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independenceone source · 2 more authors in those circles
applies to

b2b, no audience needed

confidence

medium

evidence

5 claims · 5 articles · 3 receipts

window

2009-05-18 → 2017-07-31 · nothing since 2017

a single source, nothing corroborates it

Do it in their account, then show them how

Answer early support by logging in, completing the task yourself and sending back screenshots or a short screencast, which lands as something close to magic and teaches at the same time. The whole toolkit needed is a queue, reusable canned replies and a searchable help site, plus a fixed formula for real failures: apologise for what happened and state exactly how you will put it right. Design that path as deliberately as the product, and where people expect a phone, have a person answer it.

The method

  1. 01

    Answer nearly every early support question by logging into the customer's account, completing the task for them, then sending screenshots or a screencast so they can repeat it.

  2. 02

    The whole support toolkit you need is three things: one queue to collect requests, a way to reuse stock replies, and a searchable help site.

  3. 03

    Accept that early customers will hit real failures and answer with a fixed formula: apologise for what happened and state exactly how you will put it right.

  4. 04

    Instead of telling callers their call matters, have a person pick up the phone.

  5. 05

    Design the support experience with the same sketching, prototyping and feedback you give the product, instead of dropping in a contact form, because one bad support exchange can turn a paying customer into a former one.

What it returned

  • $5

    The author fielded a furious email about how hard his $5-a-month product was to use and midnight calls from a designer on deadline

  • The author says telling a customer you have already done it for them lands as something close to magic

  • The author prefers TextExpander for canned replies because it works in every application rather than only in the mail client

Sources

the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

One email a week. Unsubscribe in one click, and the address is used for this and nothing else.

More in product

all product plays

the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

963 corroborated plays to draw from · 3 a week

One email a week. Unsubscribe in one click, and the address is used for this and nothing else.