TextExpander Story: MJ Brodie from iwantmyname

We caught up with MJ to hear how TextExpander helps support customers at iwantmyname . You can spot MJ above – look for the pink hair! – along with the rest of the iwantmyname team at their annual summit.

Hey MJ! Please introduce yourself and tell us about your job.

Hello! I’m MJ, I work as a Customer Supporter for a domain registrar called iwantmyname. I’m based in New Zealand but we have staff and clients all over the world. We run a 24/7 support team and there’s currently only four of us, so we’re a small team.

And what do you do for fun?

I’m a pin-up! I’m currently wearing a petticoat and heels, so that’s fun. I’m easy to spot in a crowd. I grew up on an airfield, so I fly – and I just bought an electric cello.

Wow, that’s quite a list. If you can remember, think back to your work B.T.E. – Before TextExpander. What were those dark times like?

I was introduced to TextExpander as soon as I joined. The support team said, “Download TextExpander, it’ll save your life”.

That’s quite a statement! So, has TextExpander saved your life? Tell us about your workflow.

We have a help desk with canned responses but there are a lot of things that require more detail or personalization, such as details on why billing may have failed. Canned responses are fine, but they don’t have flexibility or sound very personal.

We’re a small company and don’t want to sound like robots. We pride ourselves on being human-friendly. We want our customers to know they’re talking to a real person and TextExpander allows us to be human and efficient.

What snippets do you use that are specific to your job?

I have a whole heap of snippets for different support scenarios. For example, I have one for ‘missing details’. We have people move domains over to us but sometimes their contact details don’t come through. I’ll fix things from our end then send an email explaining what I’ve done.

I also have snippets for anything I run through API. With the backend stuff, I can either click a whole bunch of commands or just run a short bit of code. I choose to run short bits of code, which is particularly good when I’m trying to update a lot of stuff at once. I keep those short bits of code in TextExpander, so I can expand them easily.

We had some issues recently with .eu domains, so there’s been a massive flurry of email inquiries about that. TextExpander helps us answer those emails quickly.

I also have a snippet for when someone isn’t able to log in. Quite often we run into problems when people forget the email they registered with, so I expand the snippet below. We also have a quick code which attaches a PDF automatically which is handy.

Quite often people will email to say their payment has been declined, but we have this cool snippet that runs them through all the possible reasons, to see if anything jumps out at them.

What advice do you have for other domain support staff?

I built [my TextExpander snippets] from the ground up and I think that’s the best way to go. I just turned anything I typed frequently into a snippet. It means everything is human and it’s all in my voice. Also, I love fill-ins! They’re great for URLs. If a customer is trying to edit something but needs help, I’ll link to the exact support page they need. They’re also handy for dates as customers often email asking when their domain expired.

I’m really proud of my Websites 101 snippet. People don’t always understand their website is different from their domain. It’s not intuitive so we like to explain that where we can. We want to educate the people!

That’s great! And it sounds like you have a healthy stack of support snippets. What’s your most-used snippet?

Oh, that’s easy. The snippet I use at the end of every support email.

Looks good! Can you share some of your TextExpander stats?

I’m coming to one year in support and I’ve saved 39 hours – basically a work week!

Thanks for taking the time to speak to us, MJ. Where can we find you?

No problem! You can find me on Twitter @MJBrodieNZ and mjbrodie.com.