Marketplace Developers handle support for all the products they sell through WooCommerce.com.
Support expectations
↑ Back to topMarketplace Developers will handle all email support for the products they sell on WooCommerce.com, in line with the Support Policy published on WooCommerce.com. Marketplace Developers do not have access to live chat support at this time.
The WooCommerce team is here to provide help and guidance in getting started and effectively managing your support load. The WooCommerce team also handles account issues, refunds, coupons for customers, escalation, and all live chat.
For best practices on how to respond to support requests, please review Support Best Practices.
Ticket routing
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Customers submit tickets for any extension sold on WooCommerce.com through WooCommerce.com > My Account > Tickets.
Customers select which extension they need help with, then enter relevant information. When the customer clicks submit, their request is routed to the Vendor for that product at the email address set in their Vendor dashboard.
The email displays the product name along with the subscription start/end dates,the system status report, and the customer’s message.
Specifying a support email address
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Specify the email address to which support tickets should be routed in your Vendor dashboard at WooCommerce.com > WP Admin > Store Settings.
Tickets submitted for your extension will be routed to the email address you set here. The WooCommerce team will also use this address to copy you on tickets.
Note that the contact email field is different. That address is used for order notifications.
Choosing a support platform
↑ Back to topTo handle email support for the WooCommerce Marketplace, we recommend using an email help desk platform. We recommend Help Scout or Zendesk.
Help Scout is an affordable, well-designed, and narrowly-focused solution. It’s ideal for a support team of up to 30 people.
Zendesk is a more robust, complex tool, that is ideal for larger teams, teams supporting multiple brands, or both. Automattic uses Zendesk to manage support.
Keep in mind: the best support platform is the one you’ll enjoy using.
Getting set up to reply to tickets
↑ Back to topWe recommend that all Marketplace Developers use a system like Help Scout or Zendesk to manage ticket replies, as they’ll meaningfully simplify your workload.
Once you’ve selected a system, we recommend a couple of best practices to optimize your setup for working with the WooCommerce Marketplace:
1) Create an autoresponder: Automatically send a reply to any tickets coming from the Marketplace so that your customers know you received their support request. We recommend that your autoresponder includes a link to your privacy policy and data usage policy. Autoresponder emails should exclude spam links, affiliate links, or links to upsell products outside the WooCommerce Marketplace.
2) Turn off the feedback request from your support platform (if applicable): Customers will automatically receive a request for feedback from the WooCommerce Marketplace, so any additional requests should be turned off.
Collaboration, refunds, coupons, and tickets sent to the wrong place
↑ Back to topIf you receive a ticket that requires information from another Marketplace Developer, simply CC the applicable parties. If you don’t already have it, contact information for other Marketplace Developers is available through the WooCommerce team.
Refunds, coupons, and escalations are handled by the WooCommerce team. If you need to forward a ticket to the WooCommerce team, please CC the private email address mentioned in the Marketplace Developer P2. This will forward the ticket into Zendesk for further collaboration.
Active subscription checks
↑ Back to topThe product name and start/end date for the subscription will be included in the initial email route to you.
If you need to check for another subscription, simply search in the WooCommerce Zendesk or ask the WooCommerce team.
Live chat
↑ Back to topMarketplace Developers are only expected to provide support via email. Any request for support for one of your products will be routed to email, not to live chat.
When submitting a support request, customers first select which extension they need help with. If they select an extension not owned by WooCommerce, they will be directed to email support.
Sometimes customers will select the wrong extension or ask about an extension not owned by WooCommerce during the course of a chat about another topic. When customers need help with an extension not owned by WooCommerce, the WooCommerce team will do our best to answer. If more troubleshooting is needed, we will create a ticket that is sent to you. In that case, subscription info (start/end date, etc.) is visible in the sidebar of the ticket in ZenDesk.
Support ratings
↑ Back to topCustomers will receive a request to rate the feedback they received 7 days after they submit a ticket. Marketplace Developers must maintain adequate support ratings to continue selling on WooCommerce.com.
Response times
↑ Back to topCustomers expect timely responses to their support requests. If they do not receive a reply in a maximum of 2 business days, they will often reach out to the WooCommerce team. The same timing also applies to internal questions on Slack from the WooCommerce.com team. If a Marketplace Developer receives several complaints from customers about the quality or speed of their support, the WooCommerce team will reach out to manage the issue and it could impact your commission payouts. Should you have time off or leave planned, you must communicate that to the WooCommerce team and plan for a way to re-route support requests in your absence.
Security and asking for login credentials
↑ Back to topIf you need to access a merchant’s store in order to successfully help them further, please follow these guidelines.
- Only resort to asking for login credentials once you’ve exhausted all other options. This includes asking for screenshots and reproducing the problem on your own test sites.
- When asking for login credentials,
- Point out that under GDPR regulation they need to include in their terms & conditions that they might give access to third-party support services.
- Always ask to have a temporary admin account set up. At the end of the support interaction, ask the merchant to remove the support account. We have a tutorial on how to do this here. (You will need to tweak the instructions as you do not have access to
woologin@woocommerce.com.) - If they share their own details before you’ve been able to give instructions, always point out that they ideally don’t do this and that you strongly advice to reset the password.
- Never ask for passwords in plain text. Use a service like Quickforget.com that has a unique link that expires in order to share passwords.
- Never perform active troubleshooting on a live site. We have tutorials here for how the merchant can use Health Check to do this troubleshooting themselves or how they can create a staging site.
What if I need help?
Our team is happy to provide guidance. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us in the Automattic Slack or via email.