Back in 2017, I was working at Fabhotels, a hotel booking product company. It was my second job, and I was young, eager, and still learning the ropes of product design. Like many teams, we were always looking for ways to understand our users better, but at the time, we didn’t have many structured research channels in place.
That’s when we stumbled upon an unexpected goldmine of user insights—our Customer Support team.
The Challenge: Where Do We Get User Insights?
As a growing company, we wanted to refine our app and website experience, but traditional user research methods—such as usability testing or surveys—weren’t always accessible or scalable for us.
We knew our product had pain points, but we weren’t always sure where users were struggling the most. We needed real, unfiltered feedback.
The Discovery: Talking to Customer Support
One day, it struck us—our customer support team was already having conversations with our users every single day!
They were on the frontlines, answering questions, troubleshooting issues, and addressing complaints. If anyone knew where users were getting confused, it was them.
We decided to conduct interviews with the support team. And what we found was eye-opening:
Repeated patterns in customer queries pointed directly to UX issues.
Customers often asked basic questions that should have been obvious from the interface.
Some features were hidden or misleading, causing confusion.
Small copy and design tweaks could solve a surprising number of issues.
The Impact: Designing With Real Insights
Armed with these insights, we started making targeted design improvements. For example:
✅ If users frequently called in to ask about cancellation policies, we realized our UX wasn’t making this information obvious enough. A simple redesign of the booking confirmation page helped cut down unnecessary queries.
✅ If multiple users struggled to find hotel amenities, we knew the interface needed better hierarchy and visibility.
By treating customer complaints as usability issues, we were able to improve the product without running large-scale usability tests.
Why Customer Support Is an Underrated UX Research Tool
Looking back, this experience taught me that UX research doesn’t always have to be formal. Your users are already giving you feedback—you just need to know where to look.
Here’s why Customer Support can be a powerful UX research tool:
🔍 It’s real-time feedback – Users call in when they are frustrated, which means you hear about the most pressing issues first.
🎯 It highlights usability gaps – If customers constantly ask the same questions, something is missing in your design.
📞 It’s cost-effective – Instead of expensive user research, leverage conversations already happening.
💡 It uncovers overlooked pain points – Some problems don’t show up in usability tests, but they become obvious when users complain about them.
Final Thoughts
That experience at Fabhotels changed how I think about user research. While traditional UX research methods are valuable, sometimes the best insights come from unexpected places—like your support team.
If you’re designing a product and wondering how to get real user feedback, don’t overlook the people who talk to your customers every day. Customer support might just be your best UX research team in disguise.