Hospitality in Software: Buffer’s Approach to Customer Support

How can we keep creating a unique customer support experience even as we get an increasing number of messages from customers? This is a question that is always on my mind. 

Delivering exceptional customer support has always been at the core of Buffer’s mission. Over the years,

How can we keep creating a unique customer support experience even as we get an increasing number of messages from customers? This is a question that is always on my mind. 

Delivering exceptional customer support has always been at the core of Buffer’s mission. Over the years, we've taken pride in our unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction and our dedicated support team's ability to go the extra mile. 

What we have found is that as your volume and team size scale, it can be trickier to continue to really see and hear each customer reaching out over email, live chat, or social as the volume keeps building. An important aspect of customer support strategy at the stage we’re at is to keep being focused on our direction and the quality bar we are aiming for. 

I’ve spent a lot of time talking to our CEO, Joel Gascoigne, about our vision for customer support and what it looks like to go above and beyond for our customers. In these conversations and brainstorms with our team, we take inspiration primarily from hospitality organizations. There is something magical about the service experience you can get at a great restaurant or in a smaller retail shop. That magic is something we strive to create over emails or social messaging. When looking at 75,000 customer conversations per year and ambitious response time goals, it's not always easy to balance speed with personal connection, but it's worth the investment. 

In this blog post, I’ll share more about how we add hospitality to our own customer support approach at Buffer. 

What is a hospitality approach? 

A hospitality approach in customer service means that we strive to create standout, above-and-beyond, and personal experiences in every customer conversation. 

Think about how, at a smaller boutique or five-star hotel, the staff takes a personal interest in their guests. The staff tends to notice particular needs someone might have or dig a bit deeper to see if they can make a guest’s stay more memorable. 

Or, think about a great experience you’ve had at a restaurant, where a waiter or waitress did more than just provide excellent service but engaged in conversation, asked you about how your day was going or tried to get you a personalized food or drink recommendation. 

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