BlockTrades has always put a lot of emphasis on fast and efficient customer support, as we too have experienced the emotional stress of waiting for funds to arrive safely at their destination. In general, I think we’ve been in an industry leader in “fast response” resolution of transaction problems, but we’ve always felt that we could do even better.

For the past few months, we've been working intensely to update the code for our website (https://blocktrades.us) to add an integrated “Help and Support” system. The goal of this system (accessible via the new Help menu at the top of our web site) is to help users learn how to use our site most effectively and decrease the time it takes for us to solve customer problems.

Free Cryptocurrency-usage training

The new help system includes information that will be useful to anyone interested in learning more about cryptocurrency transactions, such as tips for how to check that your transaction has succeeded when using different types of wallets. It also has several “Steem-specific” sections on topics like Steem account creation, Steem Power delegations, etc.

In many cases, this information should enable customer problems to be resolved without needing to wait for assistance from our support personnel. In cases where assistance is required, the new Support Request form should enable us to more quickly gather the information needed to solve such problems without creating a lengthy chain of emails.

Interactive Help and Support

Below are some screen shots of the new Help system. In the first screen, we see the initial Help view. From this page, a user can browse through the help topics on the right, or use the Interactive Help available via the Support Request form on the left to help you find the information you need.

To use the Interactive Help, "Select type of help needed” and the help page displayed on the right will change to show appropriate help topics. Depending on the type of problem, you can then select from a second dropdown to narrow down the nature of the problem and get more specific help.

If the interactive help doesn’t resolve your problem, you can submit your completed Support Request, which will provide us with the info we need to resolve the problem. Most commonly this will be necessary when a transaction failed for some reason. In such cases, you will be able to select the problem trade from your transaction history table. In our ideal world, you’ll be able to request the help you need in 7 clicks, without having to check your notes or open another browser, and then get a fast response that we have fixed the issue.

An evolving system

It’s important to us that this new system gets our customers the help they need quickly and easily, and that it not just feel like fighting through an automated phone tree, so please feel free to provide us with feedback on your experience. This is really our “first try” solution, and we’re happy to hear from our customers about ways we can improve it further.

Other news: transfers fees reduced for Bitcoin and Monero

We’ve recently lowered the “flat fees” associated with sending Bitcoin and Monero as a result of the decreased fees charged by those blockchains. Most notably, the flat fee we charge for a Monero output transaction is approximately one penny (~$0.01 USD).