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Even if I’m not dealing with all my IT tickets directly, I do love spending time reading those. It helps to drive how to create value in terms of practices and how to direct the work of my colleagues in my department.
All of the responsibilities I had in the past and now have taught me the need for everyone to devote some time to support emails. You should spend at least 30 minutes every week reading genuine customer correspondence, no matter whether you are a startup founder or a CXO working in a corporation.
I love the KPIs we are using for IT support: server uptime, lead time for resolution, the duration for task execution, cost per ticket, first contact resolution, etc…All of these are industry standards.
While you may believe you’re doing your customers a favor by making them seem more professional, the real heart and soul of all the fantastic people who use your services are too frequently ignored in a lifeless column in your cherished spreadsheets.
Too many times, important insights, knowledge, and data are overlooked or forgotten. I’ve always spent far more time on incoming support emails than internal reports and statistics. Here are six compelling reasons why you should, too:
#1 Insights you can leverage.
Fresh, fully formed emails are on their way. It’s a look at your current state of service, product, or company. It’s not data from a discontinued feature or product that’s been condensed down to a single number over the course of a month.
Knowing what is happening in your business right now can help you react before things get too bad.
#2 Perfect to start a talk.
Even hostile emails may help you learn things about your customer through discussions with them. Insights that can’t be quantified.
Customers who contact you regarding support issues are frequently eager to communicate, which can provide you a far deeper insight into how to handle your operations
#3 You probably don’t have enough information.
Too many business and startup entrepreneurs are obsessed with data dashboards, A/B testing, and funnel optimization early in the process of developing their business – before they have a large enough sample size.
Rather than dealing with data points, you should devote time to writing or chatting with individuals who have taken the time to send you an email.
#4 A comprehensive examination of your organization.
Spreadsheets and dashboards will never be able to provide a nuanced picture of your clients, how they feel, what their goals are, or how happy they are. Browsing through support emails will provide your team a clear picture of the product’s current health.
Also, your coworkers will get a more personal understanding of your business by receiving support emails, which can be utilized inside the company.
#5 Support emails are filled with emotions.
Numbers are just numbers. They often get put together to make totals and averages. But they don’t tell you anything about the background or story of what is happening.
But support emails are full of emotions, which can help you understand what is happening better:
“Hi Support. Thank you for nothing. I’m stuck at home and cannot do my job because you just didn’t do yours ! My computer is not working, excel is’nt working properly and keep shutting down. How come?”.
Note: This example is made up.
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#6 Increased Responsibility.
When a lot of people at a company read support emails, everyone feels more responsible to get rid of them quickly. It makes the team have a sense of ownership.
Seeing real problems helps us take action and figure out what is important much faster than just seeing numbers on a spreadsheet. This makes it easier to prioritize things so that our customers have a better experience.
I will not pretend that you should abandon all of your spreadsheets and numbers for customer acquisition, funnels, and other support elements. However, you should devote more time to genuine insights.
Reading real support emails gives you a more up-to-date perspective, stimulates emotions and encourages responsibility while also serving as conversation starters for everyone inside and outside the company.
Take a look through all those useful insights from real people who have something to say about your product while enjoying your morning cup of coffee.
Want to add your point of view? Let me know or reach me out on Linkedin
