Causes has been able to build a user-centric culture by adopting practices of company wide support. Our model is a bit untraditional, focusing on meeting people where they are and giving everyone in the company an opportunity to interact with users directly or through other passive channels.
Here's my full presentation at UserConf 2013 - San Francisco.
2. Company wide support
Benefits:
• Scale resources
• Decrease response time
• Increase satisfaction
• Strengthen user empathy
• Create a better product
4. Causes in early 2012
Support systems didn’t really exist
• Few metrics
• No asking of support satisfaction
• Feedback loops back to product development poor
• Bugs sat in queue for months at a time
User empathy was poor
• Little understanding of their needs
• Generalized them based on unexpected behavior
• We took them for granted
5. Step 1: Build systems
Gather data
• Weekly reports
• Number of tickets,
response time, satisfaction
• Tag and track issues
Set clear goals
• 24 hour 1st reply time (Monday-Friday)
• 85%+ user satisfaction
Expand your channels
• Integrate ZenDesk with Facebook/Twitter
• Install chat support (Olark)
6. Step 2: Launch Delta Force
Syd
Dir. Community & Support
Melissa
James
Community organizer
Support
Emily
Kellen
Community intern
Community organizer
Rocky
Community organizer
7. Step 2: Launch Delta Force
Training the team
• Week 1 - Support pairing (2, 1-hour)
• Week 2 - Cover support with mentor (2, 1-hour)
Scheduling
• James - Everyday, Monday - Friday
• Delta Force - Individuals have assigned days
• No more than 2 hours coverage for assigned day
8. Step 2: Launch Delta Force
Managing the team, sharing information
• DeltaForce@ email
• Priority bugs
• Interesting support articles
• Weekly retros
• Review rated tickets
• Issues/housekeeping
• Support Wiki
• Login information
• Reports and processes
9. Step 3: Grow Support’s influence
• Integrate Support into
Product
• Publicize Support data and
feedback
• Public Olark chat sessions
• Join product manager
meetings and engineer
scrum
• Organize weekly bug triage
meetings with tech leads
10. Step 4: Make it a company effort
• Support onboarding for
every new hire
• Lunch time talks on
support and interacting with
users
• Meet people where they
are - give them options and
ask them to join
11. Step 4: Make it a company effort
Active
Interaction type
More
Answer tickets
Time commitment
Cover live chat
Passive
Usability test or product
research call
Checking the Campfire Support
feed
Sitting in on a public live chat
Employee-user interaction pyramid
Less
12. Today’s Delta Force
“It’s getting a chance to see firsthand how users understand the
product in the wild.”
- Emily, Product Manger
“It helps me understand some of the common
misconceptions about the product. If people
still think we’re a Facebook application, that’s a
problem Marketing needs to solve ASAP.”
- Brad, Audience Growth
PRODUCT
VP Product
Product Managers
Post Master
ENGINEERING
Software Engineers
VP Engineering
“Delta Force gives me a sense of
empathy for our users that I wouldn’t
necessarily have and helps me realize
the impact of bugs.”
- Tom, Software Engineer
Director Product Research
UX Researchers
MARKETING
Audience Growth
Marketing Manager
13. What we achieved
• Made user support sustainable
• Improved response time
• Bugs tackled faster
• Increased satisfaction - ~70% to ~85%
• Talked with more users proactively
• Conversations changed
14. What we learned
• Communication and building
Active
relationships is important
• Support isn’t for everyone -
Interaction
to those who help
• Support should live within
Product Team
• Interacting with users makes
everyone’s job easier, and
makes our users happy
Answer tickets
Time
Cover live chat
meet people where they are
• Give awards and recognition
More
Passive
Usability test or product
research call
Checking the Campfire
Support feed
Sitting in on a public live chat
Employee-user interaction pyramid
Less
