Finding a path to success and scale is hard for entrepreneurs. For tech startups that have to create a solution, achieve product-market fit, and find early adopters at the same time, there are very few variables that are truly controllable.
Referral program software startup GrowSurf found that one variable they could control was the customer support experience — a discovery that has paid dividends for their growth.
GrowSurf was founded in late 2017 when Kevin Yun and Derek Melvin were working to find a solution for referral software to generate email signup forms that integrated unique links. They decided to build it themselves, and the idea took off, ultimately taking the form of an out-of-the-box referral software called GrowSurf.
GrowSurf has allowed B2B and B2C tech companies to easily scale their referral programs (at 300-1000% ROI), offering all kinds of incentives for customers to spread the word about products they love.
“Customers are the lifeblood of our business, so going above and beyond for them is something we strive to do for every interaction.” – Kevin Yun, GrowSurf
Crafting tailored support experiences at scale
When GrowSurf was growing fast and fielding more customer conversations, they never lost sight of the importance of excellent support experiences. However, their old solution wasn’t getting the job done.
“We were using a tool that felt a bit clunky, and we were gluing solutions together,” said Yun. “The platform we used supported live chat and knowledge base tools but, internally, wasn’t the best fit for our needs.”
That’s when they encountered Help Scout. Their key needs were getting a bird’s-eye view of their customer conversations and creating seamless, personalized support experiences, which they found in Help Scout’s reporting, marketing tech stack integrations, and customizable Beacon features.
Yun found that Help Scout allowed for the creation of tailored support experiences within the GrowSurf web app itself, leading to optimized support experiences.
“[Help Scout] is heavily integrated with our web application,” Yun says. “Our pricing allows for users with different subscriptions to receive different levels of support. Help Scout’s JavaScript SDK had good documentation and was exactly what we needed on this front.”
GrowSurf also joined Help Scout due to straightforward, per-user pricing and the startup program — $50/month for 10 users for their first year.
“Help Scout was the modern customer service software solution that was exactly what we were looking for. From the feature set to the pricing model, Help Scout has been great for us.”
Support as culture, support as growth
GrowSurf manages their customer service as a team using Help Scout’s Slack integration to quickly respond to conversations and escalate more pressing concerns to the proper team.
“We’ve invested a lot of time and resources into creating a support framework that allows our customers to get highly responsive, tailored assistance, and as a result, our customers are happier than ever,” Yun says.
For GrowSurf, attention to detail and customization of their support experience resulted in a significant portion of their business attributed to word-of-mouth from these positive support experiences (4.9/5.0 Support Score on Capterra).
GrowSurf’s favorite features
- Beacon: The ability to switch between live chat and email.
- Messages: Triggering messages based on user events for offers and service outreach.
- HubSpot integration: Seamless customer profiling across marketing platforms.
- Happiness and Productivity reports: High level view of quality and quantity of support.
