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I am happy it's picking up so much momentum. I am in SaaS industry. however, there are lot of inbox filled with questions, support request, and feature requests. I find it's overwhelming. I am afraid that if I dont answer support or feature requests fast, i will lose clients. Features requests are even more distrubing. Lot of these I expected, but I dont know how fast I should be working. am I working too slow ? Feeling very stressed out! I never thought i'd say this but this is NOT easy. |
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A response from a human that says "I hear you, and I'm going to think about this and get back to you" is perfectly valid. It ensures they don't feel ignored, but buys you time. On feature requests, resist the temptation to do everything everyone asks for. Most feature requests are one-off, idiosyncratic stuff you don't need to do. Instead, ask yourself (or the customer!) why is the customer asking for this? Rather than the mechanics of the feature, ask what problem the customer is trying to solve. Ask what the customer is trying to accomplish. Often the correct feature accomplishes the root goal but not exactly in the way the customer suggests. Take a breath, don't worry. You have people who love your stuff -- they won't abandon just because you don't do their pet feature request tomorrow. Think about the iPhone -- how long did it take to get copy/paste? It's hard to chill out -- I know! -- but you can. Customers who can't wait for their feature to be implemented.... you don't need them and their stress! |
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Sounds like you need more clones of yourself, or a really good tech support/customer service person. If cash is coming in, do a quick monthly projection and see if its feasible to hire someone to handle all of the inquiries. You are right in that these questions should be answered quickly, as users like to feel that they are being listened to. Another option is create a forum for users to vent out all of the questions and support issues they have. A lot of times other more savvy users will help on the forum. Most users will also understand that a forum answer may not come right away. A forum will give you a bit more breathing room and allow you to answer requests in a more orderly fashion. |
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I agree with Joe for putting a forum together. At the very least you need to have an issue/defect/request database. trac is popular (and "free") - and for 1 and 2 person companies FogBugz is also free. That is a GREAT option since an autoresponder is set up. I am a big fan of it and use it for two of my ventures as well as my full-time day job. You are right to be thrilled that you are getting feedback. You will need a way to manage the priorities of the requests and with your own vision and plan for the software/service. You can certainly be honest and open about the response and tell people you value the feedback and that you hope they are patient while you prioritize and roll them all out. The sooner you automate a response system the better. Congratulations. |
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Good problems to have... Assuming the money's there too. Setup an auto responder immediately. Whether it is through fogbugz as was mentioned, or something else. Then, get a support forum of some type setup. Get satisfaction seems to be a popular route now. |
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