Thoughts on support, gamification, and building software that doesn't suck.
Your 'Last Reviewed' timestamp is a lie. Your audit process is compliance theater. And someone once flushed a hamster because of a bad knowledge base article. We should talk about this.
We shipped WCAG 2.1 AA compliance across the entire cStar platform. Not because a lawyer told us to. Because if the adventure isn't for everyone, it isn't really an adventure.
A 3-minute brain puzzle before your first ticket isn't procrastination. It's a cognitive boot sequence. We built five puzzle types into cStar because science says warming up your brain works, and because we love puzzles, and because why not both.
We built a radio station into customer support software. Four channels, zero tab-switching, one pirate DJ named Zero. Because the right soundtrack turns a ticket queue into a speedrun.
Intercom reimagined how companies talk to customers. cStar reimagined how the people behind those conversations feel about their work. Two philosophies, one honest comparison.
I've used or evaluated most of these tools firsthand. Here's what I actually think about each one -- not a spreadsheet, but opinions earned in the trenches.
After a decade of answering tickets and evaluating every helpdesk I could get my hands on, here's what actually matters when your team is small and your budget isn't infinite.
Zendesk was built for the enterprise buyer with a procurement department. cStar was built by a support agent who got tired of tools that treated him like a cog. Here's the honest breakdown.
Both start at $15/agent. One of them means it. An investigation into what happens after you click 'Get Started' on two very different helpdesk platforms.