Many companies outsource customer support overseas or they use a casual workforce, who can often feel disengaged from the product or service.
Not at Basecamp. For the past 5 years, they have implemented "Everyone on Support". Everyone on Support means exactly what it the name suggests: every person in the company, whether a designer, developer or podcast producer, spends at least one day every 8 weeks responding to customer emails.
There's a lot of benefits to this, but, in my opinion, the biggest impact is that it actually helps improve their product. You get a developer to answer customer emails where they keep coming into contact with a bug or a less-than-perfect customer experience, and soon enough you'll find they go in and fix the issue themselves.
Basecamp's Everyone on Support policy highlights that customer service isn't just about putting on a friendly face; it's about seeing the product through the customer's eyes and working to make their experience delightful in every possible way.
