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Sometimes the best solutions are really the most simple.
A couple weeks ago, there was a great forum discussion on how to assign follow up tasks immediately after logging communications. This wasn’t just a back-and-forth, this was a full fledged discussion with forum users Bradley, Kenny, HansD, and Stewart taking part.
We have always had the ability to log a communication and to create a To-Do that was assigned to a user and linked back to a communication. But the forum users were looking for a way to “remind” the other users on their account to create a To-Do after logging a communication, if one was necessary. Many approaches were discussed, but the following messages made it clear what we needed to do:
From Bradley:
From a business-process stand point, logging a communication and generating the resulting task are a single action. Yes, you could log the communication, then open it, then start a to-do action. However, you’ve now undertaken three actions as opposed to one, any one of which a staff person could forget or be interrupted before completing.
And from Kenny:
For me, its the act of remotely communicating with another person that needs to be logged, and the next task programmed in simultaneously in such a way that it is not forgotten that is critical to a CRM.
So, in the confirmation box after saving the communication, we added a link to create a To-Do.
While he was in there, Sean made some great new additions as well. We used to store a link back to the communication in the details field of the To-Do. No more. Now it is directly linked to the communication, just as if you were linking it to a contact.
And Sean also added the ability for account admins to see the To-Do Lists of other users on the account.
What else was in last night’s update? Well, for one, I brought back microformats to BatchBook. Here, you can see the Firefox plug-in Operator detecting the hCard microformat on a Contact Detail.
If you’d like to read more about microformats (and see some incredibly old screen shots of BatchBook!), I wrote about them a while ago.
Oh, and there’s one more thing. We dressed up for Halloween!
We hope you like the latest updates. We’ve certainly got more coming at you!
Tags: communications management, Customer Service, forums, halloween, microformats, User Experience
As User Experience Designer here at BatchBlue, one of my (favorite) roles is moderating the BatchBlue Forums.
For a little bit of background, my job before this one was with an R&D company that worked on a lot of Department of Defense contracts. There was some cool technology being developed, but one thing I craved was interaction with end users. At that stage of the game there just wasn’t enough (if any). One of the main things that attracted me to BatchBlue was the opportunity to work closely with users of BatchBook.
So, imagine the feeling in my little heart when I read this comment on the forum the other day:
This support forum is beginning to turn into a little bit of a community, which is always a good thing.
Recently, the forum has taken on a life of its own. Not only do we get the usual feature requests and bug reports, but forumgoers have taken to posting detailed examples of their workflow, trying to give us an idea of EXACTLY how they are using BatchBook. We’re not taking this for granted. These folks have been a huge help for us—and me in particular.
For this reason, I wanted to give a shoutout to the five folks that have been SuperActive on the forums lately. Stewart, my new Twitter buddy, has already posted 67 times. Kenny, who I believe started the 3-page workflow meme, is up to 68 posts. BatchBook veteran Scott—who has had an account since May of 2007!!!—has 89 posts. ARMGPaul is another longtime user and has contributed a staggering 93 times!
And then there’s HansD. What more can you ask than someone contributing 164 posts on your forum, all in an attempt to help you build a better product? In my last job, it required a three-day trip, flight to Louisiana, and security clearances to get an hour of somebody’s time. And here are these people helping me do my job every single day.
I’m not sure what else to say besides thank you to these folks so…
Thank you!
Tags: Customer Service, forums, User Experience
We love Twitter. And we love user feedback. So we figured, why not marry the two? So, starting today, we have asked our Twitter networks to take part in our very first usability test via Twitter! The form is below. Even if you didn’t hear about this on Twitter, you can still take part! 
Update: The usability test has ended. Thanks to everyone who helped out!
Thanks! You can now get back to your tweeting workday!
Tags: twitter, usability, User Experience
Last week, we got a great tip from one of our users, Chris Brogan. Chris thinks the Lists feature is cool, but he usually wants to create a list directly from the Tags & SuperTags page. He said that instead of hopping over the the Lists & Reports tab, he should be able to click a button on the Tag Manager to automatically build a list.
