Pros and Cons of Removing Email as a Support Channel
BeantwortetI've noticed a trend of some larger SaaS companies like WPEngine and Zendesk deciding to go all in on live chat / bots and remove email as a support channel, including the removal of "support@domain.com" type emails.
I'm sure there isn't a one-size-fits-all answer to this, but as I'm looking at future support strategies for my software business, I'd like to understand:
- What are the main benefits (for our company and/or our customers) of shutting off email support and requiring all help through live chat? Does it actually lower ticket volume and/or time per ticket?
- Is there a risk that existing customers find it frustrating to lose the email support option and churn?
I'd be curious if anyone with a smaller customer service operation has tried this recently and what it did to their support volume, metrics, and/or churn. As a customer, it seems like this is an ongoing trend, so I'd like to understand the rationale and plan our support channels better. My current thinking is to meet customers where they are (within reason) including email support.
Thanks,
Tom
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Looking at it from a customer perspective I would have to say that this very much depends on the complexity of support given.
For complex software questions I cannot imagine relying only on chat support, as I would like to have a thread I can follow to make sure all steps needed are included, properly explained and something I can follow to get my issue resolved.
For simple tech support or general customer service, chat seems to be the way to go in terms of efficiency.
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I don't believe Zendesk removed it. I still get emails from them and respond to them. My responses go into the chat.
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Thanks for both your comments.... that is interesting, you may be on a better pricing plan. I'm not able to send emails to support@zendesk.com anymore (it bounces back with a reply) and get forced to use the chatbot / live chat option instead. I've noticed that Twilio Sendgrid has recently phased out their email support as well.
I think we'll experiment with live chat and in-app messaging but continue to offer email support.
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I don't email support@zendesk.com, so I don't know if that works for me. I open tickets through the (awful) chat. I then get email updates, which I can reply to. When I do, those replies go right into the (did I mention it's awful)chat. The reply to email address on those is support+idxxxxx@zendesk.com. The received from is support@zendesk.com.
In short, the email channel is still being used, but maybe not for creating tickets.
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Thanks Lou for clarifying, I see what you mean. The (awful) chat experience makes a good case for letting customers choose, though allowing for a cold inbound email does create some questions about authentication (e.g. you need the customer to reply again in order to confirm/proceed with any serious account changes, to avoid the risk of someone spoofing/imitating an email address).
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