Support Ops Podcast

This week I talk with Thanh Pham from Asian Efficiency. We look at  how to prepare for a product launch when your team is still pretty small. Thanh also shares with us how his team is scaling their support while still providing a very personable customer experience. Listen to the show Subscribe to the podcast: RSS | iTunes | Download  Show Notes and Links Thanh Pham – Website | Google+ Asian Efficiency Music heard on the show is from Dexter Britain under a Creative Commons license. Sorry for the rough audio on my end. I’ve found and fixed that problem!

This week I talk with Diana Potter from Customer.io. She’s the first and so far only support pro on the team. We talk about how she provides a solid customer support experience despite being a solo support pro. Listen to the show Subscribe to the podcast: RSS | iTunes | Download  Show Notes and Links Diana Potter- Twitter Customer.io “Use Email for Better Onboarding” Support Hangout #32 – The Solo Support Pro Help Scout Jekyll Zappos Music heard on the show is from Dexter Britain under a Creative Commons license.

This week I talk with Ashley Verrill. She’s the managing Editor at Software Advice and writes some great customer experience articles at Customer Service Investigator. We talk about the trends she’s seeing from other company’s customer service teams. We also touch on self-service support and how companies can get better at it. Listen to the show Subscribe to the podcast: RSS | iTunes | Download  Show Notes and Links Ashley Verill-  Twitter | Website Customers Service Investigator Software Advice “Is Amazon’s Mayday Support Model Right for Your Organization?“ “How can we provide better customer service? Create software that lets customers serve each other“ Music heard on the show is from Dexter Britain under a Creative Commons license.

This week I interview Micah Bennett from Zapier. We talk about how they keep a complex idea like Zapier super easy to use for customers. We also touch on how he does support as the sole support pro along with what his team thought of live chat. Listen to the show Subscribe to the podcast: RSS | iTunes | Download  Show Notes and Links Micah Bennett-  Twitter Zapier Wade Foster Zapier Live Office Hours Wufoo Kevin Hale “How to design software users love” Sticker Mule’s “On Phone Support” Olark Wistia Music heard on the show is from Dexter Britain under a Creative Commons license. Our Awesome Partner – Snappy If your support inbox is out of control, Snappy will fix it. A great support app from our friends at UserScape, Snappy allows you to help your customers without any inbox chaos. If you’re in the market for a support app, this is the one you want to try out. It’s really easy to use and just plain awesome to work with. They’ve got a great 30 day entirely free trial so go check them out here.

This week I interview Robert Gregory from Media Temple. We talk about the acquisition of Media Temple by GoDaddy along with how the support team fielded the flood of opinions on it. Then we move into the world of gamification with examples of how Robert successfully uses it with his support team.   Listen to the show Subscribe to the podcast: RSS | iTunes | Download  Show Notes and Links Robert Gregory –  Twitter Media Temple The Media Temple Way episode Sara Carter – MT Chief Correspondent GoDaddy ad “The Baker” featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme Ask MT Live episode Acquisition announcement Acquisition FAQ page Music heard on the show is from Dexter Britain under a Creative Commons license. Our Awesome Partner – Snappy If your support inbox is out of control, Snappy will fix it. A great support app from our friends at UserScape, Snappy allows you to help your customers without any inbox chaos. If you’re in the market for a support app, this is the one you want to try out. It’s really easy to use and just plain awesome to work with. They’ve got a great 30 day entirely free trial so go check them out here.

This week on the show, I interview Josh Pigford from Sabotage. We talk about Temper, how teams can use it to see what the customer is thinking, and how customer surveys should work in general. Listen to the show Subscribe to the podcast: RSS | iTunes | Download  Show Notes and Links Josh Pigford – Website // Twitter Temper.io Pugspot PopSurvey.com Music heard on the show is from Dexter Britain under a Creative Commons license. Our Awesome Partner – Snappy If your support inbox is out of control, Snappy will fix it. A great support app from our friends at UserScape, Snappy allows you to help your customers without any inbox chaos. It’s simple to use, easy to get started with, and makes sending emails to customers a breeze. They’ve got a great 30 day entirely free trial so go check them out here.

This week Rachel Andrew from Perch is on the show. We talk about designing support requests out of your product. We also take a look at the data she tracks to help plan for future customer growth and how that ties back into those support cases.  Listen to the show Subscribe to the podcast: RSS | iTunes | Download  Show Notes and Links Rachel Andrew – Website // Twitter Perch edgeofmyseat.com Music heard on the show is from Dexter Britain under a Creative Commons license. Our Awesome Partner – Snappy If your support inbox is out of control, Snappy will fix it. A great support app from our friends at UserScape, Snappy allows you to help your customers without any inbox chaos. It’s simple to use, easy to get started with, and makes sending emails to customers a breeze. They’ve got a great 30 day entirely free trial so go check them out here.

