Methods for providing self-support services using information from a viral source

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored therein, which when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method for online self-support services, the method comprising:

• receiving, at a services application programming interface (API) of a server representing a support center, a login request from a mobile application running within a mobile device over a network;
• after successfully authenticating a user of the mobile device, retrieving from a user account associated with the user one or more products that have been registered to the user with the support center and stored in a persistent storage device of the server, wherein the support center provides support services for a plurality of products provided by a plurality of clients as product providers;
• for each of the registered products, identifying one or more articles associated with the product that have been published in an online publication forum, wherein the articles have been extracted from a knowledgebase (KB) based on a support history of the product maintained by the support center;
• for each of the registered products, determining a list of support options available to the user for each of the registered products, the support options including a live support option and an online self-support option, wherein the availability of the support options are determined based on a client preference of a client of the corresponding registered product;
• for each live support option available to the user for each of the registered products, determining a list of communications options that is available for the user to establish a live communication session with a support agent, wherein availability of the communications options are determined based on the client preference of the associated client and a user preference of the user, wherein the client preference has been previously configured and stored in a client database, and wherein the user preference is stored in a user profile of the user maintained by the server;
• transmitting a personalized page to the mobile device to be displayed at a display of the mobile device, the personalized page listing the one or more registered products associated with the user, including names, serial numbers, and product providers of the registered products, wherein each of the registered products is associated with one or more graphical representations representing the support options that are available to the associated registered product, which when activated, transmits a support request to the support center for support services for the associated product, wherein the personalized page includes a first one-touch button to contact a first agent of the support center using one or more of the available communications options and a link to the one or more articles of the publication forum to allow the user to attempt finding a solution to the product without having to contact the first agent of the support center, wherein at least a first of the articles published on the online publication forum includes a second one-touch button to allow the user to contact a second agent of the support center during or after reviewing the first article, the graphical representations being presented together within the personalized page to indicate available support options for support services of the associated product;
• in response to receiving a support request via an activation of the second one-touch button displayed within the first article when the user accesses the first article via the link displayed within the personalized page, establishing a live communication session using a selected communication channel to contact the second agent;
• generating a touch plan including information related to a section of the first article being accessed, the touch plan to track interactions with the second agent via the live communication session;
• sending the touch plan including the information related to the section of the first article for allowing the second agent to provide support services focusing on content of the section of the first article accessed;
• and wherein determining a list of communications options that is available for the user to establish a live communication session with a support agent comprises:
• retrieving a first list of communication channels from the user profile of the user, wherein the first list of communication channels are preferred by the user for conducting a live support session with a support agent;
• retrieving a second list of communication channels from the client database, wherein the second list of communication channels are preferred by the client associated with the product for conducting a live support session with the user;
• and
• generating a third list of communication channels based on the first and second lists of communication channels, wherein the third list of communication channels are preferred by both the user and the client and commonly exist in the first list and the second list of communication channels.

A system for product support services provided by a support center, the system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory coupled to the processor for storing instructions, which when executed by from the memory, cause the processor to
• receive, at a services application programming interface (API), a login request from a mobile application running within a mobile device over a network,
• after successfully authenticating a user of the mobile device, retrieve from a user account associated with the user information of one or more products that have been registered to the user with the support center and stored in a persistent storage device, wherein the support center provides support services for a plurality of products provided by a plurality of clients as product providers,
• for each of the registered products, identify one or more articles associated with the product that have been published in an online publication forum, wherein the articles have been extracted from a knowledgebase (KB) based on a support history of the product maintained by the support center,
• for each of the registered products, determine a list of support options available to the user for each of the registered products, the support options including a live support option and an online self-support option, wherein the availability of the support options are determined based on a client preference of a client of the corresponding registered product,
• for each live support option available to the user for each of the registered products, determine a list of communications options that is available for the user to establish a live communication session with a support agent, wherein availability of the communications options are determined based on the client preference of the associated client and a user preference of the user, wherein the client preference has been previously configured and stored in a client database, and wherein the user preference is stored in a user profile of the user maintained by the server,
• transmit a personalized page to the mobile device to be displayed at a display of the mobile device, the personalized page listing the one or more registered products associated with the user, including names, serial numbers, and product providers of the registered products, wherein each of the registered products is associated with one or more graphical representations representing the support options that are available to the associated registered product, which when activated, transmits a support request to the support center for support services for the associated product, wherein the personalized page includes a first one-touch button to contact a first agent of the support center using one or more of the available communications options and a link to the one or more articles of the publication forum to allow the user to attempt finding a solution to the product without having to contact the first agent of the support center, wherein at least a first of the articles published on the online publication forum includes a second one-touch button to allow the user to contact a second agent of the support center during or after reviewing the first article, the graphical representations being presented together within the personalized page to indicate available support options for support services of the associated product,
• in response to receiving a support request via an activation of the second one-touch button displayed within the first article when the user accesses the first article via the link displayed within the personalized page, establish a live communication session using a selected communication channel to contact the second agent,
• generate a touch plan including information related to a section of the first article being accessed, the touch plan to track interactions with the second agent via the live communication session,
• send the touch plan including the information related to the section of the first article for allowing the second agent to provide support services focusing on content of the section of the first article accessed;
• and wherein determining a list of communications options that is available for the user to establish a live communication session with a support agent comprises:
• retrieving a first list of communication channels from the user profile of the user, wherein the first list of communication channels are preferred by the user for conducting a live support session with a support agent;
• retrieving a second list of communication channels from the client database, wherein the second list of communication channels are preferred by the client associated with the product for conducting a live support session with the user;
• and
• generating a third list of communication channels based on the first and second lists of communication channels, wherein the third list of communication channels are preferred by both the user and the client and commonly exist in the first list and the second list of communication channels.