

Startups - Get To Know Your Users  - destraynor
http://blog.intercom.io/get-to-know-your-users/

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jnorthrop
The site doesn't provide much technical details but I'd be worried that
aggregating data from disperate sources (potentially external) in order to
identify and track users could run afoul of privacy laws and regulations.
Particularly for companies operating in the EU or those in the US that have
access to student, medical, financial or government data.

Also, I'm suspicious of a product that promises a seamless integration of
disparate data sources. Anyone who has tried to do that within a company, and
I imagine many of us have, knows just how tricky that can be.

I guess some additional details would be nice to have before I'm sold on the
promise.

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destraynor
Hey Jeff,

I understand where you're coming from. Your recent post on Privacy was very
good.

It's up to each customer to choose what information they're comfortable
sharing. On top of that business data we include communications, and usage
data and we source publicly available profile data (though you can disable
this if you wish).

In terms of seamless, the screenshots aren't faked. It's all there. It all
works.

Send me a mail (des at intercom dot io) and I'll happily provide any extra
details you want. You might find answers in the docs alternatively.
<http://docs.intercom.io/>

Regards, Des

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jnorthrop
Hey thanks for the links to the docs. There's a lot of answers in there. I'll
do my do my part and go through them before I email.

BTW, you should link that privacy policy from all your pages...

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kenrikm
Great post, by the end I was looking for the "buy button" you did a great job
defining the problem and a nail that sticks out always gets hammered. ;)

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vincentchan
Have been using Intercom for our products for a few months already. It's
fantastic! And our users love it a lot.

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sparknlaunch12
I have heard lots of speak around this sort of user monitoring recently. Sure,
sounds great but how important is it? Is it a priority for a startup?

Sure it may help in converting some new customers. May help existing
customers. But is this where you want to spend your time and effort?

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destraynor
Hey SparknLaunch12,

"How important is it"

Learning from your users is really important for start-ups. It's how you know
when you hit MVP, it's how you know what your key values are.

But your userbase isn't one big mesh of people. There are active users,
premium users, people who signed up once after clicking a HN link and never
returned.

Being able to break your users down into groups (such as "ActiveMonthly") or
"Enterprise" helps you get targetted feedback.

On a single user level, if you intend to talk with customers, it's massively
useful to know exactly who you're talking to. You'll give a different pitch or
response if you know the user has never created an invoice (filed a bug /
uploaded a photo/ whatever).

As always, the best way is to give it a try. We find it incredibly useful.

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chrisdroukas
Des, where is Intercom based out of?

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destraynor
Hey Chris,

San Francisco and Dublin (Ireland)

Des

