Lots of you know Meike from contacting her via support emails. Upon saying goodbye to her, we would like to ask her some questions about how Tutanota evolved and how we could continue to improve our customer support.
Meike, you started at Tutanota back in November 2015. How has Tutanota changed in these years from your point of view?
An incredible amount has changed. Our team is richer by many great, new people - today we would have to rent the whole restaurant, where we used to go for Christmas parties in a small corner in the beginning. We have learned a lot with and from each other, improved processes. Apart from the fact that the application was completely rebuilt in 2017 and 2018, Tutanota has gained so many features. At one point or another, I also contributed to the changes, for instance I learned a lot of new things when redesigning the gateway to the outside world, our website. When it was live, a lot also changed on the support side itself. Today we have a much better and much more extensive FAQ and our community also takes away a lot of pressure from the support by helping each other.
You have mainly worked in support with us. Is there an anecdote? Is there one user in particular you remember?
I remember many users without whom Tutanota would not be what it is today. Many of them regularly provided us with warm words, which I often passed on to the team. Their feedback often made me really realize what Tutanota means to people who rely on a higher level of security and privacy. What has also been revealed through the interaction with our end users is the diversity of reasons why people value their privacy. Every single piece of feedback has motivated us to keep working on Tutanota.
But there was one user in particular who stood out. I remembered him from previous conversations, and then when the fan store launched, he sent us photos of himself in his Tutanota shirts, with the logo mugs at the dinner table. That made the bond between individual users and the company so tangible that I still have to smile when I think about it.
What would you recommend to new users if they have questions?
Often it was a pity that the sender had to wait several hours for an answer even though the answers to the questions were rather obvious. As I mentioned in the introduction, the website was completely redesigned some time ago. In the process, we placed a great deal of emphasis on support processes. An untold number of questions are in the FAQ, and every functionality of Tutanota is explained in the How-to. Searching this content beforehand and then asking specific questions, should something still be unclear, helps both sides: We can improve our help articles, and the user gets more effective support.
Based on your experience, what do you think the support could do better in the future?
The whole team has always placed great value on the feedback of users. I think we’ve done a great job in listening to our users’ wishes. It is a huge step that Brandon can now dedicate all his time to support. I think he can use that time in a valuable way by trying to learn from our users. We get a lot of valuable feedback that can be very useful for Tutanota as a product, but also as a company.
What are you looking forward to in your new job? What will you miss about us?
I’m looking forward to many new challenges in a completely different environment and to bringing privacy and security awareness further into the world. Of course, I will miss the team and our ice cream breaks, but especially the users with whom I had the chance to talk to every day. Thank you for the great time!
Thank you, Meike!