Mandatory Customer Service Rotation

A breakdown of Betterment's approach to maintaining customer connection as they scaled from startup to 250+ employees, focusing on keeping customer needs at the forefront of their business.

Core Customer Connection Initiatives

• Customer Week Program

  • Every employee participates in phone support with customers
  • Mandatory rotation regardless of role or position
  • Helps maintain company-wide customer understanding

• Hometown Customer Meetings

  • Sends emails to customers in employees' hometowns
  • Product and marketing teams conduct in-person meetings
  • Gather direct feedback and build personal connections

Evolution of Customer Service Approach

• Early Days (4-10 people)

  • Shared phone tree system between all employees
  • Everyone handled customer calls directly
  • Natural customer feedback loop due to small office environment
  • Immediate awareness of customer issues due to proximity

• Current Structure (250+ people)

  • Dedicated customer experience team
  • More formalized customer research programs
  • Increased focus on surveys and panels
  • Additional effort required to maintain customer connection

Maintaining Customer Connection at Scale

• CEO's Personal Involvement

  • Regular sits with customer experience team
  • Participates in customer week
  • Conducts personal customer meetings

• Research Initiatives

  • Increased customer surveys
  • More customer panels
  • Enhanced outreach programs
  • Focus on documenting and acting on customer insights

Key Learnings

• Customer connection becomes harder as company grows
• Must actively work to prevent distance from customers
• Direct customer interaction provides better instincts
• Important to catalog and act on customer insights
• Never settle with current level of customer understanding