Customer powered support doesn't work

A very clever post by CEO Richard White to differentiate UserVoice from Get Satisfaction - and he is right that the two products are different.<p>However I don't agree that customer support doesn't work - it depends on the vertical, type of product and price point.<p>In the UK we have a new mobile phone carrier that is totally customer support driven - you don't get the level of customer service you would normally get but the prices are significantly cheaper (aimed at teens and students who have little money but enjoy hanging out on social platforms).

Customer powered support might be fine if you don't mind your users getting a high percentage of wrong answers or no answers. Just look at the non-vendor support forums whose business models is to cash in on user-supplied answers. (E.g., google for 'Why is my Mac hot?') If you're willing to go through three or four of these for every question you have, you might find an answer. But you'll also find a number of wrong answers, often in the same thread.

Do they have a competitor whose angle is customer-powered support? I don't know anything about this business, but this sounds like a response to a competitor.

Or we do crowd-sourced support or the company pays for their own user support. This is so white and black.<p>Why don't we look into a well thought of mix of both options. I would work on a strategy where both are possible.<p>I would create a support kb where we create content solving common and known problems. The hardest trick is guiding people to the right solution. This can be done by searching, good taxonomy or plain old direct question via phone or forum. The crowd-sourced support can be a part where they help people guide to the right information.<p>Another part can be that the crowd-sourced support can spot bad formulated articles, wrong articles, out of date articles, ... Just create some tools you can get feedback on your content and involve your customers.<p>But only go on the crowd-sourced route is not an option and won't be benificial for your company.

Another thing I've noticed is that if I see a support forum where most of the answers are given by customers rather than employees, it gives me the feeling the company is not listening or keeping in touch. I get the feeling of laziness, which paints a poor image in my mind.