Solving for the User: Golem Support after Mainnet

Golem completed its mainnet launch on April 10, 2018.. Our users, many of whom have been with us from the very beginning, are now using our product, and we need to provide the best support possible because we owe it to them. Our team has changed since the early days of Ethereum development, and our community focus has sharpened since delivering one of the first dApps on the Ethereum mainnet. Here is are some things we learned about user support since launching mainnet.

User Support is not defined by one-to-one interactions alone:

Supporting a growing user community is about creating a framework for user success. It is not as simple as solving support tickets and answering chat questions. Golem has expanded our design and tech support teams to improve key elements of our user’s experience.

Website UX — We recently redesigned our website. The redesign is more than a marketing tool, our team is working to create a consistent experience from onboarding to troubleshooting. If the user journey on the website is clunky and frustrating then it doesn’t matter if the graphics look cool.

App UX — Our UX lead, Jacek, is working closely with tech support reps, developers, and directly with users to improve UX within the app. Our main focus is ease of use, clarity of messaging, and access to documentation. Our user feedback is an integral part of this process, so please send feedback to our #uxbrainstorming chatroom in Rocket.

Documentation — User questions, use cases, new features, and common issues are all being documented and updated on our website regularly. We want to provide clear support content so users can install the app and troubleshoot issues on their own. This relies heavily on our design team’s ability to create an easy to navigate site where users can find the information they need. We hope to add more video content in the future as well.

Golem’s aim is to to constantly improve the structural aspects of support to make our user’s lives easier. However, we are aware that self-service content has its limits, and personal engagement is needed to fill the gaps.

Personal Engagement:

We mentioned something earlier about solving support tickets and talking to users in live chat, well we love that too. Having friendly and helpful people on the frontlines and many ways to reach them is a top priority for Golem.

Multiple Channels — Even if we map out a great user journey and outline thorough documentation, relying on self-service too much can be a problem. This is why we have several support channels. This is excellent for open-source projects. Simply being reachable sets us apart from larger companies.

Chat.golem.network — Rocket Chat, an open-source chat app, gives our users a secure place to chat with us and among themselves. Since mainnet launch, traffic on the support channel has increased, but you can still reach team members like @maaktweluit, @jet86 and @dixon.hill if you have any questions. The #testers channel is where most technical support chats occur, but we have many channels for our users to check out. Come say hi!

Contact@golem.network — Our email for technical questions, onboarding questions, and general inquiries if you prefer email to live chat.

Reddit — Reddit made Golem what it is today. We have many active mods on our reddit channel to help with any and all questions. This is a great place to get updates on our new releases, blog posts, and other news about Golem. You’ll likely find fan favorite u/mariapaulafn in the midst of spirited discussions with our community members, u/Jet86 solving tech issues, and u/FrankStoney trying his best. If you really stump us then u/badb_i comes through to save the day.

GitHub — We are open source and we will always be open source. If you want to follow our development or contribute to the project by working directly with our developers you can visit https://github.com/golemfactory/ and explore. Any opportunity to talk with the developers who helped build Ethereum is one to seize.

Telegram — While this channel is semi-official, as Rocket is our preferred one, by popular demand we decided to have a group here. On telegram you will most likely find answers to general questions (if they are not buried by token price talks by our enthusiasts). Be sure to tag @mariapaulafn with your question so she doesn’t miss it!

While all of these channels serve different specialized purposes they all provide a direct line to our team. Personal engagement with users is what helps good dApps become great dApps.

The future:

As our user base grows, and our team expands, our values will remain constant. Golem is taking big steps to improve the experience of our users and the Ethereum community at large. Expect more updates from us and never hesitate to ask questions in the meantime.