Joseph Rooks is on the show this week. We talk about his experience with tech support at Virginia Tech, crafting better error messages, and how screencasts can be your best friend to help customers. Listen to the show Subscribe to the podcast: RSS | iTunes | Download  Show Notes and Links Joseph Rooks – Website // Twitter Virginia Tech Quicktime for Mac Camtasia for Windows Comcast Cares Music heard on the show is from Dexter Britain under a Creative Commons license. Our Awesome Partner – Snappy If your support inbox is out of control, Snappy will fix it. A great support app from our friends at UserScape, Snappy allows you to help your customers without any inbox chaos. It’s simple to use, easy to get started with, and makes sending emails to customers a breeze. They’ve got a great 30 day entirely free trial so go check them out here.

Ian Landsman and Andrey Butvo are on the show this week. It’s a special joint podcast with the very awesome Bootstrapped.fm. We talk customer support from the bootstrapper’s perspective along with what works, what doesn’t, and more. Listen to the show Subscribe to the podcast: RSS | iTunes | Download  Show Notes and Links Ian and Andrey from Bootstrapped.fm Basecamp Mobile Bootstrapped customer service and using self-service walls threads on discuss.bootstrapped.fm Pingdom Amazon Prime GetSatisfaction CoSupport Music heard on the show is from Dexter Britain under a Creative Commons license. Our Awesome Partner – Snappy If your support inbox is out of control, Snappy will fix it. A great support app from our friends at UserScape, Snappy allows you to help your customers without any inbox chaos. It’s simple to use, easy to get started with, and makes sending emails to customers a breeze. They’ve got a great 30 day entirely free trial so go check them out here.

Justin Jackson is on the show this week. We talk about designing for support while building out your product. You can’t have a great product without a great support experience. Listen to the show Subscribe to the podcast: RSS | iTunes | Download  Show Notes and Links Justin Jackson – Website // Twitter Product People Industry Mailout Sprintly Music heard on the show is from Dexter Britain under a Creative Commons license. Our Awesome Partner – Snappy If your support inbox is out of control, Snappy will fix it. A great support app from our friends at UserScape, Snappy allows you to help your customers without any inbox chaos. It’s simple to use, easy to get started with, and makes sending emails to customers a breeze. They’ve got a great 30 day entirely free trial so go check them out here.

Jon Lane is on the show this week. He’s part of the fantastic support team at Harvest and probably the most remote worker I’ve ever talked to. Hint – he takes a boat to get from his home office to town. We also talk about Hurricane Sandy and how it affected the Harvest team. With power outages throughout the city, the Harvest team worked around the clock to keep their app up and running. Listen to the show Subscribe to the podcast: RSS | iTunes | Download  Show Notes and Links Jon Lane – Website // Twitter Harvest GeekTool Alfred Jon at UserConf Harvest Blog on Hurricane Sandy Plan, Plan, Plan Podcast Our Awesome Partner – Snappy If your support inbox is out of control, Snappy will fix it. A great support app from our friends at UserScape, Snappy allows you to help your customers without any inbox chaos. It’s simple to use, easy to get started with, and makes sending emails to customers a breeze. They’ve got a great 30 day entirely free trial so go check them out here.

Nick Francis is on the show this week. As one of the co-founders of Help Scout, customer support is literally his entire business. We cover Help Scout’s first online class, how to make whole company support work, and what it’s like to look for your first full time support person. Listen to the show Subscribe to the podcast: RSS | iTunes | Download  Show Notes and Links Nick Francis – Website // Twitter Help Scout Help Scout Pro Tips Class Help Scout Resources Our Awesome Partner – Snappy From our friends at UserScape comes a great new customer support app. Most customer support apps have some kind of learning curve as you try to figure it out. With Snappy, their new interface is drop dead easy to use and lets you focus on what matters most – your customers. They’ve got a great 30 day entirely free trial so go check them out here.

Carl Holscher is on the show this week. We talk about tech support inside a more traditional institution like the National Institute of Health. He’s supporting some of the best scientists in the world as they work to solve cancer. Pretty cool, right? Carl shares some of the tips tricks he has for keeping a variety of computers and operating systems running their best. It’s in-person support every day of the week for everything from Mac to Windows to Linux. He’s even working with machines that need Windows 95 to run! Listen to the show Subscribe to the podcast: RSS | iTunes | Download  Show Notes and Links Carl Holscher – Website // Twitter National Institute of Health National Cancer Institute Defraggler Patch My PC Offer One Choice This week’s sponsor – Sticker Mule If the name didn’t give it away, Sticker Mule makes stickers and custom skins for your iPhone, iPad, laptop, and Kindle. And just like you aim for fast response times with your emails, Sticker Mule aims for fast production and delivery for your stickers. They’ve got the entire process down to five days, which makes them the fastest sticker printer in the world. Check it out here.

Mike Wong from Wufoo is on the show this week. We talk about Wufoo’s distinct personality and how that comes across in their support emails. Oh, and his fan club.  You’ve got to hear about his fan club. Listen to the show Subscribe to the podcast: RSS | iTunes | Download  Show Notes and Links Mike Wong- Website // Twitter Wufoo Survey Monkey FAQ Take-a-Screenshot Support Details Zappos This week’s sponsor – Sticker Mule If the name didn’t give it away, Sticker Mule makes stickers and custom skins for your iPhone, iPad, laptop, and Kindle. And just like you aim for fast response times with your emails, Sticker Mule aims for fast production and delivery for your stickers. They’ve got the entire process down to five days, which makes them the fastest sticker printer in the world. Check it out here here.

