Sales Hacker

NOVEMBER 29, 2024

GTMfund’s 3 Areas of Focus for Investing Thanksgiving weekend is always a period of reflection and gratitude. Reflection across go-to-market trends, but also on the investment front (not to mention community !). A common misconception is that the name is representative of the type of software we invest in.

Investment 110

Investment Technical Review Development Team Review Scale 110

Intercom, Inc.

AUGUST 23, 2022

But what role does customer support play in this effort to retain customers? Why great customer support is the key to customer retention. Support plays a critical role in customer retention, with 32% of consumers citing bad customer service as the main reason they discontinued business with a brand.

Customer Support 211

Customer Support Retention Headcount Customer Lifetime Value 211

Intercom, Inc.

NOVEMBER 18, 2020

Automation supercharges support, empowering teams to provide personal support at scale without overstretching your team – and our data shows support leaders are hungry for more. . Companies that automate customer support are nearly 4x more likely to see CSAT improvements. .

Customer Support 223

Customer Support Trends Scale Market Research 223

Intercom, Inc.

FEBRUARY 10, 2022

Customer support has never been a walk in the park. To keep up with these changes, last year we released our first Intercom Customer Support Trends Report. To keep up with these changes, last year we released our first Intercom Customer Support Trends Report. Last month, we published the second edition.

Customer Support 211

Customer Support Trends Technical Review Headcount 211

Intercom, Inc.

AUGUST 17, 2020

Localizing a product for international expansion means making all aspects of that product accessible to the market you’re looking to enter – from language translation and adapting product UX to offering multilingual customer support, and beyond. Low conversion rates.

Investment 276

Investment Scale Software Review Systems Review 276

Intercom, Inc.

JULY 2, 2020

And it makes sense: in order to be around to support your customers well into the future, you need a solid foundation for scale. . But obsessing over efficiency can mask what’s most important, and most rewarding, to support teams – actually helping customers. The evolution of customer support.

Outsourcing Services 253

Outsourcing Services Investment Underperforming Technical Team Outsourced Development 253

Intercom, Inc.

APRIL 20, 2021

The challenges facing customer support leaders are more complex than ever. They need to be able to balance efficiency with a great customer experience , meet rising customer expectations , and keep team morale high , all while ensuring that they don’t blow through their budget or burn out their team.

Scale 156

Scale Customer Support Scaling Sales Hiring 156

USIO

FEBRUARY 19, 2025

Extra Goodies: Invoice print & mail (yes, theyll mail 100K+ invoices for you), prepaid card issuing, and tailored support for healthcare, legal, logistics, insurance, CRMs, ERPs, fintechs, SaaS and many others. Customer Support Rating: 10/10 Actual humans answer the phone. Thats Stripe support. Eventually.

PayFac as a Service 179

PayFac as a Service Merchant Services Payfac Payments 179

SaaStr

MAY 29, 2025

Do you invest in upskilling your middle performers, or do you focus resources on amplifying your stars? Top performers will see exponential gains from AI augmentation, while average performers may struggle to adapt and could find themselves displaced. This creates a talent strategy challenge.

Sales Hiring 234

Sales Hiring Underperforming Technical Team AI Scale 234

Buffer Resources

JANUARY 27, 2023

years at Buffer as a Customer Advocate is how can we use empathy effectively to enhance the customer support experience? "The " —Customer feedback (February 2022) Empathy has incredible power in the customer support experience. Something I’ve come to wonder after 3.5

Customer Support 141

Customer Support Technical Review Communication Technology 141

SaaStr

MARCH 9, 2025

The New AI ROI Framework Before investing in AI, Calendly’s team evaluates four key factors: Customer value (will this meaningfully improve outcomes?) Most importantly, the product must maintain a genuine product-market fit with customers. Building separate AI experiences that force users to learn new workflows.

AI 195

AI Scale Education User Experience 195

FastSpring

OCTOBER 11, 2024

Offering widely-used local payment options — such as AliPay or WeChat Pay — helps reduce friction at checkout and boosts customer satisfaction, leading to higher renewal rates. Invest in Customer Support to Drive Retention Retaining annual subscribers requires ongoing support. The post Breaking Into Asia?

