Key takeaway
A Q2 2024 billing change led Exclaimer to invoice many customers incorrectly, and first responses to support requests sometimes took days.
Every inbound email now becomes a tracked case, and every support interaction is scored against one QA standard.
Partners have a dedicated support route, and customers sign an agreement when renewal terms change.
Support still runs on two systems, and AI for voice and account services is unfinished.
If you've dealt with Exclaimer's support or billing teams in the past couple of years, there's a good chance it was a frustrating experience. I'm Lucinda Morek, Customer Support Director, and this is what we got wrong, what we changed and what we haven't finished.
In Q2 2024, Exclaimer changed its billing processes and many customers were invoiced incorrectly.
For an IT team an invoice is something you have to be able to rely on, and we broke that.
Four other problems stacked on top:
First responses to support requests sometimes took days.
Requests sent to a salesperson instead of raised as a ticket could sit in an inbox or in Salesforce with nobody tracking them.
Renewals and sales order processing were two separate teams, and issues fell into the gap between them.
For partners it was a complete black hole, with no consistent response at all.
Tech support was relatively stable and the people in it cared, but nothing held the service together, so you had to chase us to be heard. For a team running email signatures across Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, a stuck ticket can hold up a brand or compliance change. Some customers went to our senior leaders on LinkedIn, and that happened daily. I couldn't be proud of that.
Here's a run down of what you've probably experienced, and how we've improved things.
What you experienced | What Exclaimer changed |
|---|---|
Incorrect invoices and disputed renewal changes | Customers sign an agreement when renewal terms change, and more automated renewal reminders go out so you have time to dispute or adjust before you pay |
Tickets lost between inboxes, Salesforce and teams | Every inbound email becomes a case, and we set targets for response times and measure them |
Inconsistent answers | One QA framework applies to every interaction, whether phone, chat or email, in every team and not only tech support. Anyone who misses it gets coaching |
Partners ignored | A dedicated partner support chain, plus a route for partner account managers to hand over anything outside relationship building |
Technical issues that needed deeper Microsoft knowledge | The technical support team moved to Bulgaria, a region with deep Microsoft services experience |
None of this is rocket science. Anyone in my profession would have made the same changes, and they were overdue here. If you're an Exclaimer partner, the dedicated support chain in the table is the route built for you.
As Exclaimer's Customer Support Director, I moved technical support to Bulgaria because I wanted more technical skill answering your tickets, and the region has deep Microsoft services experience.
But it cost people their jobs. Some of the colleagues who made room for the new team had been with us five to eight years. We kept them on for a period and incentivized them to stay, and they stayed professional through the handover. I'm grateful for them.
It also saved less than I expected. Salaries in the market rose after we moved in, and I chose to invest in stronger people rather than chase the saving. I pushed the team hard and fast, and it put everyone through a lot of strain. I'm glad I did, because we're through it now and it has worked. I was ready for it to tank, and had built in space for that. It didn't.
The proof is in the pudding. Here's how our numbers have changed since we made a targeted effort to make improvements.
Measure | Before | Now |
|---|---|---|
Customer satisfaction (CSAT) | 70 to 75% | 85 to 95% |
Partner NPS | around minus 30 | plus 25 |
Escalations to senior leaders | Daily | about one a month |
Source: Exclaimer customer survey data, period: 2026.
We go back to every customer who leaves a poor CSAT or NPS score and find out what happened.
But the change I'm most proud of doesn't fit in a table. Teams that used to work in silos now give each other shout-outs, because happy people give a happy service.
Exclaimer's support still runs on two systems, with tech support in Zendesk and account services in Salesforce, and that causes problems I want gone.
Over the next year we're moving to one system with first, second and third line tiers, so anyone can help and specialists take what needs them. Those specialists will also feed what they learn from your tickets to the product team, so bugs get prioritized by how many people they affect. Specialists matter most for complex setups: on-premises plus cloud, Google Workspace plus Microsoft 365, several countries and tenants.
AI-first support isn't finished either. We started that work in January 2026. The autoresponder now resolves about 20% of tickets, but AI doesn't yet work across account services or voice. It's taking longer than I wanted. You shouldn't need to contact us. If you do, I want it to be surprisingly good.
Tell us through whichever channel you normally use: your support case or, if you're a partner, your account manager.
Detailed feedback is how we keep improving, and I'd rather read a complaint than lose a customer in silence. You can see what customers say about working with us in our customer stories.
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