Great idea!
So, here it is:
Just click on that little List icon and you’ll automatically get a new list created from that tag. Then, you can then export the list as a CSV or vCard, view or print a report of SuperTag data, or even print mailing labels!
We took it one step further and added a “Build a List from this tag” link to the results page when you search by tag.
And because Sean is also so smart, if you’ve already created a list from that tag, in both cases you’ll just link to the existing list (so no duplicates!).
Thanks Chris!
Tags: Customer Service, User Experience
It’s our phone number. Amazing what a powerful statement it can be. As a small online business a published phone number seems to say, “yes there are real people working here and we’d love to talk to you.” Yet it is a scary thing for some companies to say. Phone calls are less efficient, less manageable and ultimately less scalable than e-mail systems. But they are worth it.
Sunir Shah at Freshbooks (whose online billing/invoicing software we use and love) wrote last week about answering the phone for customer service. Many great points about the importance of being available to your customer, however it is they are trying to connect with you.
For those resource strapped businesses debating offering phone support, I have a secret to tell you; not that many people call in for product support. The overwhelming majority of phone calls we get on the BatchBlue line are from people considering our product. They need some quick answers on product features and just want the security of knowing there is a support system there if they ever need it.
Customer service has always been the top priority for us here at BatchBlue. While not a standard practice for new, start-up online businesses, we set up our customer service line day one. Actually before day one - we launched it with the beta launch of our product. Our feeling is, if you are serious about customer service, you can not hide from a customer in need. If offering a service to our customers is going to create a burden for our business, then we better figure out how to solve it early on and make sure all of our offerings grow with the business.
And to help you take the plunge, I thought I would offer some suggestions on implementing a phone support system:
- Get a toll-free number and make it public. If you are going to offer phone service, don’t make it hard to find and expensive. Show your customers you really mean it.
- Use an online voicemail service (we use GotVMail.com) to easily route, re-route and electronically store all incoming calls and messages.
- If e-mail support is more efficient, tell people. We explain on the web site and in our phone messaging that urgent support issues should go to our support e-mail address.
- If support calls do come in on the phone line, gather as much information as possible and send it through the normal support channels (if you try to manage calls in a separate system than e-mails you will just double the work and the chance of things getting missed).
- Enjoy the call. If you dread taking a phone call, it will not be a fun experience. If you enjoy it, so will your caller.
- Provide as much self-help options as possible on your site to support your product. FAQs, online tutorials, screencasts, forums, product blogs can all be used to support the product.
- If you are getting a number of calls/e-mails all asking the same question, consider offering a special service around that topic. Calls and e-mails about importing data and setting up SuperTags prompted us to set up the On Boarding program.
- Use a tool to track all of the different modes of conversation - phone, e-mail, forum posts, blog comments, third party support managers,etc. We prefer BatchBook, of course.
- If you want support requests handled in e-mail or on your forums, then respond quickly to the e-mails and posts. No need for folks to come looking for you somewhere else.
- Make a sound product, listen to what users need and keep improving it. If folks can feel the maturation of your product and know it is addressing their needs, they won’t feel the need to call and complain.
- Spread the customer service love. Our entire company spends time in the Customer Service queue handling e-mails, calls, etc.
- Make sure customer service can grow. Start all new staff with a stint in customer service queue. Not as a hazing ritual, but because that is a great way to learn the product quickly and it will help you cover customer service responsibilities as the company grows.
- Use calls as a chance to do some market research. We’ve gotten invaluable information on what features people are looking for, what information they could/could not easily find on our website, and just what they think of the product.
I’m sure I’ve forgotten a few things, so please add to the list with comments below. Let’s make sure customers know that working with an online business does not mean they get second class treatment.
Tags: Customer Service, freshbooks, User Experience
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