Julie Cameron

@JewlOfTheLotus

• Remote Frontender for Articulate
  Advocate of Sass, Modular Architecture, and Responsive Web Design
• Co-Founder Girl Develop It Ann Arbor
• Open Source Developer

open source is why I'm here today

so let's get a little background

SlickQuiz

An open source plugin for creating pretty, dynamic quizzes.

https://github.com/jewlofthelotus/SlickQuiz

https://github.com/jewlofthelotus/SlickQuiz-WordPress

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/slickquiz

created during 80/20 time at last company, one of the 1st projects in open source initiative

It was exciting and new ground for everyone

started as jquery, then wordpress

Launching an open source tool was easy...

but then...

Tech Support

With all the excitement of going open source

I hadn't really even thought about support

It was open source, other users would help support - right?!?!

But then the onslaught began...

SlickQuiz Support

requests coming from all directions

at all hours, all the time

SlickQuiz Support Challenges

so these were SlickQuiz's biggest problems

they definitely overlap with some of the more general issues that occur in support

Challenges of Good Support

Organization

Time & Resources

Communication

Perception*

Empathy

Scott Berkun, in The Year Without Pants, called PERCEPTION the biggest wild card of support

Benefits of Good Support

Happy Users

Better Reviews

Increased Exposure

Higher Adoptance

Saved Time & Money

When you fix a bug or add a requested feature, the user will likely be more happy with the product than they would've been if they never had an issue.

10 Tips

For Saving Your Users and Yourself

I, by no means, have successfully implemented ALL of these solutions

But now I've identified them, and now I have a goal for 2014

00:15:00

Tip 1 Actually provide support

The benefits of providing support are obvious

BUT you can only provide GOOD support if you act fast - ideally w/in 24 hrs

THAT SAID, acting TOO fast can also cause problems - users get LAZY and message you instead of searching for answers on their own

You also DON'T want to PUT OFF SUPPORT until after launching, letting it build up is no fun later on

Tip 2 Have a plan

And make that plan clear to your users.

PLAN Set clear expectations for both you / your team / and your users

Make it easy for your user to figure out HOW TO GET SUPPORT

Choose your forums and establish clear paths to those forums.

Tip 3 Know your product

...and make sure your users do, too.

• Establish product development guidelines.
• Be prepared to tell users that their request is out of scope.
• Let users know what features are in the pipe.

Be clear about what your product is and isn't.

Know what features you are and aren't willing to add.

Be prepared to adjust your guidelines - SlickQuiz Academic Use

00:25:00

Tip 4 Provide instructions

...and be very... thorough.

• Have a well organized, comprehensive, and clear README.
• Incorporate how-to videos and screen shots.
• Encourage users to RTFM BEFORE contacting support.

You won't necessarilyy know who your users are, so be prepared for anyone

Help the users help themselves.

Tip 5 Embrace the FAQ

And stop repeating yourself.

• Anticipate questions before they come through support.
• Include responses to even the most basic of questions.
• If you answer the same question more than once, add it to the FAQ.

Answer the questions your computer-illiterate grandmother would ask.

Tip 6 Make it better

A support request indicates a way to improve.

• Look for patterns in your support requests.(Hint: Use a tagging system)
• If you have to put it in the FAQ, start thinking about how to improve it.
  • Clarify / simplify the UI
  • Adjust functionality
  • Add a new feature

Find a way to organize your requests in a way that highlights patterns

NEW FEATURE: while you need to have product guidelines, you should also try to remain flexible.

If tons of users are asking for feature X, it might be worth considering that addition.

00:35:00

Tip 7 Broadcast your updates

Socially. Via a blog. Via newsletters. Via push notifications.

• Make sure people know you made an improvement, fixed their bug, or added their feature idea.
• Provide detailed descriptions of these updates.
• Keep READMEs and FAQs up to date, too.

This is like an aditional form of documentation.

More detailed descriptions of features for users who really want to be able to dig in.

Tip 8 Listen and relax

Don't take frustration or ignorance personally.

• Empathize with your users.
• Communicate clearly and proof-read.
  • Reiterate and confirm your understanding / interpretation.
  • Use clean formatting. Paragraphs, bold, code blocks, images, etc.
  • Numbered lists for steps.
  • Quotes to reference named elements of your product.
• Be gracious, personable and thankful.
• Know when to walk. Don't get mad. Don't take abuse.

SO, SUPPORT CAN BE REALLY HARD - users can be panicy, desperate and manipulative, angry, rude, pushy...

Put yourself in their shoes. They have jobs to do, they feel helpless.

REITERATE and CONFIRM - users can be very vague "It's broken"

DON'T GET MAD. If you have to respond, leave emotion out of it.

Tip 9 Establish a fan base

Happy Users == Happy Support == Happy Advocates.

• Make support easy. Help them... help you... help them.
• Be friendly and thank users for trying your product.
• Credit users for their finds and ideas.
• Add the features they're all asking for.
• Check in with your users on occasion.

When you fix a bug or add a feature, the user will likely be more happy with the product than they would've been if they never had an issue.

Tip 10 Be your own user

Geek & Poke

Use your own product.

Get first hand experience.

00:45:00

Final Words of Wisdom

Treat your users how you'd want to be treated.

Questions?

#SurvivingSupport   |   @JewlOfTheLotus