{"id":9188,"date":"2017-06-23T11:39:23","date_gmt":"2017-06-23T10:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.adrianswinscoe.com\/?p=9188"},"modified":"2020-02-16T16:23:43","modified_gmt":"2020-02-16T16:23:43","slug":"great-service-and-why-basecamp-only-focuses-on-a-couple-of-channels-interview-with-chase-clemons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adrianswinscoe.com\/2017\/06\/great-service-and-why-basecamp-only-focuses-on-a-couple-of-channels-interview-with-chase-clemons\/","title":{"rendered":"Great service and why Basecamp only focuses on a couple of channels &#8211; Interview with Chase Clemons"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script src='https:\/\/play.pod.co\/punk-cx\/chaseclemonsbasecamp240517.js'><\/script><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Today\u2019s interview is with Chase Clemons, a customer support team lead at <a href=\"https:\/\/basecamp.com\/\">Basecamp<\/a>, a provider of project management and team communication software. We talk about Basecamp\u2019s CEO Jason Fried assuming personal responsibility for all customer refunds, what that means in practice, what it\u2019s like to work at Basecamp, what customer service means for them, particularly when they have approx 50 people in 30 different cities around the world and how they deliver great service to their clients.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">This interview follows on from my recent interview \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.adrianswinscoe.com\/the-most-successful-companies-start-by-improving-one-customer-journey-at-a-time-interview-with-don-schuerman\/\"><span class=\"s2\">The most successful companies start by improving one customer journey at a time \u2013 Interview with Don Schuerman<\/span><\/a> \u2013 and is number 221 in the series of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.adrianswinscoe.com\/category\/interviews\/\"><span class=\"s2\">interviews<\/span><\/a> with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Highlights from my conversation with Chase:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s3\">This year the <\/span><span class=\"s1\">CEO of Basecamp <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jasonfried\"><span class=\"s4\">Jason Fried<\/span><\/a> assumed personal responsibility for all customer refunds, where all returns would come out of his pay.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\">The decision was inspired by <a href=\"https:\/\/m.signalvnoise.com\/the-buck-stops-here-refunds-in-2017-come-out-of-my-pocket-55f763114ab8\"><span class=\"s6\">the famous little sign<\/span><\/a> that sat on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/1600\/presidents\/harrystruman\"><span class=\"s6\">Harry Truman\u2019s<\/span><\/a> desk which said: \u2018The Buck Stops Here\u2019.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\">In terms of what that could equate to, it is roughly equivalent to the price of a small car over the course of a year. So, although not crippling it is nonetheless a significant and noticeable amount of money.<\/li>\n<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s5\">In practical terms nothing much has changed but the move <\/span><span class=\"s1\">reflects Jason&#8217;s personal commitment to live demonstrated leadership in every way, whether it is through product, culture, or customer service. <\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\">But, it is a big signal to customers regarding what the company and the CEO stand for.<\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\">Basecamp has been listed as one of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/best-small-companies\/list\/#tab:overall\">Forbes Best Small Companies (Forbes Small Giants)<\/a>, a list of US companies that value greatness over growth.<\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\">Here\u2019s what it\u2019s like to work for Basecamp from Chase\u2019s perspective:\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li3\">It\u2019s Chase\u2019s dream job and is the best company he has ever worked for<\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\">It\u2019s an entirely remote company<\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\">Chase gets to work for Basecamp whilst still living on his family farm in Southern Tennessee<\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\">Remote working is built into Basecamp\u2019s culture<\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\">He works with some of the smartest people that he knows and is blown away by the level of care and attention that goes into everything that the team produces from support to design to coding.<\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\">They have approx 50 people in 30 different cities around the world.<\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\">The firm originated in Chicago, there are about 10 people that live in Chicago and they do have an office there. However, for the most part, the office is generally quite empty apart from when it is time for all company retreats and things like that.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\">The support team is spread across a series of time zones which allows them to offer close to 24\/7 support.<\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\">When it comes to monitoring, sharing and acting on customer feedback they run their own Voice of the Customer effort right inside Basecamp, where they have a project area that is dedicated to capturing any ideas and suggestions (social, email, voice) that come from customers. Whenever a suggestion is made they create a text document in the project area that captures what the suggestion was, what situation the customer was in at the time, what problem they ran into, what they were trying to get Basecamp to do, what their idea was and how it might work.<\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\">They then develop and monitor these ideas, pass them onto the design team with respect to how they might work and then onto the development team to bring them to life so they can test them.<\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\">Their process is all about getting feedback out of the support team\u2019s inbox and into Basecamp so that the design and development teams can see it and help take action on it.