a single source, nothing corroborates it

Treat the outage as a relationship event

A visible failure followed by a frank explanation and a real apology tends to produce a more committed customer than a flawless run would have, but only for a company that was already behaving decently in its writing and its support. Prepare the response in advance, and shield the newest customers first, since an incident in their first weeks is the whole impression they have of you.

The method

1. 01

   A small failure followed by a frank apology and a full explanation tends to produce a more committed customer than a faultless experience would have, so never paper over a bug.

2. 02

   Build the goodwill before you need it, through the blog, the support replies and the site, because an apology only lands for a company that was already behaving that way.

3. 03

   Write standard operating procedures for the processes that will otherwise panic you, including shipping a release, recovering from a server outage and handling a complaint that goes viral on social media.

4. 04

   Protect brand-new customers from incidents first, because a problem in the first weeks becomes a first impression, whereas a customer of three years has built up patience with you.

5. 05

   When you apologise, say what you have changed so this kind of error cannot happen again, and let the remaining faults get progressively more obscure over time.

What it returned

• 1,000

  Onboarding 1,000 customers a month meant most incidents landed on someone who had been with them a month or two.

• The author reports these customers stay longer and refer more often, apparently because they feel involved in building the product; a whole onboarding full of bugs still loses them

• He warns against abusing customers and then trying to buy forgiveness with a heartfelt letter from the chief executive.

• Customers with double-charged or declined cards were given the top package free

Sources

• Human + Fallible = Love; Corporate + Sterile = RefundJason Cohen · longform.asmartbear.com · Human + Fallible = Love; Corporate + Sterile = Refund · 2010-06-28
• Rare things become common at scaleJason Cohen · longform.asmartbear.com · Rare things become common at scale · 2014-01-28
• $39k in eBook Sales Part 2: Design, Testimonials, and TrafficNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · Selling with AppSumo and Dealotto · 2012-10-08
• Calm Business Misconceptions – The Bootstrapped FounderArvid Kahl · thebootstrappedfounder.com · Myth 1: A Business is Either Calm, or it’s Not. · 2022-11-03
• Micro-SaaS Ebook: Retention & SupportTyler Tringas · tylertringas.com · The Guiding Principle: Every support ticket is an opportunity · 2017-07-31