// headline
What the inbox is telling us
Counts are approximate — categorized from subjects/senders. A precise tally needs triage labels (recommendation #1).
support@ is an un-triaged dumping ground.~200 threads in 90 days, but the large majority is automation/noise — Teachable signup bots, ShipStation/UPS tracking, McMaster order confirmations, bid portals, newsletters, even a tax notice. Real requests are buried. No labels, no routing, no SLA.
The biggest human category isn't support — it's sales.~Half of genuine inbound is pricing / quote / PO / enterprise-membership requests (South Lewis, MG, Strikewerx, Macquarie, Code Easy UK, White Plains, Saudi, Peru). Real leads sitting in a support inbox — a speed-to-lead and attribution risk.
The repetitive, automatable requests are "access / trial / passcode.""New educator, want to try the sim," "can I get the password," "what's this month's Tello passcode?" (one user asked 3× in a thread). Prime AI-support-agent workload — and a signal the self-serve trial + passcode UX confuses people.
Real technical issues cluster on Simulator v2 UX + reliability.Missing Launch button, the "all simulators" page gone, a server scaling outage, and a Mac/Apple-Silicon app that Gatekeeper blocks. All fix-at-the-source — each erases a whole ticket category.
A hardware-quality signal.A DroneMinds contact reports a propeller failing on every drone they test, plus replacement-parts requests. Systemic, not a one-off → incoming-QC signal.
The team responds well — but 100% by hand.Replies often land same business day (one customer answered in ~12 min; another got a custom Apple-CPU build next day). Responsiveness isn't the problem — it's all manual, unlogged, unmeasured, with no "no inbound disappears" guarantee.
// breakdown
Genuine human inbound
Approximate share, with examples.
| Category | Share | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Sales / pricing / PO / enterprise | ~half | South Lewis, MG, Strikewerx, Macquarie, Code Easy, Saudi, Peru |
| Trial / access / passcode | ~quarter | Larry, Wesley, Shane, Mike, km@scu.dk |
| Technical / how-to / product | ~fifth | Susan Bock (sim UX), Luigi (Mac app), UTTC (server + STL), DroneMinds (props) |
| Demo / loaner logistics | a few | Kerrigan return, Syosset |
| Billing / churn | a few | Failed Teachable billing (Cecilio Pérez) |
| Non-customer noise (shouldn't be here) | the bulk | McMaster, LiteBee, ZeeMaps, tax, newsletters, signup bots |
// offload
What the AI support agent should own
droneblocks-ai-support — clear the repetitive half; humans keep sales + real technical.
- Trial / access / "how do I get in" — templatable, high-volume, instant-answerable.
- Passcode / login — recurring; agent answers and points to the dashboard tile.
- Sim how-to ("where's the Launch button," "where's the simulators page") — answerable from docs.
- Routing — detect sales inbound and hand to Lindsey/Ryan with context; don't let leads sit.
- Escalate hardware defects, outages, custom builds → human (Ryan).
// fix-at-source
Cut tickets before they happen
- Self-serve trial with a dead-obvious CTA (same root as the conference-QR "0 signups").
- Rethink the monthly Tello passcode UX — it generates recurring confusion.
- Sim v2 navigation — restore/expose the "all simulators" page; make Launch discoverable.
- Sign/notarize the Mac app so Apple Silicon Gatekeeper doesn't block it.
- Incoming QC on motors/props (the DroneMinds signal) — Hardware pillar.
source = support-inbox.// cross-check
Fathom completeness re-check
Re-scanned all 17 recaps. The findings doc holds up; three things the email data adds.
- "Susan Bach" = Susan Bock. The actively-engaged sim customer emailing support is almost certainly the "Susan Bach" in the 6/9 notes (mis-transcribed). A BOCES-affected but still-using customer — retention touch worth making.
- Flare Star / flaredrones is actively courting us as a LiteBee alternative for indoor light-show drones — relevant to supplier diversification and the multi-drone light-show roadmap.
- Live churn signal — a failed Teachable subscription billing event, complementing the stale-deal cleanup.
// decisions
What to decide
Stand up triage on support@ (labels/rules) so we can measure the categories above.
Scope the AI agent to the trial/access/passcode/how-to half + sales routing.
Pick 3 source-fixes this quarter: self-serve trial, passcode UX, sim v2 nav.
Decide Flare Star vs. LiteBee for light-show drones.
Get supplier/ops mail off support@ — it's doubling as our procurement inbox.