Practical guides for modern support
Honest writing on reducing ticket volume, building a knowledge base, SLA design, support automation, and the messy realities of running a support team that customers actually trust.
Customer Effort Score: The Support Metric That Predicts Loyalty
CSAT tells you if a customer was happy; CES tells you how hard they had to work to get there — and that often predicts loyalty better. How to measure Customer Effort Score, ask the question right, and actually act on what it reveals.
Reducing Average Handle Time Without Wrecking Quality
Average handle time is the most abused metric in support — push it as a target and agents rush, customers suffer, and reopens climb. How to lower handle time the right way, by removing friction instead of pressuring people.
Reducing Reopened Tickets: Why Solved Tickets Come Back, and How to Stop It
A low resolution time means nothing if tickets keep reopening. The real causes of reopens — premature closes, partial fixes, unclear replies — and the close-quality discipline that makes solved tickets stay solved.
First Response Time: The Support Metric Customers Feel First
First response time shapes a customer's impression before you have solved anything. How to measure it honestly, what a good target looks like, and the concrete levers that actually move it.
Support Quality Assurance: Conversation Review and Scorecards That Improve Replies
CSAT tells you the customer was unhappy; it never tells you why. A practical QA program — what to score, how to sample, and how to coach with it — that makes replies measurably better.
Scaling a Support Team: When to Hire, and What to Build First
Hiring is the most expensive way to add support capacity, and usually the wrong first move. How to read the signals, build leverage before headcount, and hire at the right moment.