Previously: How to Handle Feature Requests - Tips and Scripts from 5 Top SaaS Vendors Part 2 - Minimizing Customer Confusion - 5 SaaS Support Teams Weigh In
The final installment of our Support Roundtable is undoubtedly the toughest. Despite the best efforts of your team, there will be users that make mistakes, and sometimes they won't realize their mistakes, and it's at this intersection where we find today's scenario.
A user is upset because a significant amount of user data has been deleted. You investigate and find this is a result of user error, but the user believes they haven't done anything to cause this.
Jacquelyn of Podio:
Hi [name], I can help you look into how this may have happened. If something is deleted in Podio, you will see the action logged in the activity stream in that workspace. Click on the workspace's name on the left to get to the activity stream, and you'll see a list of recent actions from there. Do you see any messages there saying that the items were deleted? As a note, in the future I highly recommend using our Excel export tool to create backups for your Podio data. This way you can easily recover any information that is accidentally deleted. You can read about how this works here.
This is a great example of support through design. The Podio team makes it very apparent when lasting changes are made in their app, and that minimizes confusion and irritation in these instances.
Chase Clemons of 37 signals and Support Ops:
Yikes - this one's definitely not fun. Again, honesty is key. Let them know what your logs are showing. If possible, give them the exact info, i.e. "John Doe deleted this info on this date at this time." Knowledge is power in these cases and the more you can give to the customer, the better off everyone will be.
I love the transparency in all of Chase's answers in this series. Honesty is so important, even if it's not the easiest road.
Nick Francis of Helpscout:
I'm not one that believes the customer is always right. However, when they are wrong, it's critical that you tread lightly. :-) It's important to show, not tell. Show them, in great detail if necessary (it's well worth the time), what happened, rather than starting an argument by pointing a finger. Then offer at least one pro-active, helpful suggestion as to how to proceed. Make it clear you are on the same team and will handle next steps together.
These are the moments when irrational, over-the-top support can make a world of difference. If the customer needs you during a time of extreme distress, all bets are off. Do what it takes to help them get back on track; in this case, preferably by restoring their data for them.
I really like Nick's approach to this particular question. It's so simple, but having a "how can I carry the customer from where they are now to where they need to be" attitude can be lost when high stress problems come about.
And lastly, we at Zapier know that this one is not easy. The important thing here is diagnosing what the current status is, and how to avoid the problem going forward. Having actionable steps to prevent the problem in the future not only keeps the conversation focused on the immediate future, but shifts attention away from either party blaming the other. This will certainly depend on the user's disposition though, as you may have to "show your work" as to the why this particular mistake happened if they insist on answers.
Thanks for following along with us this week, if you've learned half as much as I have in putting these posts together, I'm certain it was worth your while. Do you have any tricky support situations you've encountered? Let us know in the comments how you respond in those trying times.
