The experience you are designing.
WHAT THEY WANT AT EACH STAGE
- Finding how to get help: obvious, in a few seconds
- Making contact: no obstacles, no forced form fields
- Waiting: an acknowledgement with a time
- The reply: addressing what they asked
- Resolution: actually fixed, confirmed
- Afterwards: a record they can find
WHAT BREAKS IT AT EACH STAGE
Support buried behind self-service Forms demanding irrelevant information Silence A reply that answers a different question Closure without confirmation No history
WHAT THE WORST EXPERIENCE FEELS LIKE
Explaining the problem several times to different people.
WHAT PREVENTS THAT
Ownership, and context recorded on the ticket.
WHAT THE SECOND WORST IS
Being told it is their fault when it is not.
WHAT PREVENTS THAT
Checking before asserting.
WHAT CUSTOMERS REMEMBER
How they were treated when something went wrong.
WHAT THEY FORGET
Routine interactions where everything worked.
WHAT THAT MEANS
Your reputation is built almost entirely in the difficult cases.
WHAT TO TEST OCCASIONALLY
Your own support, as a customer would experience it.
HOW
Submit a ticket anonymously, and follow it through.
WHAT THAT REVEALS
Everything measurement does not.
WHAT TO FIX FIRST
Whatever irritated you.
