What’s the job of a help group when the product they help undergoes an impactful change? To gather suggestions, to report bugs, to reply how-to questions — sure. However there’s one other function in product change that help groups too usually ignore. That’s the job of encouraging prospects to maneuver ahead.
I’ve seen product designers, entrepreneurs, and even help leaders grow to be annoyed when their help groups are deeply empathetic to prospects about their complaints with out additionally encouraging them to provide the brand new factor a attempt. I’ve been a kind of help leaders.
SaaS merchandise should change in response to their markets or they’ll stagnate, lose their buyer base to opponents, and die. Figuring out which adjustments to make, constructing them out, and bringing as many current prospects alongside for the journey as doable is the limitless job of the SaaS enterprise. Earlier than you possibly can persuade prospects to get on board, you have to first persuade their inner advocates, the client help group.
Inside each software-as-a-service help group is a hidden rigidity. It’s the strain between wanting the product to get higher (so extra prospects and prospects are made completely happy), and wanting every part to remain the identical (so the purchasers who’re already completely happy keep that method).
It might not be a aware rigidity, and it is stronger in some groups than others, however it’s at all times there. Change is tough, notably for patrons who’ve constructed their workflows across the outdated methods. When change creates ache for them, they’re (fairly rightly) fast to share that ache with the help group.
That response is comprehensible, however it doesn’t make it simpler to take care of paying prospects who’re upset that what they appreciated about your software program has gone away, or modified, and even in some circumstances been fastened. (Many SaaS help groups have found, within the aftermath of a a lot wanted bug repair launch, that some subset of consumers have constructed an unintended buggy habits into important workflows.)
That’s notably true when the help particular person answering them secretly (or not so secretly) feels the identical method. When help feels out of the loop, ignored, or simply unsure concerning the product’s design and course, each buyer criticism about product adjustments solely reinforces these emotions.
We can not count on our help groups to persuade prospects to belief within the product and to proceed to take a position their money and time in it if they don’t consider that to be in a buyer’s finest curiosity.
Right here’s the perfect case state of affairs for going via an enormous product change:
The shopper help group has been concerned and heard all through the event course of, so that they know precisely what’s coming, why it really works the way in which it really works, what tradeoffs have been made, and what this alteration permits for the long run.
Then they can tackle a private coach function for patrons — getting them excited concerning the finish outcomes of this non permanent ache, instructing them the best methods, and inspiring them via the laborious components.
That is buyer help as a smooth type of gross sales. It’s sharing the concept of a future the place issues are higher and simpler simply over this rocky hill forward.
To have a help group who can try this takes thought, planning, and energy, and the help group should belief the intentions of the corporate. With out that perception and belief, help groups are requested to undergo the ache alongside prospects with no clear goal.
You may ask them to do it anyway, however it received’t work. Solely a help group who feels safe, knowledgeable, and revered will be capable of soak up all that buyer anxiousness and worry and redirect it into constructive motion for you.
Listed here are some sensible steps towards creating that kind of group:
Invite product designers and managers to speak to help groups about their intentions, future plans, and design choices.
Embed help members into product groups and ask for his or her enter earlier within the course of.
Construct time into your launch processes for correct testing and tweaking, and contain help groups in it.
Assist help groups put together for frequent objections and questions with sincere, useful, forward-looking solutions knowledgeable by future plans.
Provide to get into the queue and speak to prospects your self to expertise the challenges and see what works.
An efficient, wholesome help group could be your primary driver of buyer happiness. It simply received’t occur by probability.
The Supportive is Mathew Patterson’s column for individuals who care about customer support and expertise. Be taught extra about The Supportive, or subscribe to the weekly electronic mail e-newsletter.