Store Manager in Office Live Small Business provides an exciting opportunity to sell products to a vast audience online. But like anything new, opening a virtual store can come with some questions. I have good news: There are several ways to get assistance, and fast.
1. Help. Perhaps you’ve read a few Help topics about Store Manager, and didn’t get the specific information you were looking for. One option would be to curse at your PC, of course (I’ve tried that myself). But you can also leave feedback at the end of the topic:
Everyone knows that customer feedback goes straight to the (digital) trash, right? Well, actually, content ratings and feedback come to me—the user assistance writer for Store Manager. I’m the person who wrote all of the Store Manager Help topics, in consultation with Microsoft’s Store Manager team. We used internal expertise and user studies to create the best Help content we could for the launch of the product. But now that you are setting up shop, we’re sure you have questions, concerns, and feedback that we didn’t anticipate. That’s why we plan to continually improve Store Manager Help topics and Resource Center articles (and we’ll offer how-to videos in the near future). However, we need your input to do this right.
2. Community forums. Another great option for getting help now is participating in Office Live Discussions. In the discussion forums, you can ask questions and get timely support from fellow merchants and members of the Store Manager team. It’s a great way to get direct access to Store Manager expertise at any time.
3. Office Live Small Business blog. This is my first post in a series that will specifically address Store Manager support. In future posts, I will point out new and updated Store Manager resources, and discuss other issues of interest to Store Manager merchants, such as tips and best practices for providing a great online shopping experience for your customers.
I’ll end this post with a specific “call to action,” as we love to say here at Microsoft. Comment on this post with your answers to the following questions:
· What has been your most challenging task in setting up your store?
· If you read a specific Help topic or article and it didn’t do the trick, what information was missing or misleading?
Your answers will help me to understand where Help isn’t working for you, and what improvements to prioritize. I look forward to your input!
Cheryl Lowry