I'm grateful that microCMS often receives praise for its excellent support.

While our primary focus is on enhancing the value of the product itself, it's true that we also put significant effort into support, being a rare domestic headless CMS.

I’d like to share what microCMS practices for a 'user-first' approach.

Creating Touchpoints with Users

"Do things that don't scale"

This is a famous quote from Paul Graham, the founder of Y Combinator.

A startup's product should not scale from the initial stages. Until Product-Market Fit (PMF) is achieved, the number of users is a relatively meaningless metric.

Without worrying about marketing, I believe it’s crucial in the early stages of launch to create touchpoints with users and receive feedback.

In the beginning, we deliberately didn’t provide a Q&A section (encouraging users to use chat support instead) to facilitate direct interaction with users. We always tried to connect these chats to meetings to have direct conversations whenever possible.

By interacting directly, we can learn more deeply about our users. This approach hasn’t changed even after more than a year since launch.

Feedback → Improvement → Communication

Probably every company values feedback from users. It's common to consider feedback for development and improve products accordingly.

At microCMS, we have systematized the process of following up after these improvements.

Handling Inquiries

Firstly, we use HubSpot as our CRM tool. HubSpot also includes a chat tool, so we primarily use this for receiving inquiries. We respond to inquiries immediately.

I believe it’s essential for founders themselves to handle inquiries, especially in the early stages, to hear the users’ voices directly. We manage the following details on Trello based on the feedback received:

• Content of the feedback
• Improvement suggestions
• Who made the inquiry (URL of the chat)

After logging this information in Trello, we prioritize and proceed with development. Our development roadmap is managed and published on microCMS.

"We are looking forward to the release of the XX feature." "Can you tell us more about what the YY feature entails?"

We often create touchpoints with users based on the development roadmap.

Ego-Searching

I frequently ego-search tweets related to microCMS on Twitter. It’s more out of curiosity than anything intentional.

Finding positive tweets makes me happy, and for negative tweets, I try to reply, understand the reasons, and address the negative aspects as much as possible.

I often come across tweets like, “It would be great if microCMS had XX feature,” and I note these on Trello as well. Inquiries and business discussions often follow from connections made on Twitter.

Lately, I’ve noticed an increase in service providers retweeting or liking tweets about their services after someone uses them. Personally, I appreciate and feel positive about those who ego-search, as it shows their love and passion for the service.

Communication After Improvement

Once the development is complete and the feature is released, we make sure to contact each person who inquired individually.

In fact, sometimes more than six months have passed since we received the inquiry, but we still reach out.

(This often results in considerable surprise and delight.)

Additionally, we regularly publish and tweet about each update in a blog post. This approach makes it easier for our updates to be shared on social media.

We did try broadcasting on Facebook for a while, but as it didn’t quite match our target audience, we now limit our efforts to Twitter only.

In Conclusion

Thanks to our dedicated fans, microCMS has come a long way since its initial launch. While we plan to focus more on marketing in the future, we do not want to overlook the importance of our connection with users and will continue to cherish this relationship.

I have seen many instances where companies prioritize revenue and lose their user-first approach, so I am determined not to let that happen.

I admire Mr. Miyata from SmartHR, who, despite the considerable size of his company, still personally replies on Twitter. I aspire to be like that.