices to check emails is on the rise, accounting for about 60%. The accessibility now allows us to check emails more often, leading to an increase in email-related issues. It’s no wonder so many merchants now have a vested interest in launching their very own email tech support businesses.
Starting a Tech Support Business Handling Email Issues
Starting your own email tech support business is not as simple as registering a domain and implementing a merchant payment gateway. Instead, tech support companies are required to obtain a tech support payment gateway that is legitimate, authentic, and secure. Using an online payment gateway is essential to attracting new customers, building trust with your visitors, and ensuring the safety and protection of any and all data that is sent and received on your website.
Offering email services tech support is a great way to quickly build clientele, especially true in such a saturated market. Some common issues you are likely to assist with may include:
- Fixing Inbox Issues: Assist users with any issues they have encountered with their email address or inbox. Provide a guide to repairing their email inboxes and ensure there are no serious problems with the platform or provider.
- Minimizing Email Scams: Help individuals avoid scams by minimizing the risk and exposure to them. Educate users on how to better protect themselves from email fraud. This system you provide will come in handy any time they access their inbox, send an email, or receive messages.
- Selling Software: Using a tech support email service business is another way to promote the software solutions you support. Selling software and promoting programs can help with generating additional revenue. On top of that, you can create a recurring revenue model to increase the profits from your software offerings.
Risks and Rewards of a Tech Support Business
With all business models, there are both risks and rewards. Running your very own email tech support service allows you to assist others having difficulties with their email providers. However, it is also important to know that the industry is risky. Spend time comparing the risks and rewards of beginning your tech support business.
Advantages of Launching a Tech Support Business
Some of the benefits of launching your own email tech support business may include:
- Overhead Costs: One of the biggest advantages of owning your own email tech support business is the ability to do so with little overhead costs. Most costs come from paying employees, training new hires, and implementing new solutions for customers. Working independently allows you to bypass these costs and launch with almost nothing upfront. This is one of the most appealing aspects of starting a business in this sector.
- Wide Audience: Users of all ages and demographics require technical assistance at some point or another. Personal and business-related email use has steadily grown over the years and is expected to increase to over 347 billion daily messages sent by 2022. You will likely never run out of potential customers to help with a tech support business.
- Build Relationships: Major companies and large businesses are a huge user of email communications and have a need for a tech support provider. Once you have built a positive and professional reputation for yourself and your business, network and connect with other business owners and consider scaling your business into the B2B market.
Risks of Building an Email Tech Support Business
Unfortunately, with rewards, comes risk. Some of the risks and drawbacks of launching an email tech support service include:
- Merchant Account Difficulty: When you want to scale your tech support business, it can quickly become stressful and overwhelming as a tech support entrepreneur. Obtaining a merchant account for a tech support business is more difficult than ever with the industries’ rise in fraud and chargebacks. Seek out a payment facilitator that specializes in high risk merchant accounts. Consider whether your merchant account will need to support B2B payment processing.
- Risky Business: If you do not have a proper merchant account or if your business is not properly formed and protected, you put yourself at risk financially and legally. Handling email addresses, usernames, and passwords require plenty of discretion and the ability to abide by privacy laws. Running an email tech support service can quickly become risky if your business is not set up properly.
- Competition: Prepare for major competition when entering the realm of tech support. Offering tech support services for those with email issues can quickly become competitive if you specialize in this saturated market. Building a professional reputation for yourself and your business is essential to maximizing your reach and opportunities.
Considerations for a Tech Support Merchant Account
Obtaining a tech support merchant account is required to run a legitimate online business. With an official tech support merchant account, you will be able to accept credit cards as another form of payment. Considering without this capability, your prospective clients are limited to debit or cash, it is basically essential for your business.
Securing a merchant account for a tech support business puts you in the high risk space. So, you must first research high risk credit card providers. But not all credit card processing services of this kind are the same. Rampant fraud and chargebacks require that you have mitigating techniques in place as well.
In order to launch a new online email tech support business, you need hard work, consistency, and a way to mitigate your risks. Understand what it entails to begin a business in this industry and move forward with the right steps to ensure you are capable of keeping your business up and running without issue. With the right preparation and the ability to obtain a merchant account, run your email tech support business without the hassle as you continue to grow and scale.