Merchant Services 158

Merchant Services SaaS Payments Benchmarks Subscription 158

User Pilot

FEBRUARY 22, 2024

Great SaaS customer support is the key to keeping your customers happy and satisfied with your product. It powers your customer relationships, enabling you to build lasting connections with customers. This article examines how to create an exceptional customer support strategy.

Customer Support 102

Customer Support SaaS Software Review AI Search 102

Buffer Resources

FEBRUARY 9, 2024

How can we keep creating a unique customer support experience even as we get an increasing number of messages from customers?   Delivering exceptional customer support has always been at the core of Buffer’s mission. This is a question that is always on my mind. 

Customer Support 114

Customer Support Software Review Software Social Media 114

User Pilot

MAY 23, 2024

Customers aren't all the same, so you need different types of customer support to address the needs of different kinds of customers. As a result, you need variety in your customer service solutions to properly assist each customer. Proactive support. Social media support.

Customer Support 104

Customer Support Social Media SaaS Artificial Intelligence 104

SaaStr

DECEMBER 25, 2020

And/or, one piece of it — say 5%-10% — uses an edition of the product that you don’t really want to keep investing in and supporting, because you want to invest in the other 90%. Or more simply, sometimes the bottom 10% of your customer base in terms of ACV just takes way too much time.

Sales Hiring 334

Sales Hiring Customer Success Customer Support Revenue 334

Payrix

JUNE 10, 2025

When considering white label merchant processing solutions, software companies should look for a provider with a trusted reputation, technology that meets the needs of their users, and customized support. They’re investing in the power to create a tailored experience that’s relevant to their users, and it pays off.

Merchant Services 100

Merchant Services Payment Services Payments Payment Solutions 100

SaaStr

OCTOBER 16, 2020

Customer Success can feel like a cost center in Year 1 (and indeed, it is), but by about 18 months out after your first 10 paying customers … it will be your largest profit center. So invest in it! What we haven’t really talked about is Customer Support. Basic, reactive, customer support.

B2C 317

B2C Customer Success Customer Support Churn 317

Intercom, Inc.

JUNE 8, 2021

Not too long ago, customer support was viewed as a cost center, not a value driver. It was seen as a necessary part of a business, but not something that drove revenue or influenced customers’ buying decisions. Study after study shows how important a great customer experience is to today’s consumers. That time is over.

Technical Review 222

Technical Review Underperforming Technical Team Customer Support Marketplace as a Service 222

SaaStr

MAY 4, 2025

Heres where I think its heading based on 100,000+ conversations already on SaaStr’s own AI , and my experience investing in so many contact center and post-sales leaders: 1. Customers will prefer interacting with an AI that knows the product perfectly over a junior rep who needs three days to respond.

AI 152

AI Scale Sales SMB 152

USIO

JULY 1, 2024

While many strategies involve significant investments in marketing, sales, and technology, there are also effective methods to boost recurring revenue that require minimal financial outlay. Provide Exceptional Customer Support : Ensure your support team is responsive and helpful.

Payments 306

Payments SaaS Payments Payment Solutions Payment Services 306

SaaStr

MAY 25, 2024

Lesson #1: Invest In Customer Support Early Cloudinary strongly believes that customer success and support are enablers of PLG growth and aren’t just a cost center. You don’t want to invest a ton of money into something and generate very little return. If you can’t hire a CFO, maybe it’s a VP of Finance.

Scale 306

Scale Sales Hiring SaaS Payments Development 306

SaaStr

JULY 20, 2024

Invest in People You want to keep the bar high on talent, especially in hypergrowth, and not just in the early stages. Invest Heavily in Onboarding Your typical employee takes about three to six months to get ramped. Invest Early in Your Marketing When scaling the GTM engine, you want to invest early in marketing.

Sales Recruiting 292

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Engineering 292

User Pilot

JANUARY 19, 2025

At first, this seemed like a smart investment for my company, so I invested. Reasons why you shouldn’t invest in standalone session recording tools You might think standalone session replay tools have one flaw, but theres more to the story. Reasons for not investing in standalone session recording tools.

Investment 52

Investment Scale Software Review Technical Review 52

Clouded Judgement

FEBRUARY 7, 2025

Signal can come from many places (sales team notes, customer support tickets, etc) IT Incident Management: Similar to the security alert example. This is for information purposes and should not be construed as an investment recommendation. Altimeter is an investment adviser registered with the U.S.

