Support & Feature Request Expectations

At Afterword, we aim to be responsive, clear, and realistic. This document outlines how we handle requests that aren’t urgent — including feature suggestions and questions from customers who are currently onboarding.

We want to set the right expectations so you always know where things stand.

What counts as non-urgent?

A non-urgent request is anything that isn’t blocking your ability to serve a family, launch, or use Afterword day-to-day.

Examples:

• Cosmetic bugs

• Workflow suggestions

• Feature ideas

• “Nice to have” changes

If it’s not actively breaking something or slowing you down, we’ll treat it as non-urgent.

Response Times

Initial acknowledgment: During business hours, we’ll confirm we received your message within 2 hours.

Follow-up with next steps: By the next business day, we’ll share how we’re thinking about it — whether it’s added to the roadmap, something we’ll need to explore further, or if there’s a workaround in the meantime.

Feature Requests

We love hearing your ideas. In order to prioritize what we work on next, we want to make sure we’re building the right feature to solve the issue you’re referring to. We also want to prioritize the features many of you are asking for before those that are only asked for by one or two of you.

Here’s how we decide what to build and when:

• Is it something we already agreed on during onboarding?

• Is it aligned with our current roadmap?

• Have other partners asked for it too?

• