Having scaled to over 400 Slack channels with customers in 2016 – even when there was no “Slack Connect” product – the founding team knew about the astounding benefits of “meeting your customers where they work.” The front-line customer-facing teams hated being in those Slack channels, as there was no tooling, no expectation setting, no analytics, and no way to scale. In short, managing customers in Slack was pure chaos, and front-line teams even requested that these channels be shut down, and that support inquiries stay confined to the legacy “
support@betterchurnme.com” methods.
Customers wanted to be on messaging platforms like Slack, and management teams saw the value in having those channels, but on-ground teams were left without any cover. One churned account, a few missed opportunities to “wow” the customer, and a tough negotiation between the customer-facing teams and the leadership team ultimately resulted in the idea of Thena.