It’s done! UserConf, our first-ever conference about keeping your customers (happy) has just concluded. By the end of the conference attendees left energized and empowered to change customer service for the better. Mission accomplished. While we may not be able to relay all the positive vibes, laughs, idea-sharing and connections that took place inside the Fort Mason center last Friday, we can provide you with a sense of the heart of the event!

Our amazing speakers covered everything from marriage advice (props to Jessica Semaan for an amazing analogy) to scaling customer service to the absolute do-not’s and the best strategies. We’ll be releasing videos of each talk in the coming months, but today we’ll share three ideas that encompass the overall theme of UserConf. Here they are from the attendees themselves:

1) Customer service isn’t just an add-on, but an integral part of the product and its development

What should be clear to peeps at #userconf: Customer Care & Service are not add-ons. Customers have to be at the center of the organization.

— Brian Juanhijo (@Juanhijo) October 12, 2012

How do we make better products? Weaving in great, scalable customer service with insights gained from understanding users. #UserConf

— LaunchRock (@launchrock) October 12, 2012

“Be a good person. Be a decent human.” Crazy how we need these reminders but yes, that's the idea. #userconf

— Syd Fleischer (@SydFleischer) October 12, 2012

2) Customers are humans, not disposable income

Can't jam customers through the funnel & not care what happens to them on the other end in a subscription based model. R. White #userconf

— BritneyMSummerville (@BMSummerville) October 12, 2012

#userconf tag line: There's a human on the other end.

— Liz Morgan (@letwittimate) October 12, 2012

Love that the idea of treating humans like humans keeps getting repeated by the speakers. #userconf

— Chase Clemons (@chaseclemons) October 12, 2012

And finally, 3) Providing amazing customer service to every customer matters a whole bunch

The future is you[r users]! #userconf

— Liz Morgan (@letwittimate) October 12, 2012

Every customer engagement is an opportunity #userconf

— Erica Dean (@ericaannedean) October 12, 2012

No 1 reason for customer attrition is poor customer service, no 2 is product quality#userconf

— Amy Lindahl (@awebmistress) October 12, 2012

While there were a lot of practical lessons shared (which you’ll see in the videos), it was these three concepts that built some of the core UserConf themes and provided a foundation for lots of gnarly discussion. If people walked away with an understanding of those three concepts, we think we’ve done our job. Huge thanks to everyone who came, our speakers, and our sponsors. We also just uploaded all the photos to Facebook and think that you’ll get a kick out of them. 🙂

If you missed out this year, it’s totally cool – we’ve already decided that we’ll be doing it again next year! It’s up to you to tell us where you want it! Let us know here. And if you’re still wondering what UserConf is all about, it’s kind of like this:

At #userconf! It's like your tech conference, but with more feelings.

— Joans (@joanofdark) October 12, 2012

---