When and how should startups invest in customer support?

It turns out that earlier might be better, according to our data.

If you’re a startup and you haven’t thought about customer support, you’re not alone. In a recent survey of startup founders and decision makers, less than a third had a formal strategy in place. And it makes sense. No matter what stage you’re in, every decision to focus resources somewhere means that there are fewer available for everything else.

Better service, faster growth When you’re just starting out, it’s natural to be laser-focused on your product or service, but research shows that the sooner you start thinking about your customers, the better off you’ll be. We looked at more than 4,400 startups participating in the Zendesk Benchmark and found a clear link between better customer experiences (CX) and faster growth. And, while good service alone cannot guarantee success, continuous engagement with your customers results in a product that truly fits their needs. What’s more, good customer service can earn you loyal customers for years to come.

Whether you’ve signed your first customer, your hundredth, or your ten-thousandth, this first ever Startups CX Benchmark Report will help you see how your current performance stacks up or consider your options for providing customer support.

This report is ideal for:

First time founders

this serves as a reference point to aim for as you determine when and how to build out your customer support function, and ultimately help you build better products and services with your customer in mind

Customer support leaders

This will help you assess how you’re doing compared to other startups and improve your performance.

For this report, we examined how 4,414 startups in our Benchmark data index approach customer support to create guidelines around timing, tool adoption, and success. We also surveyed 625 startup founders and decision-makers from the US and Europe to better understand the drivers behind when and how they choose support platforms.

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