Mercedez | Till It Clicks

Growing from Strength to Strength

Early in this year, I expressed the desire of working with 2 Fortune 500 Brands within the first half 2017 to Akshay. We both agreed that it was a rather ambitious goal, but we decided to give it a shot none-the-less. In Sales, when there is intent and action, results follow. As we are closing in on completing the first half of the calendar year, we are happy to have already worked on THREE Fortune 500 companies, on significant projects and are looking to expand our footprint.

Here is the story of one of them. In February 2017, the consultants at Mercedes-Benz India, approached us with a unique proposition. Unfortunately, it was the kind of work we had not done earlier. But fortunately, it was the kind of work, no one had done earlier. We jumped on to the opportunity and started working on a project which grew very dear to me and proved to be a big opportunity for Till it clicks.

On June 5, 2017, this project was inaugurated by the top management of Mercedes-Benz India and today, official social media accounts of Mercedes-Benz India featured the project.

 

Such a proud feeling. Here are a few reasons why we are elated:

  1. We always knew we were building up a talented unit, but “Talent is nothing without opportunity”. And this project provided us with that wonderful opportunity.
  2. It kick started our journey of working on noteworthy projects from noteworthy brands. We have bagged some good customers after that. 🙂
  3. Personally, I come from a life sciences background and I am a conservationist at heart. So I understand the importance of the initiative Mercedes-Benz India took. It does really make the world a better place.
  4. It was so unique that we had be the trailblazers. All the R&D with no set paths to follow was painful. But now that we have come out of it, we feel we have grown into better Technology Marketers than we were 3 months ago. Talk about hard work paying off.

Just want to wrap this up by saying a big ‘thank you’ to the team involved in this project from Till it clicks. It is your hard work that makes us all look good.

For details about this project, visit the official website of Mercedes-Benz Hope Planting Mission – www.mbenvironment.com

My team is missing in the photographs, but here is a shout out to Akshay (my co-founder), Kiran, Pratik, Aditya and Deepti.

 

– Abhi

5 things that you need to stop to make yourself fit | Till It Clicks

5 things that ‘you need to stop’ to make yourself fit

The media and especially the main-stream media doesn’t present a healthy, beautiful body. Platforms like Instagram where models post their skinny pictures, are followed by millions. But this longing to attain too skinny, unhealthy bodies spreads a wrong notion in the society.  Remember what a healthy and natural body looks and feels like, and aim for that. All bodies are different. Respect, the already amazing body that you have. Try to reach your best, rather than longing for what is considered ‘perfect’ by the society. Keep working hard and eating right until you look noticeably better.

But in your journey to become your best, the DON’Ts are as important as the DOs. Here is a short list of what ‘you need to stop’, to make yourself fit again.

 

1. Thinking ‘career first, self later’

You need to focus on your body as much as your career or what you want to achieve in life. Would you rather be a sleek looking CEO or a grumpy old person, no one likes. Your life is happening now, and your body is a part of it.

 

2. Cursing the mirror

Looking into the mirror is good. Having friends who show you the mirror is even better. But rather than bashing yourself, take measures. Start indulging in something which you enjoy and which makes you fitter as a side-effect.

 

3. Thinking ‘looks are everything’

Yes, looks are important only to a limited extent. You need to focus on your overall health, which includes your physical fitness, mental well-being and spiritual contentment. Your body is nothing but a reflection of your mind.

 

4. Fighting with yourself

Life is hard in itself. There are enough things to deal with outside. Don’t create enemies within. Stop fighting with yourself and deal accept your shortcomings. Focus on what you enjoy. Not everybody is meant to have a chiseled physique.

 

5. Blaming your body

If only I was fitter, looked better… It doesn’t matter. And it’s certainly not your body’s fault. If you really think it is, change it. There are some things which you can’t change, thankfully, your body isn’t one of them. Don’t spend time contemplating, start doing.

 

– Abhimanyu Tadwalkar
Director,
Till it clicks Studio Pvt Ltd

Website Maintenance Services and Customer Support: Lessons Every Startup Needs

Your Website Is Open 24/7. Is Your Support?

When your business runs online, your website is not just a brochure. It is your storefront, your first impression, your sales team, and sometimes your only point of contact with a customer.

So what happens when it goes down?

At Till It Clicks, a digital marketing and website development agency in Pune, we build and manage websites for startups, small businesses, and growing brands. And over the years, one thing has become very clear to us — website maintenance services are only as good as the support that backs them up.

Clients do not just need someone to fix a broken page or renew an SSL certificate. They need someone who picks up, responds quickly, explains the problem in plain language, and actually solves it. That is the difference between a vendor and a partner.

This blog is about that difference. It is about what good customer support looks like in the real world — and what startups and small businesses can learn from it.

Why Customer Support Matters More Than Most Startups Realise

Most early-stage businesses spend a lot of energy on product, marketing, and sales. Support gets pushed to the back. “We’ll build a proper system when we scale,” is something we hear often.

But here is the problem: your customers are not waiting for you to scale.

When something goes wrong — a payment page fails, a contact form stops working, emails bounce, the website throws a 500 error — the customer’s experience of your brand is entirely defined by how quickly and how well you respond.

Research consistently shows that customers are more loyal to brands that handle problems well than to brands where nothing ever went wrong. A single well-handled crisis can generate more trust than months of smooth operation.

