A new podcast for customer-centric leaders
The Supportive is a monthly show from Help Scout featuring customer experience insights, practical tips, expert advice, and a bit of fun. Subscribe to get new episodes and show notes delivered right to your inbox.
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Find us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, or paste this RSS feed into any podcast player. Wherever you listen, here’s what you can expect:
Deep dives
Customer experience topics discussed by someone who’s been both a support manager and a frontline support agent.
Metrics explained
Simple, clear explanations of the business metrics most useful to support leaders growing their impact.
Action items
Practical takeaways and strategies you can use to grow as a customer-centric leader.
Just enough humor
Focused and useful... but not deadly boring. Have a little bit of fun with your workplace learning.
Love It or List It, for Your Support Tool
Support specialist Chrissy Chavez with Mat about switching support tools: why the urge to burn it all down and start fresh is so strong, why doing an audit is vital, and how to walk customers through a big tool switch decision without scaring them off.
Adopting AI in Customer Support (and Getting Laid Off)
Pavel Malyshev spent 13 years building customer support and success teams at B2B SaaS companies, most recently as Director of Support at Productboard. Over the past year, he led his team's exploration and integration of AI — and then got laid off.
Customer Service Writing: Why Shorter Replies Take More Skill
In this episode of The Supportive Podcast, she talks with Mat talk about what conciseness means in customer support context, why it’s harder than it looks, and how to teach it to your team. Try her 10% game with your own team!
Teach Your Customers the Alison Groves Way
In this episode of The Supportive Podcast, Help Scout’s Alison Groves reveals the approach to customer education that she's developed while delivering over 700 online classes.
How Kristi Created Her Own Customer Success Job
In this first episode of season 3 Help Scout’s own Kristi Thompson shares how a few bullet points and some phone calls eventually turned into a brand new role being created for her.
Our First Customers: MacSparky
David Sparks spent 28 years as a trial lawyer before going full-time on MacSparky, and he brought the same "country doctor" philosophy with him: stay close to the customers, and never let a sharp pencil guy near the customer experience.
Our First Customers: NapLab
Derek Hales built NapLab into the internet's most rigorous mattress review site by treating transparency and objective testing as the foundation of customer trust.
Our First Customers: Young Henrys
Oscar McMahon, co-founder of Young Henrys brewery, shares how community, values, and algae combine to sustain a successful, customer-centric, independent business.
Our First Customers: YNAB
Todd Curtis, CEO of YNAB, shares how customer support became a foundation for sustainable growth, a pipeline for hiring, and a vital source of customer insights.
Our First Customers: Wistia
Wistia's Chris Savage went from wearing shorts to business casual...but that turned out not to be the secret to company culture. Chris talks through 2 decades growing a customer-centric business.
Our First Customers: ZSA
"I don't know what our resolution time is...just help people!". Erez Zukerman and ZSA are building a different kind of company, as well as building weird split keyboards.
Our First Customers: Help Scout
Travel back to 2011 with Help Scout's founders, Nick, Denny, and Jared as they discuss their early days of customer obsession and how they stay close to customers in 2025.
The Future of AI-Enhanced Support Teams
AI and the future of support teams, 3 truly terrible predictions, several action items for support leaders, and Shawna explains the Rule of 40.
Self-Service is the Future of Online Support
Self-service technology ancient and modern, a German monk, and Shawna explains Gross Margin.
Secrets of a Product Manager
Product Manager Ben Henderson chats with Mat about his role and how customer support leaders can most effectively make their case for product changes and fixes.
Greatest Mistakes in Customer Service History
A time machine tour of truly terrible moments in customer service from 1750 A.D. to 2020 A.D.
Escape the Queue
Support leader Elyse Mankin chats with Mat about book binding, yacht rock, and how new managers can make time to get off the tools and into leading their team.
2028 Support Onboarding
A 2028 corporate orientation session finds its way back to 2024, revealing the future of support.
Getting started in support
Mat and a host of support veterans share their best advice for anyone starting a new support role, considering a move into support, or just in need of a mental reset.
On the Origin of Support
Sarah Hatter, support veteran and community champion, joins Mat to talk about ye olden days of online customer support.
On Community
Sarah Hatter is back for part 2 of her discussion with Mat. In this episode they talk customer support communities, their early days, and their role in growing your career and your connections.
Inside Buzzsprout Support
Priscilla Brooke, Head of Podcaster Success at Buzzsprout, joins Mat to talk about her journey into support, Buzzsprout's approach to service, and creating meaningful customer relationships.
Meet your host:
Hello! Mathew Patterson here, former customer support manager, current Australian and customer service educator on the Help Scout team.
I spent a decade starting, building, and running a global customer support team at Campaign Monitor, where I made all the mistakes that I now try to help fellow support professionals avoid. In this podcast I want to both share my own expertise, and learn alongside you from smart people inside and outside Help Scout.
Who should listen to The Supportive?
Anyone managing a support or success team who wants to build their skills and create a customer-centric business.
Those on the frontlines of customer support looking to broaden their perspective and move into leadership roles.
People who are not in the support organization, but who value customer support and want to make their business more customer-centered.
Could this have been an email?
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