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As a solo developer answering emails that basically point people to various guides and FAQs I’ve published … I need this. Zendesk claims to have an AI component

As a solo developer answering emails that basically point people to various guides and FAQs I’ve published … I need this. Zendesk claims to have an AI component but forces you to input all training data into their own wiki knowledge base. I can see why they don’t want to use prior responses as training (pii concerns), but at least give me some boilerplate responses that I can use to get a head start and further train the model(s).

htrp 3y ago
You just need embedding based search.
mtlynch 3y ago
Why not do it the old fashioned way and hire a human for this? Humans also have the advantage that they don't just make up answers when they don't know something (or at least if you hire good ones). I've had good experience hiring support folks and working with them on a shared inbox (we use HelpScout).
- LegitShady 3y ago
  he is the human that does this.
  - mtlynch 3y ago
    Right, but developers are significantly more expensive than customer support agents. Especially if the answers are already documented, and the rep just needs to be friendly in pointing customers to the right documentation. If you can free up 5 hours of week of dev time by spending $100/week on a support rep, that's a great rate for dev time. This assumes you're running a profitable business in the first place. If you're still struggling to find paying customers, then yeah it makes sense to do everything yourself.
    - LegitShady 3y ago
      What do you think of the quality of support provided by someone who spends 5 hours a week answering questions vs the primary developer? This isn't as straightforward as you think. If he can free up 5 hours a week for $500 and loses 10 customers because they didn't like the support from someone who spends 5 hours a week on this product they've never used, do you think he wins or loses?
      - mtlynch 3y ago
        >What do you think of the quality of support provided by someone who spends 5 hours a week answering questions vs the primary developer? In my experience, the quality of support is great! A year into my business, I brought someone in to do customer support for five hours per week, and it freed up a huge amount of time and mental bandwidth.[0] Since then, I've expanded support to two non-technical customer service reps and two support engineers. It's rare that I answer a question now because my team can generally answer anything I can. >If he can free up 5 hours a week for $500 and loses 10 customers because they didn't like the support from someone who spends 5 hours a week on this product they've never used, do you think he wins or loses? I think this is wildly unlikely in practice. When you bring on a support rep, you don't just say, "Okay, you're on your own. Do the best that you can." You work to onboard them and make sure they're comfortable answering questions and asking for help when they need it. You also course-correct or jump in if they give someone an incorrect or unhelpful answer. In my two years of having a support team, I can't think of a single time that a customer said they were dropping us because they were dissatisfied with our support. Instead, what I've found is that the support team often does a better job than I could have because they have more bandwidth to dig deeply into issues.[1] On about 10% of support requests, customers go out of their way to tell us how satisfied they are with the help we gave them. Documenting things and onboarding teammates is time-consuming and difficult, but the commenter I was originally responding to said that they've already done that work. They described themselves as "a solo developer answering emails that basically point people to various guides and FAQs I’ve published." If they're already at that point, bringing in a support rep is a no-brainer. In my experience, the majority of support requests I receive are nontechnical. I sell a physical product, so it's probably higher than a pure SaaS, but it's still about 60% of questions are about billing or they deleted their invoice by mistake or they need to see our tax forms for internal paperwork. That's all stuff that a support rep can handle just as well as I can even if they know nothing about my product. [0] https://mtlynch.io/solo-developer-year-4/#good-leadership-means-helping-teammates-grow https://mtlynch.io/solo-developer-year-4/#good-leadership-me... [1] https://forum.tinypilotkvm.com/-826#post-6 https://forum.tinypilotkvm.com/-826#post-6
- nicbou 3y ago
  I considered both options for allaboutberlin.com. I want to offer either better search, or personalised advice. Cost is a huge problem. An immigration lawyer would continuously eat into my personal income. If I don't get state funding to cover it, it makes zero business sense. It would also come with all the liability of a first employee. A GPT that cites my website, German law and a dozen official websites would be a game changer. It could not give advice, but it could find answers like Phind does. It's just tech, with lower running costs and virtually no obligations (unlike an employee). I just don't know if the result would be useful and trustworthy enough, and it's very expensive to try. My conclusion is that I should focus on building a good knowledge base, and when the time is ripe, I can augment it with fancy tech.

htrp 3y ago

You just need embedding based search.

mtlynch 3y ago

Why not do it the old fashioned way and hire a human for this? Humans also have the advantage that they don't just make up answers when they don't know something (or at least if you hire good ones). I've had good experience hiring support folks and working with them on a shared inbox (we use HelpScout).