For website-dependent businesses, the stakes are even higher. A few hours of downtime on a Tuesday afternoon can mean missed enquiries, lost sales, and a drop in search rankings. Every minute the problem goes unsolved is a minute your competitor’s website is working just fine.

This is why customer support for startups is not a “nice to have.” It is infrastructure.

A Real Experience: What a GoDaddy Support Call Taught Us

A few years ago, we were managing a client’s website that was hosted on GoDaddy. The site went down unexpectedly — no warning, no obvious cause. The client called us, understandably worried. It was a business day, leads were coming in from a campaign we had just launched, and the timing could not have been worse.

We contacted GoDaddy support.

Now, GoDaddy is not a perfect company. Their pricing structure can be confusing, and like any large hosting provider, they have their critics. But on this particular occasion, the support experience was genuinely good — and it reminded us what proper support actually feels like.

The agent picked up quickly. They did not ask us to repeat ourselves three times or read from a script that had nothing to do with our problem. They listened, asked the right questions, ran diagnostics on their end, identified a server-side issue, and kept us informed throughout. The site was back up within the hour. They followed up afterward to confirm everything was stable.

No drama. No blame-shifting. No “have you tried turning it off and on again.”

What stood out was not the speed alone — it was the combination of promptness, transparency, and a genuine willingness to solve the problem. The agent treated our urgency as their urgency. That is what good customer service looks like in practice.

We left that call thinking: this is the standard every service business should hold itself to.

What Is Good Customer Service? Five Principles That Actually Matter

Good customer service is not about being polite. Politeness without competence is just theatre. Here is what genuinely good support looks like — drawn from real customer service examples we have seen work:

  1. Respond fast, even if you cannot fix fast Acknowledge the problem immediately. A message that says “We have received your complaint and are investigating” does more for customer confidence than silence followed by a solution two hours later.
  2. Speak like a human, not a ticket system Nobody wants to read “Your query has been escalated to Tier 2.” Tell them what is actually happening. “We have found the issue — it is on the server side and we are working to fix it now” is infinitely better.
  3. Own the problem, even if it is not entirely your fault This is one of the hardest customer service best practices to implement, especially for startups. But customers do not care whose fault it is. They care whether you are going to fix it. Take ownership first, sort the blame later.
  4. Follow through and follow up Fix the problem and then check back. That follow-up message after the issue is resolved costs nothing and builds an enormous amount of trust.
  5. Document common issues so customers can self-serve A simple FAQ page, a help doc, or even a pinned WhatsApp message explaining what to do when X happens — these things reduce panic and save everyone time.

Customer Support Best Practices for Website-First Businesses

If your business depends on a website — and most businesses do now — here is how to build support that actually works:

Set up multiple contact channels, but manage them properly Live chat, WhatsApp, email, phone — offer options, but do not offer channels you cannot staff. A WhatsApp number that nobody monitors is worse than having no WhatsApp at all. It creates the expectation of fast response and then fails to deliver.

Define your response time and stick to it Tell customers upfront: “We respond to support queries within 2 hours during business hours.” Then do it. Consistency builds trust faster than speed alone.

Have a basic incident communication plan When your website goes down, what do you do? Who do you call? What do you say to waiting customers? Most small businesses do not have an answer to these questions. Draft a simple one-page plan before you need it.

Treat your website maintenance as an ongoing service, not a one-time project This is something we emphasise strongly at Till It Clicks. A website that was built well still needs regular updates, security patches, uptime monitoring, and performance checks. Website maintenance services are not a luxury — they are how you prevent 2 AM emergencies from becoming 2 AM disasters.

Train your team to respond before escalating Not every support query needs a developer. Many issues — broken image links, wrong contact details, slow page speed, email configuration problems — can be resolved quickly by someone with basic training and a good checklist.

How Good Support Connects to SEO and Brand Trust

This is a connection that many startups miss entirely.

Google cares about user experience. If your website is frequently down, loads slowly, or delivers a broken experience, it affects your search rankings. Page speed, uptime, and mobile performance are all confirmed factors in how Google ranks your site.

But there is a softer connection too. When customers have a good support experience, they talk about it. They leave reviews. They refer others. They come back. Word of mouth and referrals remain among the most powerful growth drivers for small businesses — and they are almost always triggered by an experience, not just a product.

On the flip side, a bad support experience travels fast. One negative review about unresponsive support can undo months of good SEO and content work.

Strong website support is therefore not just an operational concern — it is a brand and growth concern.

What Till It Clicks Recommends for Growing Businesses

Over the years, working with startups and small businesses across industries, we have seen the same pattern repeatedly: businesses invest in a good website, launch it, and then leave it on its own. No monitoring, no updates, no support plan.

Then something breaks. And suddenly, the business that spent three months building its online presence is scrambling to find someone to fix a hosting issue at 6 PM on a Friday.

Here is what we recommend instead:

  • Invest in monthly website maintenance packages that include uptime monitoring, security updates, regular backups, and a defined support response time
  • Build a support touchpoint into your customer journey — make it easy for customers to reach you when something goes wrong
  • Treat every support interaction as a branding moment — how you handle problems defines how customers remember you
  • Choose technology partners, not just vendors — whether it is your hosting provider, your CRM, or your website agency, work with people who will actually pick up when something goes wrong

At Till It Clicks, we offer end-to-end website development services for startups and growing businesses, paired with ongoing support so our clients are never left guessing. We also help businesses grow their online visibility through SEO services, content marketing, local SEO services, and performance marketing — because a great website needs to be found, not just maintained.