When I started at Rustici Software in 2008, I was tasked to “keep our customers enthusiastically happy” with our products and the service they receive from us. We had a little over 100 customers at the time, which was a lot to manage for one person. We were still able to maintain a kind and empathetic atmosphere where each customer felt like their interactions with us were authentic, individualized and memorable.
As our customer and product bases grew, so did the work and the need to expand the team. But would we be able to attract people who have our same values? Who treats others as they want to be treated and not only be a support person that solves problems, but help empower the client to be able to solve issues in the future? We were so lucky to find and grow a team of people who share our enthusiasm to answer and teach both our customers and anyone who reaches out to support.
Creating delight and being recognized by the Stevie® Awards
We have always said that our goal isn’t just to solve support tickets, it’s to create delight. Today, we are incredibly proud to announce that the rest of the world has caught on to what our customers already know. Hint, hint: we have some of the best customer support around. Rustici Software has officially won a Silver Stevie® Award for customer service department of the year.
For my team, this is a super gratifying acknowledgement. We know that measuring self-worth through “delight” can be difficult to quantify, but this award is a great recognition of the things we do every day. As the judges noted in their commentary, our commitment to an “empathetic culture and open metrics” has led to “long-term service of excellence.” This honor, part of the 20th annual Stevie® Awards for Sales and Customer Service, recognizes the achievements of contact centers, customer service, business development and sales professionals worldwide. Winning in the “Computer Software – Up to 100 Employees” category is a massive milestone for us, especially as it marks our first time applying for a Stevie® award.
The “how” behind the delight: Empathy by design
A common question during the application process was: How exactly did the department achieve success? For us, it starts long before a ticket is opened. We believe a great service culture begins by hiring people who are empathetic in nature. By building a people-centered experience driven by compassion and strong teamwork, we ensure that every interaction is handled with genuine care.
Our “how” is rooted in a few core pillars:
- Empathetic expertise: We treat people like people, matching the pace and technical style of our customers, whether they are senior developers or L&D newcomers.
- Ongoing education: We don’t just fix problems, we teach. Through our knowledge base articles, on-demand videos, monthly webinars, 1:1 training sessions and our annual user conference, we provide the context customers need to succeed.
- Proactive transparency: We hold ourselves accountable through public metrics, ensuring our team remains driven and focused on the learner experience.
Confident in the numbers, transparent in the results
The judges highlighted our Delight-O-Meter as a “clever and remarkable example” of accountability. This tool tracks our 100 most recent interactions in real-time, right on our website. It represents our confidence that we can maintain a high bar, even as ticket volumes increase. The statistics from our 2023–2025 period tell a story of consistent care:
- 99.5% overall satisfaction rating across more than 14,000 tickets.
- 97% or better rating maintained consistently, significantly outperforming the Zendesk technology industry benchmark of 92%.
This is one of the only times we want to see more Joe faces than Ryan faces!
A trusted culture of service
We have long believed that happy employees lead to happy customers. Being voted a Best Place to Work for 16 years isn’t just a trophy on our shelf, it is what powers our support. This award serves as a powerful validation of our culture. While it can be hard to measure the impact of being “helpful” on a balance sheet, this is a wonderful acknowledgment of the way we choose to do business.
We are honored by this recognition, but we aren’t stopping at silver. Our team and myself are more driven than ever to keep providing the knowledgeable, friendly and technically savvy support you have come to expect from us. To our customers, thank you for trusting us with your eLearning challenges and for the testimonials that strengthened our case. We cannot wait for the next opportunity to keep delighting you!