I’ve got Evan Hamilton on the show this week. We talk about keeping customers happy, engaging with the community around your product, and how different teams inside your company should work together. Side note: Evan is part of the team behind UserConf that’s happening this Friday. Make sure to get your tickets if you haven’t already and use the discount code “supportops”. Listen to the show Subscribe to the podcast: RSS | iTunes | Download  Show Notes and Links Evan Hamilton – Website // Twitter UserVoice Touchpoint Toolkit Gamification: Motivation or Inspiration? Delta UserCentered Kicking Tuesday This week’s sponsor – Papertrail Papertrail is a system administrator’s dream come true. Papertrail helps detect, resolve, and avoid infrastructure problems using log messages. All your logs are in one place that’s instantly searchable. Papertrail even provides alerts to let you know when something goes wrong. Check it out with an easy signup here.

Adam Stacoviak from Pure Charity is on the show this week. He’s looking to hire his first dedicated support person. We talk about what to look for in a person and how to get them started with the team. It’s a two-part interview that you don’t want to miss. Listen to the show Subscribe to the podcast: RSS | iTunes | Download  Show Notes and Links Adam Stacoviak – Website // Twitter Pure Charity The Industry #40 with Chase Founder’s Talk The Changelog Getting Real – Forget Feature Requests Basecamp Help Site 37signals Help Jekyll Teaching the Support team how to fish Support Ops Newsletter Support Ops Membership Memberful This week’s sponsor – HelpSpot With HelpSpot, you actually own your support app rather than just renting it from some company. It’s a free 45 day trial with absolutely no strings attached. Save $100 when you check it out at helpspot.com/supportops.

Adam Stacoviak from Pure Charity is on the show this week. He’s looking to hire his first dedicated support person. We talk about what to look for in a person and how to get them started with the team. It’s a two-part interview that you don’t want to miss. Listen to the show Subscribe to the podcast: RSS |  Instacast | iTunes | Download Show Notes and Links Adam Stacoviak – Website // Twitter Pure Charity The Industry #40 with Chase Founder’s Talk The Changelog Zendesk CoSupport Change feelings. Not the facts Text Expander Support Ops Jobs Page This week’s sponsor – HelpSpot With HelpSpot, you actually own your support app rather than just renting it from some company. It’s a free 45 day trial with absolutely no strings attached. Save $100 when you check it out at helpspot.com/supportops.

Jeff Vincent from Wistia is on the show this week. We talk about hiring new people, how programmers can work with the support team, and what happened when they started downplaying their phone support. Listen to the show Subscribe to the podcast: RSS |  Instacast | iTunes | Download Show Notes and Links Jeff Vincent – Website // Twitter Wistia The Industry Alyssa’s Twitter Question HelpScout Code School Wistia’s Customer Champion job Share what you think! Brand new option that you’re gonna love. Did you ever want to be on the next show? Ask a question or leave a message here. You could end up being part of the next episode. Oh, and if you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes. That’d go a long ways in getting the word out. This week’s sponsor – HelpSpot With HelpSpot, you actually own your support app rather than just renting it from some company. It’s a free 45 day trial with absolutely no strings attached. Save $100 when you check it out at helpspot.com/supportops.

Carolyn Kopprasch from Buffer is on the show this week.  We talk about what makes Buffer’s customer support team rock. She gives out some great advice on apps they use and how to get work done in beastmode. Listen to the show Subscribe to the podcast: RSS |  Instacast | iTunes | Download Show Notes and Links Carolyn Kopprasch – Website // Twitter HelpScout Twitspark Hipchat Campfire Text Expander Hively Share what you think! Brand new option that you’re gonna love. Did you ever want to be on the next show? Ask a question or leave a message here. You could end up being part of the next episode. Oh, and if you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes. That’d go a long ways in getting the word out.

This week’s episode ranges from the uproar over remote working to FedEx shipping marijuana to the wrong person. And then they gave out the address so the “right” person could pick it up. Being a gamer, there’s talk of SimCity’s missteps. Then United Airlines finally gets something right for a customer. It’s another look at the world of the customer with the two Chases. Sit back and listen as they take you through this week’s news from the world of customer support. Listen to the show Subscribe to the podcast: RSS |  Instacast | iTunes | Download Show Notes and Links Yahoo! Cuts Off Remote Working NPR Interactive Commute Map SimCity Struggles With Launch EA Refuses Refund Request United Airlines Delays Flight for Dying Mother FedEx Ships Marijuana to the Wrong Address Asana’s Support and Product Development Teams Hire Early and No Squishy Goals Share what you think! Brand new option that you’re gonna love. Did you ever want to be on the next show? Ask a question or leave a message here. You could end up being part of the next episode. Oh, and if you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes. That’d go a long ways in getting the word out.