Mark, Skype isn’t Free for Me

Canadian blogger Mark Evans discusses customer service when a service is free. Let's clear this up quick; Skype is free for some but not all. I just renewed my SkypeIn for $18 (did this go up in price??) and voicemail at $6. I also paid for unlimited SkypeOut ($25?) and in my book, that's enough to expect better communication than I received last week. It doesn't mean the service can't experience an outage, but it means I better know what is going on. Skype used their Heartbeat blog to let us know what was going on and that's great but why did I receive not one email? They have my email, they have every bit of info on me since I pay for their service.

Andy Beal agrees and notes:

Well, I pay for a Skype In number and Skype Out credits. I use Skype as my main office phone - so, yes, I expect more from them. ;-) What sucks is that I didn’t get a single update from Skype. I had to rely on reports from the web.

Mark does raise an interesting point about Freemium services, those that offer a free plan and a premium option. What should the support level be for each? Should it be the same or different? My belief is that a company like Skype needs to offer staggered levels of support based on the plan(s) a customer subscribes to. Customer service has been a very important part of my package since I worked at the grocery store at 14.

Last November I wrote a post titled, "Customer Service: Free vs. Paid Services" in which I describe the minimums that a free service needs to offer for support. They are:

Must have:

• Community Help Forums - I like Drupal as the example here, a completely free app with no advertising and their support forum is awesome - 85% of the time, someone has helped me (or I have helped) within 12 hours. This can also help you gain valuable knowledge into how your users view your application.
• FAQ - This is a must have. As inquiries come in, either through email, forums, etc. Get it up, make sure it is updated frequently. A good job for an intern.
• Wiki - This is similar to the FAQ but allows for open editing by service users.

Good to have:

• Email support - offer a way for users to email you for help. Make sure you tell them when to expect a response (24/48/72 hours, etc.)
• Phone support - most probably can't afford this, but with new services out there, you could have customers leave voicemail messages with questions or comments, and then get back to them. I would consider this to be the best possible level of support.

So I ask, what level of support do you expect from a service that you use for free or generating revenue from your usage of their product?