Helpshift gets $3.2M to be mobile customer support

So how is it useful for app developers?

They get a super simple interface for their customers to be able to ask questions and be serviced. App developers also get a management console to see, among many statistics, how many customers are seeking service. And, apparently, there are a number of customers seeking service that app developers aren't aware of, until it's too late.

"The biggest problem [for app developers] is that users just delete and replace the app [because they have a lousy experience]," said Tripathy.  Unfortunately, they miss the boat on keeping those customers happy.  If you look at app reviews, roughly 50% of reviews are negative, said Tripathy. "What we're trying to do is to help app developers service those customers before they get those negative reviews." 

There are currently 150,000 app development companies (from one-person shops to big brands) that have checked in apps into the app stores, but worldwide, there could be as many as 500,000 developers, Tripathy estimates. Of those, about 75% are small app developers that can't afford to pay for an outsourced help desk. They can use Helpshift for free. But for developers that have monthly active users between 50,000 and 100,000, they'd pay about $100 per month. Above 100,000 users, Helpshift charges several thousand a month. 

Tripathy wouldn't disclose the customers he's working with today, only to say that large corporations that produce a number of apps, such as Disney, or large national retailers, are their target market. Helpshift currently has a salesperson and a business development person to go after these enterprise relationships.   

Helpshift is also working with developer forums, such as StackOverflow.com, Reddit.com and iphonedevsdk.com to reach developers.  

Connecting the end user with the app developer

While Helpshift is focused today on being the help desk for mobile apps, in the future it has a much larger goal: to be the new CRM (customer relationship management) provider on mobile. 

"App stores have worked really hard to abstract the users away from the app developers," said Tripathy. "Those apps can't track who the customerss are... We're providing an in-app channel for app developers to be able contact their customers."

Over time, Helpshift hopes to offer more than help-desk services.  

"With cloud and SaaS,  we are truly in an era of high velocity, low-touch sales where sales people are getting dis-intermediated," Tripathy explained. "The mobile app industry doesn't really need any sales people thanks to the frictionless distribution capabilities of the App stores.  As this trend continues, we are going to see the need for CRM software evolving from being sales tracking tools to more of Customer Service / Experience tools."

Helpshift sees itself as Zendesk, but for mobile. Zendesk, is a cloud-based customer support company that raised $60 million in a Series D round of funding in September (for a reported valuation of $600 million). It is also similar to Assistly, which was bought by Salesforce last year for $50 million in cash.