LegitShady 3y ago
he is the human that does this.
- mtlynch 3y ago
  Right, but developers are significantly more expensive than customer support agents. Especially if the answers are already documented, and the rep just needs to be friendly in pointing customers to the right documentation. If you can free up 5 hours of week of dev time by spending $100/week on a support rep, that's a great rate for dev time. This assumes you're running a profitable business in the first place. If you're still struggling to find paying customers, then yeah it makes sense to do everything yourself.
  - LegitShady 3y ago
    What do you think of the quality of support provided by someone who spends 5 hours a week answering questions vs the primary developer? This isn't as straightforward as you think. If he can free up 5 hours a week for $500 and loses 10 customers because they didn't like the support from someone who spends 5 hours a week on this product they've never used, do you think he wins or loses?
    - mtlynch 3y ago
      >What do you think of the quality of support provided by someone who spends 5 hours a week answering questions vs the primary developer? In my experience, the quality of support is great! A year into my business, I brought someone in to do customer support for five hours per week, and it freed up a huge amount of time and mental bandwidth.[0] Since then, I've expanded support to two non-technical customer service reps and two support engineers. It's rare that I answer a question now because my team can generally answer anything I can. >If he can free up 5 hours a week for $500 and loses 10 customers because they didn't like the support from someone who spends 5 hours a week on this product they've never used, do you think he wins or loses? I think this is wildly unlikely in practice. When you bring on a support rep, you don't just say, "Okay, you're on your own. Do the best that you can." You work to onboard them and make sure they're comfortable answering questions and asking for help when they need it. You also course-correct or jump in if they give someone an incorrect or unhelpful answer. In my two years of having a support team, I can't think of a single time that a customer said they were dropping us because they were dissatisfied with our support. Instead, what I've found is that the support team often does a better job than I could have because they have more bandwidth to dig deeply into issues.[1] On about 10% of support requests, customers go out of their way to tell us how satisfied they are with the help we gave them. Documenting things and onboarding teammates is time-consuming and difficult, but the commenter I was originally responding to said that they've already done that work. They described themselves as "a solo developer answering emails that basically point people to various guides and FAQs I’ve published." If they're already at that point, bringing in a support rep is a no-brainer. In my experience, the majority of support requests I receive are nontechnical. I sell a physical product, so it's probably higher than a pure SaaS, but it's still about 60% of questions are about billing or they deleted their invoice by mistake or they need to see our tax forms for internal paperwork. That's all stuff that a support rep can handle just as well as I can even if they know nothing about my product. [0] https://mtlynch.io/solo-developer-year-4/#good-leadership-means-helping-teammates-grow https://mtlynch.io/solo-developer-year-4/#good-leadership-me... [1] https://forum.tinypilotkvm.com/-826#post-6 https://forum.tinypilotkvm.com/-826#post-6
nicbou 3y ago
I considered both options for allaboutberlin.com. I want to offer either better search, or personalised advice. Cost is a huge problem. An immigration lawyer would continuously eat into my personal income. If I don't get state funding to cover it, it makes zero business sense. It would also come with all the liability of a first employee. A GPT that cites my website, German law and a dozen official websites would be a game changer. It could not give advice, but it could find answers like Phind does. It's just tech, with lower running costs and virtually no obligations (unlike an employee). I just don't know if the result would be useful and trustworthy enough, and it's very expensive to try. My conclusion is that I should focus on building a good knowledge base, and when the time is ripe, I can augment it with fancy tech.