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Smiley Wait Time

July 25, 2012 By Chase Clemons 2 Comments

Smiley Wait Time

We do a lot of tracking with support at 37signals and one of the numbers we look at is wait time.  If a customer puts in a ticket right now, what’s the average wait time look like?

It’s not a particularly new idea.  You see estimated wait times for amusement park rides, heavy highways, and even emergency rooms now.  In the support field, it’s not something most people offer up though, probably because the wait time is atrocious.

We put the average wait time right on the Smiley page so you know exactly what to expect.  You can see what our average score is like and how long the wait is.  If you’re a customer, these two simple pieces of data go a long way in helping relieve that anxiety feeling people get when contacting support.

How good is the team? Well, the last 92 people out of the last 100 that we talked to said great.

How long will I have to wait?  Only about 9 minutes right now.

It’s a short and simple addition to the support page that goes a long way with customers.

What’s the average wait time been for your support team?

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Comments

  1. Andy Traub says

    July 25, 2012 at 1:09 pm

    Gotta be honest here bro…I waited almost 2 hours for my answer yesterday BUT the reply was so thorough, friendly and human that I gave a big green smiley face. One unique factor is that I know how famous 37 is for getting green smileys and I didn’t want to be a jerk so I could have given a yellow smiley but I gave a green. Call it positive peer pressure with a mix of crowd sourced consistency. Keep up the great work.

    Reply
    • Chase says

      July 25, 2012 at 2:38 pm

      Yeah, that’s the average minutes to reply now across lots of different support requests. So while most are right on that number, some can be off of it. We’ll be dialing that number in more to make it as realistic and up-to-date as possible.

      And with the smiley, feel free to be honest! That’s only how me and other support teams get better. 🙂

      Reply

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