

Ask HN: outsourced support - huhtenberg

I am in need of a simple outsourced support service. It is for a simple, end-user oriented, installable product, and so I'm not expecting an avalanche of calls nor any complicated support cases.<p>For starters I need a 1-800 number and someone to tell the user to look at FAQ and file a support ticket otherwise. Initially I am planning to look at the tickets myself, but that too can be outsourced as the next step.<p>Additionally, if tickets can be automatically created for the inquires received via an email that would be a big plus.<p>Any suggestions ? Personal experiences are of course preferred.<p>Thanks<p>(edit) I should probably add that I have built a one-man software service company before, which accumulated about 200k active users at the time I sold it. If there's one thing I remember with shudder, it's the support. It was exceptionally time consuming and 99.5% was a dozen of FAQs. No way in HELL I'm talking to users directly this time around. Not on a daily basis. Not over the phone nor via the forums or the email. An occasional exchange is fine, but the bulk of the support should be handled by someone else. There should be a frontline.
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TomOfTTB
I had to design something like this recently for a consulting job and here's
what I did. These steps were in addition to him writing a document that
covered the basics of supporting the program (that he could give to support
people)

First, I convinced the client to not have phone support. My argument was that
e-mail support was sufficient if you put a guarantee above the e-mail link
(something like "every e-mail answered within an hour of being received")

Second, I designed a very simple system that would allow him to hire freelance
help. Basically all the support e-mails went to my custom e-mail program (I
use .net and aspose components so it only took me a few hours). The e-mail
program logs the question and when the support person e-mails a response it
turns the response in to a knowledge base article (that the users could also
view)

Third, to further simplify the process I built a very simple keyword search
into the e-mail program so that it could suggest solutions that might work to
the support person. If the support person sees a solution they like they can
send it as a reply with one click.

Finally, I had him recruit people off Scriptlance. He created shifts where
people could monitor the system while they were doing other things. Because
they were from overseas and didn't have to speak fluent English (just write
it) this labor was extremely cheap. They were then paid a flat fee plus extra
for each support request. He ended up able to afford 3 people per shift, 24
hours a day with the same money he was going to pay to get one support person.

Anyway, sorry for the long post but I really am kind of proud of the idea (now
that I'm a few months out and I know that it worked). Hopefully if you can't
do something like this it will at least help you to "think outside the box"

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huhtenberg
Thanks a lot. This is interesting and helpful.

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pmikal
I've used <http://liveops.com/> with some success. On-demand agents "in the
cloud". Requests can be routed to agents based on training, experience,
language, time of day...

~~~
huhtenberg
Thanks, looking ..

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markessien
How about getting a couple of college students who get paid on a per-call
basis? Then you find a way of routing the calls to their personal lines, using
for example the services that the telephone sex people use?

Get cheap phones with extra numbers, so they can answer professionally, and
don't open with "DUUUDE" or something like that.

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swombat
I would suggest doing it yourself first, and then, once you've already
developed the FAQ and canned answers, hire someone to do a specific, time-
consuming part of the support for you - rather than trying to find a whole
"outsourced support" provider that will no doubt have lots of issues and
restrictions.

~~~
huhtenberg
> hire someone to do a specific, time-consuming part of the support

This is _exactly_ what I am asking about. How ? I really don't want to rely on
a random guy I found on the Internets to mess up the impression of the product
with an abysmal support quality.

~~~
systemtrigger
OK so you want someone on call all day to answer your 800 line and read from a
script. Wow I sit in a quiet room at home most days and if the phone rings I
could switch over to a script and answer your customer support calls. I've
done phone tech support and can handle customer service questions. I'm working
on a startup right now but I have spare cycles for random calls. To monitor
quality maybe you could just call in now and then to spot check me. It's just
an idea in case you're interested and want to pursue a conversation. We'd need
to work out a couple details but if we're reasonable people that shouldn't be
a problem.

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vaksel
I'd do this:

a) Get a Google Voice account. Forget the 1-800 number, it just makes them
want to call you. Get a local number that looks professional. i.e. something
that looks like 1-404-444-000#

b) On the #, create a voice message stating something like "please check our
FAQ and if you still can't find an answer to your question, please contact our
support staff via the website"

This way, your new customers will give you the extra points for having a
support # that they think they can call. And you won't have have to waste all
that time answering questions. And 99.999% of your users will never know that
the # doesn't go anywhere

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icey
I know nothing makes me happier as a customer than calling a phone number for
help, just to have it tell me to go back to the website that I found the phone
number on.

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newy
Thinking of starting a service provider in this space. Huhtenberg, if you're
still reading, feel free to give me a ping.

