Support Ops

Support Ops SOP

1. Support Triage

Prioritize by impact and urgency (source: Freshworks, general SaaS support practice):

Solo founder rules:

• P0/P1: Drop everything. Set up alerts (email + phone notification) for these.
• P2: Batch and respond twice daily (morning + afternoon). Don't context-switch for every question.
• P3: Log in a feature request tracker. Review weekly. Reply with "Noted, added to our roadmap" — then actually track it.
• Template responses for common P2 questions save 60%+ of support time. Build these from day one.

2. Knowledge Base

Build proactively, not reactively (source: UserPilot, Paddle, Pylon):

What to write first:

• Top 20 questions from support tickets → articles. Use actual ticket data to prioritize.
• Getting started guide — the single path from signup to first value
• Common error messages → causes and fixes
• Integration/setup guides for each supported platform
• Billing FAQ (pricing, upgrades, cancellations, refunds)

Article structure:

1. Problem statement — "You're seeing X when trying to Y"
2. Step-by-step solution — numbered steps, one action per step
3. Screenshots / GIFs — show, don't just tell
4. Related articles — link to next likely question
5. "Did this help?" feedback widget — track which articles fail

Maintenance rules:

• Same question asked 3+ times → write an article immediately
• Review all articles quarterly — outdated help docs are worse than no docs
• Link knowledge base articles in onboarding emails, in-app help, and support replies
• Organize by user task ("How do I..."), not by product feature ("Settings page")

3. Onboarding Sequence

The first 14 days determine retention (source: ProsperStack, Vitally, CloudBlue):

Key metric: Time to First Value (TTFV). Customers who experience real value in the first few days are 2x more likely to retain and spend 30% more over their lifetime (source: ProsperStack). Measure and optimize ruthlessly.

Behavioral triggers (supplement the time-based sequence):

• User hasn't completed setup after 48 hours → send "Need help getting started?" email
• User completed first workflow → send congratulations + "Here's what to try next"
• User invited a team member → send collaboration tips

4. Churn Prevention

Average B2B SaaS churn is 3.5% monthly. Reducing churn by 5% can increase profits 25-95% (source: Vitally, QuantLedger, ProsperStack):

Usage monitoring (most reliable churn predictor):

• Track login frequency, feature adoption, activity levels
• Alert when usage drops >30% month-over-month — this is your churn signal
• No login for 7+ days → trigger automated re-engagement email
• No login for 14+ days → personal outreach from founder

Exit survey (when they cancel):

• Keep it to 3-5 questions max. Required before cancellation completes.
• Ask: "What's the primary reason you're leaving?" with options: too expensive, not using it enough, missing features, switched to competitor, other
• This data is gold — review monthly, act on top reasons

Save offers (in cancellation flow):

• Discount: 20-30% off for 3 months (for price objections)
• Pause: Freeze account for 1-3 months instead of canceling
• Downgrade: Offer a cheaper plan if one exists
• Show what they'll lose ("You have 47 saved reports that will be deleted")
• Never guilt-trip — respect the decision while offering alternatives

Win-back sequence:

Involuntary churn (failed payments):

• Averages 0.8% but fixing it lifts revenue 8.6% in year one (source: Vitally)
• Implement: automated card updaters, smart retry logic (retry on days 1, 3, 5, 7), dunning emails, grace period before account suspension

5. Feedback Loop

Close the loop between support and product (source: general SaaS practice, UserPilot):

Ticket tagging:

• Tag every support ticket by category: bug, how-to, feature-request, billing, onboarding
• Sub-tag by feature area when possible

Monthly review:

• Pull top 3 ticket categories by volume
• For each: Is this a product problem (fix it), a docs problem (write an article), or a UX problem (redesign the flow)?
• Assign action items with owners and deadlines

Close the loop with customers:

• When you fix an issue that was reported, email the customers who reported it: "You told us about X. We fixed it. Here's what changed."
• This single action converts frustrated users into loyal advocates
• Track NPS quarterly (or after key milestones). Score < 30 = urgent product/support problem.

NPS implementation:

• Send NPS survey at day 30, day 90, and every 90 days after
• Question: "How likely are you to recommend [product] to a colleague? (0-10)"
• Follow up: Promoters (9-10) → ask for referral/review. Detractors (0-6) → personal outreach to understand why.
• Benchmark: SaaS average NPS is 30-40. Below 30 means systemic issues.

Next Steps

Report to user: "Support: [what was set up/handled]. Key metrics: [response time, NPS, churn rate]"

Suggested next steps (user decides):

• High churn → "Run product-eval"
• Common questions → "Run content-create for KB articles"
• Bugs found → "Create issues"
• Feature requests → "Run roadmap-steer"