>I’ve rarely gotten useful answers from support from services I use. I thought if I used my own product every day, read every email and answered it thoughtfully, people would appreciate this, and it would build some degree of loyalty and appreciation.
I run an app with 16,000 users and receive 2–5 support tickets per week. I read every one of them.
Around 20% of my app has been built based on user suggestions.
People are generally kind and promote my app across multiple platforms for free. I don't have any budget for marketing.
Users don't always show their appreciation with words. Instead, they show it by eagerly helping resolve issues providing clear steps to reproduce bugs, sending screenshots or videos, and responding quickly to follow up questions. I also regularly come across people recommending my app on Reddit or in YouTube comment sections, which often surprises me. :)
If you're supporting your users well, they're probably giving back in their own way too. :)
This is poster’s last show HN; homepage features some 16,000 user claim. App appears to be free, which I suspect will rather drastically change the composition of incoming support messages.
Bodybuilders, well they immediately understand the app on first impression.
One user told me he has kidney disease and asked if I could add a “low protein” diet mode, so he could reduce protein intake below standard recommendations. I had never faced this requirement before, but after hearing him out, I decided to add it. This is just one of the many interactions.
Then there is another group, people who have spent a long time being underweight or overweight and have started attributing it to genetics. I often see posts like “I am genetically fat” or “I am an ectomorph / hardgainer"; "I can’t gain weight no matter how much I eat” in subreddits and fitness groups. Don't you dare to call them out of anything, they'll get mad! but are willing to give app try especially if they hear about it from someone else.
They typically use it for 2–5 weeks, and then they start gaining or losing weight depending on their goal. They are genuinely surprised that it’s possible.
Once they start seeing results, they usually just keep going.
I am not particularly good at communication, nor a guy with social skill.
What you neglected to mention is that your app is free.
If this is something you’re able to do and people like it, I think that’s great.
However, the post is about a paid app and that’s going to have a significant influence on the type of support requests you get, and whether or not it makes financial sense to develop according to those requests.
i'd say it is a valid flex if from 16k users, their total volume of support tickets is so low that they can read and respond to them before they're done with their morning coffee -- a flex about how solid and well-targeted their service is that it doesn't draw more support requests!
I run an app with 16,000 users and receive 2–5 support tickets per week. I read every one of them.
Around 20% of my app has been built based on user suggestions.
People are generally kind and promote my app across multiple platforms for free. I don't have any budget for marketing.
Users don't always show their appreciation with words. Instead, they show it by eagerly helping resolve issues providing clear steps to reproduce bugs, sending screenshots or videos, and responding quickly to follow up questions. I also regularly come across people recommending my app on Reddit or in YouTube comment sections, which often surprises me. :)
If you're supporting your users well, they're probably giving back in their own way too. :)