

UserVoice turns 4: 182 people/sec see a Feedback widget + Helpdesk becomes free - rrwhite
http://www.uservoice.com/blog/entries/uservoice-fourth-birthday-basic-plan-free/

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citricsquid
The problem with uservoice/getsatisfaction etc. is businesses approach them as
a replacement for _normal_ support systems and then don't provide user support
through them and rarely (if ever) bother with the ideas/suggestions users
have, they think they're an easy get out clause for providing support (which
is costly) and it ends up sucking.

When done right the systems rock, the way that Mint.com uses getsatisfaction
is wonderful but the way most companies use uservoice/getsatisfaction isn't.

Perfect example of this model of support/feedback being done so wrong: Seesmic
(<http://feedback.seesmic.com/>) just spend 5 minutes looking around, they
have thousands of votes on thousands of suggestions and they've accepted only
a few (back when the system is new) and now it goes completely ignored...

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evanhamilton
You should spend a second on <http://www.uservoice.com/helpdesk>. We've never
said that UserVoice was a replacement for a support system, and we've actually
very clearly stated that we think customer-powered support doesn't work as a
standalone solution for 99% of companies (blog.uservoice.com/entries/customer-
powered-support-doesnt-work).

UserVoice Feedback is a tool for getting prioritized feedback from your
customers, not providing customer support. And how actively you respond to
feedback is not something controlled by the tool, it's controlled by the
company. We encourage our customers to actively respond to feedback, but we
can't force them.

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citricsquid
oh no, your product is wonderful and the problem is most definitely not with
your company, it's with the way people approach it. The way that Mint.com use
it (they use getsatisfaction, but it's the same model so we can treat them as
the same) is the perfect example of the model working so very well, it's not a
complaint / criticism of you, it's a criticism of companies that think they
can just half-ass some modernisation of customer support. Just like companies
that think making a facebook page and then leaving it is "social media".

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evanhamilton
Thanks for the clarification. We totally agree that any tool can be used
incorrectly, which is why we're always working to educate our customers (and
businesses in general) about best practices for customer service and customer
feedback. One blog post at a time, we'll get people there. :)

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smackfu
Only problem I've had with UserVoice is that it turns into something like that
stereotypical open source project bug reporter that no one monitors. You find
a suggestion with 100 votes and either there's no response or something from
the company that says "thanks, we'll take that under advisement" and it's not
very satisfactory or anything.

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evanhamilton
That's definitely a concern here at UserVoice. We're firm believers in saying
"no" (and explaining why) rather than letting ideas sit open or in "under
review" or "planned" piles. We do and will continue to preach that to our
customers, and we're looking at ways to actually encourage them to respond via
the UX.

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Urgo
Good deal. I'm guessing it is in response to zendesk's change to $20/yr
donated to charity deal that they started a couple weeks back. Too bad I just
paid for a year of that otherwise I'd give this a run.

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rrwhite
We actually starting A/B testing going to free back in January before their
announcement.

PS If you change your mind we can easily import all of your Zendesk content
into UserVoice.

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ladon86
We really like Helpdesk at ClassDojo, it's simple and doesn't get in your way.

They've had 1mm tickets total so far, so we've answered around 0.5% of all
UserVoice tickets.

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sachingulaya
When are you going to add the option to vote from the widget? ;D

Congrats, guys.

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rrwhite
11 months ago :)

<http://www.uservoice.com/widget/>

