As the founder at Keyword Chef, Ben Adler still chooses to handle every single support request personally.

Why? He sees each inbound support request as a nugget of insight. He’s not just solving one users’ problem, he is considering whether there’s a systematic opportunity.

Adler wants to reduce inbound support inquiries as much as possible, not by adding hurdles to get in touch, but by solving the customer experience shortcoming that led to the issue–especially if it’s likely to recur with someone else.

The Best Way to Reduce Support Costs

First and foremost, companies save on support when they invest in great product design. That doesn’t just mean design THEY think is great. (A lesson one client of ours learned after designs were mocked up.) It means observing users as they interact with your software, and looking for places where users stumble or more value can be added.

• Is the workflow clear?

• Are the things users need easy to find?

• Are actions properly labeled?

• Is it obvious what things in the UI mean?

Your software should be intuitive, providing contextual explanations where users need them. Users should be able to figure it out quickly without reading help documents.

If you need help testing your product’s design, reach out.

You can further reduce support costs with a great learning ecosystem. What types of content should you consider?

Five types of learning content to help SaaS users help themselves

1. Educate users proactively with onboarding emails. Send a series of welcome emails that covers top user questions or feature things many users are excited to try. Include short how-to videos.

2. Ease transitions with new feature demos. After every new feature or major design change, post a video demo. Share it on your social accounts.

3. Offer self-serve help with a searchable Learning Center. When problems arise, a detailed, up-to-date knowledge base can help customers solve them without reaching out to you. When you solve a customer’s problem, post the how-to so it can be referenced in the future. This can also save time when customers DO reach out, because you can point them to a thoughtful response rather than re-creating the answer from scratch each time.

4. Amplify promoters. Often, real users explain things more effectively than internal marketers. Encourage those who are inclined to record product reviews and show how to use your product better than you can.

5. Build a community. There are lots of benefits to having a community, and one of them is support. It can be as simple as creating a Facebook Group. People will ask questions and oftentimes, other members will answer them. They may collaborate on feature requests and compare use cases. This can reduce support costs while improving innovation.

In a successful software company, customer support isn’t a silo. Support overlaps with product design and marketing. When these functions work together, magic happens.