

Customer powered support doesn't work - rrwhite
http://blog.uservoice.com/entries/customer-powered-support-doesnt-work

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dotBen
A very clever post by CEO Richard White to differentiate UserVoice from Get
Satisfaction - and he is right that the two products are different.

However I don't agree that customer support doesn't work - it depends on the
vertical, type of product and price point.

In the UK we have a new mobile phone carrier that is totally customer support
driven - you don't get the level of customer service you would normally get
but the prices are significantly cheaper (aimed at teens and students who have
little money but enjoy hanging out on social platforms).

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nickbarnwell
As a soon to be poor student very likely to be studying in the UK, what
carrier might this be? All I can think of on the low end are Tesco and 3, and
both those have decent CS.

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CraigRood
I do believe Ben is talking about Giff Gaff (giffgaff.com)

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dotBen
Yes, it is GiffGaff.

I am a fairly happy Sprint customer here in the US but when I return to my
motherland I put a GiffGaff SIM in my GSM phone as they have the best prices
for data access bundles.

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warmfuzzykitten
Customer powered support might be fine if you don't mind your users getting a
high percentage of wrong answers or no answers. Just look at the non-vendor
support forums whose business models is to cash in on user-supplied answers.
(E.g., google for 'Why is my Mac hot?') If you're willing to go through three
or four of these for every question you have, you might find an answer. But
you'll also find a number of wrong answers, often in the same thread.

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hko
Do they have a competitor whose angle is customer-powered support? I don't
know anything about this business, but this sounds like a response to a
competitor.

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frzl
They are working to create a distinction between their service and a service
like GetSatisfaction.

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getsat
GetSat and UserVoice are seen as competitors (even though they're really not).
Also, the submitter is the CEO of UserVoice.

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rrwhite
Yes, I am the CEO of UserVoice, I did submit this post and I approve this
message. :)

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toadi
Or we do crowd-sourced support or the company pays for their own user support.
This is so white and black.

Why don't we look into a well thought of mix of both options. I would work on
a strategy where both are possible.

I would create a support kb where we create content solving common and known
problems. The hardest trick is guiding people to the right solution. This can
be done by searching, good taxonomy or plain old direct question via phone or
forum. The crowd-sourced support can be a part where they help people guide to
the right information.

Another part can be that the crowd-sourced support can spot bad formulated
articles, wrong articles, out of date articles, ... Just create some tools you
can get feedback on your content and involve your customers.

But only go on the crowd-sourced route is not an option and won't be
benificial for your company.

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wmwong
Another thing I've noticed is that if I see a support forum where most of the
answers are given by customers rather than employees, it gives me the feeling
the company is not listening or keeping in touch. I get the feeling of
laziness, which paints a poor image in my mind.

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p858snake
Indeed, I've experienced that as well, One example being the google picasa
support forums (<http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Picasa>).

