One of the first hires we made at Buffer was for our customer support team, and that was intentional. We’ve always wanted every person who reaches out to feel genuinely valued and heard, striving to set the bar for exceptional customer support. That commitment to excellence in customer support hasn’t changed in the nearly 15 years we’ve been in business. Over the years, we’ve built a team where everyone takes ownership of the customer experience and actively seeks new ways to deliver stand-out experiences.
Buffer’s customer support team includes 18 talented teammates from seven countries, and the average tenure for our team is nine years. Through thoughtful planning with our four-day work week, we maintain 24/7 coverage for our customers, and this balance reflects our commitment to both our team and our customers.
Read on to learn more about how we approach customer support and how we work together.
“We believe in the remarkable power of giving people more than they expect.” –Will Guidara
A key piece of Buffer’s Customer Advocacy team is our hospitality mindset. We adopted this mindset to level up the support experience and to provide clarity to our why, how, and what.
A hospitality approach in customer support means that we strive to create standout, above-and-beyond, and personal experiences in every customer conversation. While many of our support conversations stem from customer friction or frustration, we believe we can still deliver an encounter that leaves a lasting impression. Our goal is to be the company that we would want to go to for customer support if we needed something.
To keep this approach top of mind, we start by being curious and intentional in every customer conversation. This mindset also means that we look for ways to personalise and connect during each interaction.
We’re working toward having fewer conversations about user friction and bugs by prioritizing product quality even more than usual right now. Our goal is to one day have more conversations with customers who reach out because they want to connect with us, whether to learn how to get the most out of Buffer, explore social media strategies, or share their successes and challenges. We always love solving problems for our customers, but the connections are what make our work meaningful.
We draw a lot of inspiration from The Frictionless Organization, a book written by Bill Price and David Jaffe.
Our guiding principles
For each customer interaction we have with customers, we also have three guiding principles:
- Awareness (I understand and see you): Taking the time to really see the customer enables us to look between the lines for areas of frustration, opportunities to empower customers further, or doorways to build a deeper relationship.
- Clarity (I want to make sure you understand me): Our communication is our only medium to show our personality and ensure our customer is looked after. We provide the clearest path toward a resolution possible, focusing on how we can make it simple for customers to get to an answer.
- Empowerment (I can help you): We aim to be experts, not only as customer service professionals but also as experts at our product and how customers can successfully use it. We go above and beyond to find information for customers, and we’re neither afraid to ask for help nor lean on each other to provide an above-and-beyond experience.
Each company approaches customer support differently; here’s what we do at Buffer.
A team built on trust, ownership, and flexibility
What makes our culture truly special is the foundation of high trust, high ownership, and flexibility. Our team feels a high level of ownership of the customer experience at Buffer and have a deep understanding of their own impact as a support team member.
We trust our teammates to create meaningful connections with every person they interact with. Most importantly, we trust each other to follow our instincts and make decisions that put our customers first. While we have a comprehensive internal FAQ and Wiki, we encourage our team to do what’s right for the customer. This model means everyone has significant autonomy in how they manage their work and relationships with customers.
This level of ownership over the customer experience is rare and transformative. We recognize that ownership and decision-making skills come easier with experience, and that’s not something we take for granted. We work closely as a team to support each other with questions, gut checks, and “second pair of eyes.” This happens across Slack, Zoom calls, and even in notes in HelpScout. As team members build up a deeper understanding of our product, our customers, and our culture, their confidence and independence naturally grow.
When someone is newer on the team, they tend to ask for more advice, which we welcome and encourage.
Rather than having rigid processes in place, we lean heavily into trusting our team and the collaborative support approach we have in place. This foundation of trust we place in each other comes through in the service that we provide. It’s a joy to do the right thing by customers and that is something that I genuinely believe folks notice.
How we operate without complex hierarchies
Our team operates without escalation processes or complex hierarchies. We work alongside each other in the Advocacy team and with other teams to deliver the best possible experience. By increasing communication and collaboration, we believe we can improve both the support and product experience.
We aim to be exceptional
We have three pillars that are the foundation of how we work and the experience we want to deliver:
- Exceptionally Fast
- Exceptionally Personal
- Exceptionally Informed
These pillars guide our work as a team and help us with goal setting, both as a team and as individuals.
Working remotely and creating a collaborative culture
Our team spans multiple time zones, and this has created something quite special: we’ve learned that distance doesn’t have to mean disconnection. We’ve built systems for seamless collaboration that feel more like having teammates right next to you than working across continents.
An ‘open office’ approach
Slack serves as our virtual office, but it’s far more than just a messaging platform. It’s where team members pop in to say, “Has anyone else seen this come up?” or “I’m working on this tricky conversation — any thoughts?” Think of it as that open office environment where you can tap someone on the shoulder or call out a question to the room, knowing someone will be there to help.
We’re intentional about chatting transparently and openly about any conversations or support issues we’re struggling to solve. There’s something powerful about this vulnerability — when someone admits they’re stuck or unsure, it creates space for the entire team to learn together. We’ve found that the conversations we struggle with individually often become the ones that teach us the most collectively.
Open communication isn’t just how we solve problems; it’s how we all get better at what we do. Team members know they can reach out for help the moment they hit a roadblock, and there’s never any judgment — just genuine eagerness to figure it out together. Whether someone needs help understanding a technical issue or wants to brainstorm the best way to respond to a frustrated customer, team support is always there.
Collaborating closely across Buffer
Collaboration is at the heart of everything we do. Rather than working in silos, we partner closely with teams across Buffer to identify friction points, enhance the customer experience, and deliver exceptional support. This cross-functional approach fuels continuous growth, both individually and collectively, which directly translates into better experiences for the people we serve.
Our team regularly collaborates with Product, Engineering, Design, and other departments, ensuring customer insights flow naturally through every decision we make. This connection helps the entire company stay grounded in real customer needs.
How our Customer Advocates grow at Buffer
We believe that customer support is both vital to our business and a fulfilling career choice for team members who genuinely care about helping folks and love solving problems. In our Customer Advocacy team, everyone interacts with customers regardless of their level or role. We focus on creating delightful customer experiences, both by supporting the successful adoption of our product and by digging into bugs and UX issues that need attention.
As the team that connects most with our customers, we have an immense impact on our business. We’ve built our team around the idea that customer support professionals can both grow and specialize within this area. All team members need a broad foundation in our customer support fundamentals, but from there, they can choose their own growth path. Some remain generalists who excel across many areas, while others develop deep expertise in specialisations like AI, our Help Center, customer education, billing, technical troubleshooting, product development, and internal documentation.
Within our team, individual contributors (meaning teammates who aren’t managers) have a career framework to provide clarity of what growth looks like to support furthering their careers and developing their skills. It is important for us that there are growth opportunities beyond the traditional management track. The framework shouldn’t limit anyone to one path—we lean into self-led growth where each team member works with their manager to outline what personal growth looks like for them. The goal is to have clarity about where you may belong while encouraging everyone to find their own role and growth trajectory.
There’s a genuine pride that comes with being part of Buffer’s support team. Customer experience isn’t just a department; it’s a company-wide priority that everyone values.
When you know your work directly impacts people’s success and that your company truly invests in support excellence, it creates a sense of purpose that’s hard to find elsewhere.
