It really bothers me when it’s clear that a startup has prioritized their company’s experience instead of prioritizing the customer’s experience.
 
Let’s look at two scenarios out of the support world.

Scenario 1: Company’s Experience is Prioritized

1. a customer has a problem
2. they submit a ticket with an unfamiliar support system
3. they receive an automated response from the system
4. they receive a manual response that prompts them to re-enter the support system
5. they enter back into the system, figure out how to reply, and send a follow up
6. repeat until issue is resolved

Benefit to the company: The company doesn’t need as many first responders. Analytics on support are baked right into the system. A web interface keeps everything organized for the support team. Automated responses ‘buy’ time for support team to respond.

Downsides for the customer: They need to use an unfamiliar system. They know that they are interfacing with a system first and a person second. There is more opportunity for error. This system is more arduous to use when on a mobile device.

Scenario 2: Customer’s Experience is Prioritized

1. a customer has a problem
2. they send an email to support@company.com using their own email system
3. they receive a response by email
4. they reply from their email
5. repeat until issue is resolved

Benefit to the customer: There is no learning curve. They know that they’re interfacing with a person.

Downside for the company: Managing inquiries can be arduous. Customer expectations are higher. Tracking and routing issues is more time consuming.

But these don’t seem that different!
Whenever a company prioritizes their experience, they’re betting that the decrease in customer satisfaction is worth the increase in company efficiency. Every time a customer interacts with an unfamiliar system, there is risk. They don’t want to screw something up. They want to explain themselves properly and make sure they don’t miss an important checkbox. Multiply these moments of risk across a customer base and you’ll have higher churn, less word of mouth, and a multitude of other issues.

What’s the solution?

By using systems customers already know well, like email, you can take away all the risk and barriers so that you get more feedback and can solve more problems. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have systems in place for a customer optimized experience. It just means that you need different systems than the off-the-shelf options.

In our case, we’d love to have an email based system that routes emails to the team, knows when someone has responded, records interactions, pulls out analytics, and creates more value for the company while being optimized for the customer experience.

The next time you’re thinking about how to make things easier for yourself, think about how you can make something easier for your customer. The best products will help your customer first and your company second.