37signals support satisfaction ratings now public

[fredoliveira]

I have to give it to these guys (I work on a competitor product). Even though this is a simple idea and possibly something of trivial implementation, it's clear, honest, and just plain nice. My hat is off to them for keeping their customers happy - very well done.

[trustfundbaby]

What product do you work on?

[sudonim]

The subtle dig at getsatisfaction was interesting. (For history: http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1650-get-satisfaction-or-else ).

This is a good show of selective transparency. The last 100 should serve to make potential customers feel warm and fuzzy without actually showing anything to potentially discourage them (other than if the last 100 were :( complaints)).

[jasonfried]

For the record, it's not a subtle dig at getsatisfaction. "Customer satisfaction" has been a term used by the companies for decades. We don't think satisfaction is a very high bar. We're fighting against low expectations.

[tptacek]

I don't understand this observation. The alternative would be to show, what, a paginated array of every face? Who would benefit from that, besides people who want to snipe at them anonymously on message boards?

Incidentally, in real companies, all transparency is selective. They've selected not to be transparent about any number of things, from their monthly top-line revenue to their feature roadmap.

[proexploit]

I think GetSatisfaction did a great job responding to this post at the time and it's important to give them some credit for a good response to criticism.

[allwein]

I wish that I could click on the individual smiley faces and find out the facts of the statuses. For some reason it's driving me nuts that I don't know why the frowny faces are unhappy.

[jasonfried]

We have access to that, but we can't share it since the comments often include confidential information.

The biggest source of unhappiness is when we can't deliver a feature request immediately.

[sammcd]

From what i can tell it looks like the satisfaction rate has declined since this went live. I wonder if the fact that this is public info has changed the responses some how.

[xbryanx]

Gah! Their support email example uses two! exclamation marks! I'd! be torn as to whether to give them a grimace or a frown on that point alone!!

[marcamillion]

Hrmm...not to be disgusting, but you would take a live example of a company doing right by their customers to rain on their parade because they used two exclamation marks instead of one?

sigh Sometimes people can make mountains out of molehills.

[j_baker]

Bear in mind that I say this as one of the biggest grammar nazis I know: Who the fuck cares?

[cfontes]

This is a company I would definitely would like to work. Always innovating and with some very nice products.

[joelrunyon]

How long till people start gaming this & submitting bad customer support tickets, just to spite them?

[brianpan]

I don't see the point of getting a frowny face on a website for fun. But the point is, if you're not happy then putting a frown is exactly what you should do to let them know you weren't happy. Out of spite or whatever other reason, the point of customer support is trying to make those people happy customers.