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8 Comments

How do you handle customer service

How do you handle customer service for your app? are you doing it yourself, hiring a person or team, etc. do you use chat bots, email, or a ticketing service thow is your experience?

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    We did it ourselves up until we were getting 20 or so requests a day. For a founder it's one of the hardest things to let go of, speaking to customers every day is a significant reward. But once you have an established business with an understanding of your customers and market your time is likely more valuable elsewhere (also it's nice to go on holiday every so often without checking emails!).

    We use Helpscout, initially only using their email support product before expanding into live chat as our team grew. I've yet to see a chat bot I've liked as a user myself, so we've not done anything with that however do try to ensure our documentation is well bulked out.

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      So as far as chatbot goes what turned you away from using them what’s there anything you were looking for that they didn’t have, or did they not work or something?

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        I've just never enjoyed talking to a bot.

        I've always either wanted to quickly find my own answer using search, or speak to a person.

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    I do it myself, primarily via email, sometimes get contacted via Twitter as well.
    For my project, the volume of the requests is low – a couple requests per week or so. They are typically feature suggestions, or about billing issues, or simple thank you's (love these!) Luckily not many "how do I do this" type requests.

    In my experience chatbots are ... infuriating. As an introvert, I'm contacting support as the last resort – when I've read all documentation, searched google, tried all random tricks I can think of, and feel there's nothing I myself can do to solve my issue. At that stage, I'm looking for help and I'm hoping for an expert on the other side, not an automaton that knows answers to 30 common questions.

  3. 1

    I am building a tool for it right now! Early access at marketfly.io

  4. 1

    I handle it by myself. I don't use chatbots, email + community boards on Productroad.com work great.

  5. 1

    Definitely use a ticketing system. SOP’s are key to great customer service. Every time you get a request you need to log learnings like questions asked, friction points, gaps in customer learning journey, sales opportunities, everything. Start filling holes once you start noticing common questions or gaps.

    From there start building out a knowledge base that is customer facing so that you can add self service customer support to the front of your ticketing. A chat widget will increase the amount of support because a lot of people get more chatty but it doesn’t necessarily improve your support quality, often times it gets worse. Not all markets are right for chat. Be careful here and test.

    And because I like engineering more than business ops I hire out customer service and sales as soon as I can justify it. BUT this requires GREAT documentation, SOP’s, product knowledge and training to build a high quality team as well, so focus on that. Also train all your customer people to be great at sales too. That’s very important.

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