

UserVoice launches Helpdesk We want to be the only customer facing tool you need - rrwhite
http://blog.uservoice.com/entries/introducing-uservoice-helpdesk-a-support-tool-that-doesnt-suck

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callmeed
As someone who (a) has tried most help desk services and (b) owns a company
that has a really strong reputation for good customer support, I've come to
the following conclusions:

1\. No tool/service has every feature we need and we always end up
compromising somewhere.

2\. I personally think most of them are over-priced, especially for new/small
startups.

We used an in-house Rails app for support for a long time (it's open-sourced
here: <https://github.com/bigfolio/big-help/>) and now we use ZenDesk. This
tool looks cool but they all sort of lock you in because my support staff
doesn't feel like re-writing/pasting FAQs, canned responses, etc.

Overall, I just feel like this is a weird space that has no clear winner. I
don't see anything compelling with UserVoice that would get me to switch. I
think there's clearly room for a competitor with better pricing though. I
almost feel like this is an ideal space for a good open-source project (so
firms can customize and deploy) that has a commercial hosting side (ala
WordPress).

~~~
dpcan
It turns out the pricing for this full service product isn't directly under
the "Pricing" button at the top, but under the Pricing button under the prices
on the Pricing page.

So, the prices for the full service product definitely seem a lot lower than
the "Feedback" product.

~~~
rrwhite
We just spent the last half hour hurriedly changing our marketing site nav
based on feedback :)

The prices are lower because their per admin. One of our goals wast to make
the entry level price points more accessible.

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oneplusone
I would love to use this but these are some serious issues:

1) All packages should have SSL. I don't do business with companies that think
security is an optional feature.

2) Single sign-on should be available for all packages. I am not interested in
a walled garden approach for my app's support.

3) I don't care about white labeling, but a custom design is extremely
important to me. Support is too important for our growth to just throw our
brand out the window. Any support system needs to be contained in my website's
frame.

That said the app looks really nice. A demo would go a long way to giving me a
sense of the user's experience because as it is I don't know what 1/2 of the
features are and how they are accessed.

~~~
rrwhite
Thanks for the feedback:

1) The entire admin experience is SSL only. Our pricing grid references SSL
but that's primarily for private communities (our widgets all support SSL
environments)

2) We'd love to get SSO in the hands of as many people as possible but the
support costs on it are quite high. I'm happy to work with people on this
point.

3) We have design customization (check out <http://foodily.uservoice.com/>)
and more is on the way.

We put a bunch of videos on <http://uservoice.com/fullservice> did you see
those? Or were you looking for a demo of a live account?

~~~
oneplusone
I saw the videos, but they weren't very good and didn't give me any sense of
how the app worked.

2)If SSO isn't an option due to support costs then how about having no user
registration at all. I don't see any reason why people should be able to sign
into a support site.

3) I know you have design customization, I am just not willing to pay the
price for it. I think it should be standard with all accounts.

That said the foodily example is quite nice, but the navigation is hurting my
head. I am getting lost rather easily.

~~~
rrwhite
1) Yeah we're working on more in-depth workflow videos and a live demo.

2) It's for giving feedback on your product. We don't force people to signin
but we do ask them for a name and email (like blog comments). It's so that you
can follow up with those people when you launch that new feature or fix their
issue.

3) Design customization is on all accounts (like what Foodily used). Full
HTML/CSS customization is currently only on the highest plans.

This is great feedback on where we're creating confusion. I appreciate you
taking the time.

~~~
Lost_BiomedE
I also would like to emphasize the value of a demo. Feature lists and videos
do not let me control the experience and get the answer to my questions as
quickly. Also, make sure to put it at the top, in the same bar as your logo.

Many times, I have bought a service over another because of the speed at which
I can see exactly what I get. I want land on your page and be able to see
demo, right off, and immediately see the concept, design, and layout. No
ready, watchy, or thinky, just clicky.

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rrwhite
We really don't think there's a better customer-facing product out there for
other startups like ourselves. It's feedback, support tickets and FAQs all in
one package. We've been building this over the last 9 months and I'm super
excited to actually have it launch. I'm most proud of the UX but I'd love to
have your feedback.

~~~
cmelbye
The user interface in the admin panel looks very nice, I like it! I was also
pleasantly surprised by the pricing.

~~~
rrwhite
That was the first piece of UI we built as it was the part that made us gouge
our eyes out in all other solutions we tried :)

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fmavituna
I think this is a smart move. Zendesk already figured out that Uservoice alike
"feature request management" is a must in a help desk system and they added
this feature to Zendesk couple of months ago.

We were using Uservoice and Zendesk, ditched Uservoice as soon as Zendesk
started to provide a similar feature to avoid having 2 systems.

Edit: Pricing is unusually low for Zendesk, I assume they'll increase that
later on.

~~~
apinstein
And we added ZenDesk even though we use UserVoice! But it is a problem because
we get people asking support questions on UserVoice. It would be nice to have
one system; we would consider switching as well if UV FS turns out to be nice.
I'll give it a few months to bake though :)

~~~
evan_hamilton
You should try us out now! We've been using this system for all our own
support for many many months and we've had 40 beta testers banging on it. Plus
we have a 30-day free trial so you can play around. :)

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dmix
I found the pricing part of the site confusing. I clicked on "Plans & Pricing"
expecting to see the new services pricing but it was just for the main
UserVoice product.

It took me a while to realize you have to click "Start Free Trial" to see the
pricing.

Not a great UX.

~~~
rrwhite
The marketing site certainly could use some work. It is a bit confusing.

Plans for Full Service are here: <http://uservoice.com/fullservice/plans>

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Griever
Signed up for a demo just so I could mess around with the UI a bit. Great
design! Looks very nice and seems easy to use. Nice work, guys.

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lubos
how do I upgrade my existing account? when I try to sign up, it wants me to
create brand new account. there is nothing in admin panel that offers me to
upgrade, am I missing something?

~~~
rrwhite
Hey Lubos,

We definitely need to add something to the Admin Console about this. On the
to-do list. :)

You can upgrade by:

1\. Signing in to the Admin Console 2\. Going to Settings 3\. Scrolling down
and clicking “Change plan” 4\. Clicking the “Full Service” tab 5\. Choosing
the plan that fits you and hitting the “Change” button

Let me know if you have any issues/questions!

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aneth
Finally... I heard they were working on this 6 months ago. I don't like and
won't use Get Satisfaction (confusing, terribly designed widget, and
extortionate business model) and have been waiting for a good solution. I
haven't looked at this yet but have high hopes.

~~~
rrwhite
You're correct. We're very bad about being stealthy. We have high hopes as
well so if they're not met do let me know :)

