Customer support
Why public answers beat private email support
A private email answer helps one person once. A public answer helps everyone with the same problem, including the people who never write in. Email support is st..
Forum Cat
7 min readAll Posts
Customer support
Support forums for SaaS: answer once, deflect while you sleep
A support forum works for a SaaS product for two reasons. Your questions repeat, and your customers are awake when your team is not. So publish the questions th..
Forum Cat
7 min read
Customer support
Customer advocates: how a public forum creates them
Customer advocates are made in two steps. You help someone well in public, and then you credit them in public. A forum creates advocates because both steps happ..
Forum Cat
5 min read
Customer support
How to write welcome posts and onboarding for new forum members
A welcome post on a support forum should do three things. It should say what the forum is for, show how to ask a question that gets answered, and say when staff..
Forum Cat
7 min read
Customer support
A community manager's first 30 days: a checklist
Spend week one reading. Spend week two answering. Spend week three fixing the small things you found. Spend week four writing down the routine and the numbers y..
Forum Cat
6 min read
Customer support
A support forum for an early-stage startup with a one-person support team
Customer support for an early-stage startup needs three things. One address customers write to. One public place where answers live. One habit of answering repe..
Forum Cat
7 min read
Customer support
Forum vs FAQ page: which one scales support
An FAQ page is faster to build and easier to keep tidy. A forum scales further, because customers add the questions you did not think of. Keep the FAQ page for ..
Forum Cat
6 min read
Customer support
Anonymous questions in a customer forum: when to allow them
Allow anonymous questions in a customer forum when the topic is embarrassing or risky for the person asking. Require a name on every other question. A customer ..
Forum Cat
7 min read
Customer support
How to reduce repeat questions with a searchable answer base
Find the questions you answer more than twice. Write each one as a public page, in the customer's words. Make those pages searchable. Link to them when the same..
Forum Cat
7 min read
Customer support
Types of online communities, and which one cuts support tickets
Six types cover almost every online community: support and Q&A, product feedback, learning, brand and fan, professional networking, and peer discussion. Only on..
Forum Cat
6 min read