<\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\">In this multichannel\/omnichannel world, Basecamp only offer support over a couple of channels (primarily email) and that is a conscious choice for two reasons:\n<ol>\n<li class=\"li3\">To offer 24\/7 support across numerous channels would require a much bigger team and they have made a conscious choice to remain small. They currently have 14 people in their support team, and<\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\">They have chosen to focus on being great in a couple of channels only rather than being average in many.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\">That\u2019s not to say that they are not flexible and will pick up the phone and talk to a customer if that is what they want. But, offering phone service and the prospect of having to have the customer wait in a queue with cheesy music is not something they are choose to do.<\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\">For 99% of the time, email support is fine for their customers.<\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\">When I was interviewing Chase the <a href=\"https:\/\/basecamp.com\/support\">expected response time on their support page <\/a>was 6 mins (at the time of writing these notes it was 13mins). It\u2019s a dynamic average based on what is going on within support and what they are dealing with. However, the most important thing is that it sets and manages expectations.<\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\">They aim for response times within 30mins &#8211; it\u2019s measure not a target.<\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\">Last year they started to aim for faster response times of 3-4mins but that started to change things \u2026.not for the customer but for the team and it started to have a negative impact on the team&#8217;s own experience.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright \" src=\"https:\/\/cdn-images-1.medium.com\/max\/1600\/0*K045leEs9g2uqdS6.JPG\" alt=\"YesAQs\" width=\"350\" height=\"645\" \/><\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\">This is fun and makes so much sense &#8211; Check out <a href=\"https:\/\/basecamp.com\/yes\">Basecamp\u2019s move to YesAQs<\/a> that was <a href=\"https:\/\/m.signalvnoise.com\/how-a-rest-stop-on-the-side-of-the-road-inspired-a-web-page-design-c2a65bf2e88a\">inspired by a sign in a roadside rest stop<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\">Chase and his team are focusing on two big areas right now:\n<ol class=\"ul2\">\n<li class=\"li3\">Getting better at gathering VoC data, using a Jobs To Be Done methodology, so that they can do a better job of integrating that into their ongoing development, and<\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\">Introducing Livechat as a support channel. However, they are figuring out how they can do it so that it is right for their customers and their team, especially given their decision to remain small.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"li3\">A Wow experience for Chase is all about getting a human reply but getting it at the right time.<\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s3\">Check out<\/span><span class=\"s1\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/basecamp.com\/\">Basecamp.com<\/a> . Chase says <\/span><span class=\"s7\">your work will get better when you use it and <\/span><span class=\"s1\">he would recommend it even if he didn\u2019t work for the company.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>About Chase<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p7\"><span class=\"s1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-9190 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.adrianswinscoe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Chase-Clemons-150x150.jpeg\" alt=\"Chase Clemons\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.adrianswinscoe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Chase-Clemons-150x150.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/www.adrianswinscoe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Chase-Clemons.jpeg 400w, https:\/\/www.adrianswinscoe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Chase-Clemons-50x50.jpeg 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width:767px) 150px, 150px\" \/>Chase Clemons is a customer support team lead at <a href=\"https:\/\/basecamp.com\/\">Basecamp<\/a>, where he has worked for over 6 years now.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p7\"><span class=\"s6\">He also hosts the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.supportops.co\/\"><span class=\"s8\">Support Ops Hangout<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">Find Chase on LinkedIn <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/chase-clemons-aa9333135\/\">here,<\/a> check out his articles on Medium <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@chaseclemons\">here<\/a> and say Hi to him and the folks at Basecamp on Twitter <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chaseclemons\"><span class=\"s9\">@chaseclemons<\/span><\/a><\/span><span class=\"s6\"> and <\/span><a class=\"ProfileHeaderCard-screennameLink u-linkComplex js-nav\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/basecamp\"><span class=\"username u-dir\" dir=\"ltr\">@basecamp<\/span><\/a><span class=\"s6\">.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/21450297@N06\/30031431414\/\">chrisinplymouth<\/a> Flickr via <a href=\"http:\/\/compfight.com\">Compfight<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/2.0\/\">cc<\/a><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today\u2019s interview is with Chase Clemons, a customer support team lead at Basecamp, a provider of project management and team communication software. We talk about Basecamp\u2019s<span class=\"excerpt-hellip\"> [\u2026]<\/span><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,27,142,14,41,297,9],"tags":[2674,2673,175,2589,1886,2217,2597],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianswinscoe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9188"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianswinscoe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianswinscoe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianswinscoe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianswinscoe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianswinscoe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianswinscoe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianswinscoe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianswinscoe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianswinscoe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}