Systems Review 144

Systems Review Cloud AI Artificial Intelligence 144

Intercom, Inc.

JANUARY 29, 2020

When you’re on the front lines talking to customers, delivering that news successfully is imperative. As a member of our Customer Support team, I’ve experienced firsthand just how tricky rejecting a customer’s request can be. Building a successful product means saying no. But exactly how do you say it?

Customer Support 284

Customer Support Communication Engineering Innovation 284

Clouded Judgement

JULY 12, 2024

Take customer support - is the right way to look at AI’s impact as the spend on AI contact center solutions, or the human costs that were removed? Because your competitors are investing in AI efforts, you also have to invest in AI efforts. Altimeter is an investment adviser registered with the U.S.

Cloud 288

Cloud AI Investment User Experience 288

Intercom, Inc.

JUNE 16, 2025

You satisfy your customers, but can you satisfy our curiosity? With Emily Bach, Customer Support Team Lead at Mangomint. I’m a Customer Support Team Lead at Mangomint – a SaaS company that supports businesses in the health and wellness industry. We were both quick to laugh about it though!

Customer Support 104

Customer Support Leadership AI Customer Success 104

SaaStr

MARCH 24, 2021

Generally, companies are split into different valuation types: Value Investing: Based on the company’s profits. Growth Investing: Based on revenue growth. Consider the example of the software company Snowflake: This business raised lots of capital and invested it in efforts to grow revenue. 5 Cash Flow Margin. Key Takeaways.

Metrics 269

Metrics Banking Benchmarks Investment 269

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 22, 2020

All of this will help create value and return on investment capital. Brand includes your company values, Heritage/story, packaging, convenience, customer support, quality, segment focus, and positioning, all of which can differentiate your company from others with similar products.

Scale 317

Scale Scaling Technical Review Systems Review 317

Intercom, Inc.

JUNE 2, 2021

By failing to acknowledge the differences early, teams risk misallocating their focus and energy when solving problems, investing too much or too little in each one. “ Investment . My team recently took ownership of our Customer Support channel strategy. Investment. If not, investment will be higher.

Innovation 251

Innovation Sales Recruiting Investment Strategy 251

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 11, 2024

Lucid launched in 2010 (before PLG was a term), and their team had an intense focus on product early on, so much so that the COO at the time read through hundreds of thousands of customer support tickets to hear directly from customers. In their first year, they had their first paying customer.

Scale 300

Scale Scaling Sales Hiring Systems Review 300

Tom Tunguz

OCTOBER 9, 2024

After their success with AI customer support automation which manages 2/3 of their customer inquiries , Klarna is now doubling down on this strategy. Perhaps bespoke software will have the same impact in sales as in customer support. Klarna is betting AI-enabled software is the future of internal tools.

Scale 228

Scale AI SaaS Cloud 228

SaaStr

APRIL 4, 2023

Customer Success wants to automate away small customers. Support is overwhelmed with Free and Small users if they get support at all Product is under pressure to ship the big features for the big dollars, and stops investing in the long tail You just plain run out of internal champions for your Long Tail.

Scale 276

Scale Scaling Acquisition B2B 276

Intercom, Inc.

DECEMBER 10, 2021

Today, we’re unveiling the results of a new study that explores the impact that the global supply chain crisis is having on holiday shoppers and customer support teams. In addition to knowing about issues in advance, shoppers also want customer service that is fast (60%), friendly (57%) and available when they need it (53%). “38%

Headcount 195

Headcount Customer Support Scale AI 195

Tom Tunguz

MARCH 6, 2023

For most companies, the data science team analyzed data & wrote machine learning models to support the business functions : sales, marketing, customer support. Data science teams’ increased budget faces pressure from the office of the CFO to justify the investment.

Artificial Intelligence 250

Artificial Intelligence ChatGPT Engineering Machine Learning 250

SaaStr

JUNE 17, 2023

In the ever-evolving landscape of SaaS, Venture Capital, Bootstrapping, and Valuations – understanding market trends and investment patterns is critical. We’ll explain Jason’s take on the recent market fluctuations, highlighting major deals that shaped investment patterns and their effects on valuation trends.

Venture Capital 267

Venture Capital Scale Technical Review Software Review 267