Tech support tips for developers
My support guy’s laptop broke after I released the latest version of my CMS about 3 weeks ago which means I have to answer customer emails. As a developer I’m not really a people person so this is a real challenge for me. The workload is not huge, it is about 50 emails / day and about 75% of them are pre-sales questions which are generally easy to answer. The problem is the remaining 25%. The script itself is not meant for newbies, but this doesn’t stop newbies to buy it and they require a special kind of customer care. During this short time of providing support I gained some knowledge on how the mind of this strange animal’s, the customer’s mind works. I realized that there are some easy steps to follow to keep them happy even when you can’t solve their problems immediately:
- Call them by their name
Yeah, I know this supposed to be the basic etiquette, but in some cases its difficult. I’m dealing with customers who can barely speak English, or they just started using the internet so they don’t sign their Emails. In those cases I figured looking up their email in our DB for their name or even a quick facebook search (creepy?) helps a lot to set the tone to be a bit more personal. For some reason even the angriest customer becomes bit calmer when you call them by their first name - The illusion of a big company
By using the word “we” instead of “I” gives the customer the feeling that he is dealing with an organization rather than an individual developer and people tend to be more polite and understanding with a corporate then to a guy in his bedroom. Also I’m signing my mails as “Account manager”. You get the idea - Don’t know the answer? Reply immediately
Sometimes the customers are reporting bugs which I don’t have an immediate answer for. In those cases I get back to them as soon as possible with some bullshit like “Thank you for reporting this problem. I’ve escalated this issue to the highest priority and our developer is working on the resolution”. This will give you enough time to actually solve the problem without being bombarded with emails by the customer - Know the answer? Hold back
When I know the exact solution I usually wait at least 2 hours to reply? Why? Because otherwise the customer will think this is a real time conversation and you will end up with an endless thread of questions. A two hours delay won’t make him loose faith in your company but it is enough time to let him realize that you have other customers to take care of. - Is he an idiot?
As a developer it is easy to tell if a customer is… well “impaired technologically”. In those cases I rather go the extra mile, ask for his ftp / cpanel details and fix his problem by myself. I could give him the instructions to get it fixed by him but that would result in way more emails, pointless conversation and general lose of faith in humanity.
I know these techniques are basic but they helped me to get through the past 3 weeks. And while I have you attention let me grab the moment to praise the nameless heroes known as “tech support” who deal with morons as a profession: your patience guys is extraordinary, no idea how you do it
Those morons pay your salary, could it be that the software is not intuitive? To any devs reading this, ignore the advice given, its simply not helpful.
yes they do pay my salary. but if you ever dealt with people who buy software they will ask “will this really turn on X functionality” about a button which says “Turn on X functionality”
Awful, awful advice from a sociopath.
To all devs: Do the opposite of everything in this post.
Disagree with dermot. Very useful advice. Esp. not answering too quickly. *Most* problems disappear when the user just spends a bit more time thinking about it. We’re talking about a product targeted at somewhat technically competent users, not another photo booth app.
Great advice, though I find #3 a bit counter-intuitive.
@dermot: Feeling guilty? Sorry, but we can’t design mind-reading software (yet), so you’ll just have to bother reading instructions and clicking stuff until then.
Working in a small company I have to do at of this. Answering the phone and emails for people and these tips are similar to what I already do.
Just helps to keep you sane. Thanks!
This is terrible advice from a jerk with an attitude problem, and a blow to Lifehacker’s credibility that they would choose to publish it.
I found this advise useful, I have dealt with clients and answered quickly to questions which led me to being bombarded with other questions and not getting any work done + upsetting other clients, while it’s professional to respond asap sometimes it helps you to give yourself breathing space.
This is the second time I’ve seen this sort of advice about reply timing, and it’s been pretty useful so far. I think I’ll try the using the name and personal connection approach as well.
I also disagree with Dermot. Generally, morons don’t pay my salary. The majority of the consumers of my technically oriented products are pretty technologically savvy. The technologically impaired only comprise a small portion of the user space, but consume the majority of the support time. Some of those are just too extreme to deal with. It would be like a consumer buying an IDE, but not knowing how to program. Then, instead of realizing the mistake, complain about it not being “intuitive” enough.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying all customers are morons and not saying all customer questions are moronic. When there is a problem with the script and the customer is right I’m more than happy to admit it and fix it in a timely manner. The problem is with the real idiots. Let me give you an example:
My script is at version 2.1 now, I’ve released a bunch of versions before and it has a lot of users. It comes with an install script (much like wordpress’ one) and an upgrade script. The upgrade script has a nice interface with only 1 button on it which says “Upgrade now”. That button does the upgrade in like 2 seconds. Easy enough? Foolproof enough? You would think that, but I happened to have a customer which I had a 49(!!!) email long conversation with about how to use the upgrade script. Now these people who drive me nuts
“The upgrade script has a nice interface with only 1 button on it which says “Upgrade now”. That button does the upgrade in like 2 seconds. Easy enough? Foolproof enough? You would think that, but I happened to have a customer which I had a 49(!!!) email long conversation with about how to use the upgrade script. Now these people who drive me nuts”
It’s not him. It’s you. I _assure_ you, it’s you. If it was really as simple as you say it is, you wouldn’t be having an email discussion.
It’s your fault. It’s not his. Don’t know how to make it any simpler than that.
Judging by your comments, you are a rude fucking idiot who has clearly never had to deal with any form of support burden. You’ve probably never even worked on a successful product.
I’ve worked as an Account Manager and the advice here is absolutely spot now. Unfortunately, there are likely to be people out there who are just not technical AT ALL but would still like to use your product… this post is referring to those people and how to manage expectations in the support available. It’s simple not feasible for one person to the developer and 24/7 support.
Now STFU, you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Read: “The script itself is not meant for newbies, but this doesn’t stop newbies to buy it and they require a special kind of customer care.”
HAHAHAHAHA. Account manager is one of those jobs that sounds important (“OOOH, it’s called a manager”), but is basically useless. You’re the guy from Office Space who takes the directions from the clients to developers. “I have people skills; I am good at dealing with people. Can’t you understand that?”
Seriously, why don’t you try and contribute something to society?
Anyone who thinks this advice is spot-on in any matter is a sociopath, working for a company with sub-par developers.
Nice one dickhead. Basically you’ve been exposed as an idiot who knows NOTHING so taken to insulting job titles.
Do you even have a job? I highly doubt it. I suggest you move out of your mum’s house and make some real life friends in the real world, maybe then you’ll realise you don’t know shit.
Hahahaha. Oh man, I bet you’re sweating now. Red in the face, too?
You don’t have the foggiest idea what you’re talking about. It’s actually quite humorous. I’ve forgotten more about management and development than you’ve ever known. Your ad hominem attack proves that I’m right: you provide no value to your company. “Account manager:… ooooh boy, that’s rich.
Hugs and kisses, loser.
I’m perfectly calm, thanks. Perhaps my faith in humanity is slightly dampened knowing that a cretin like you exists, but at least people like you make the rest of us look better.
So all you have to say is: “You don’t have the foggiest idea what you’re talking about”? …Which is just what I said to you repeated back to me?! Your intellect astounds me.
Basically, you have nothing more to say on the subject matter than “OMG, this is so wrong, everyone is a sociopath!!!1111″ with ZERO to back it up with. There is absolutely no point in wasting any time on you.
Tip for the future: Don’t just disagree with posts for the sake of it. IT DOES NOT MAKE YOU LOOK COOL.
Good luck finding a company stupid enough to employ you, especially as you’ve “forgotten” about management and development. Bahaha!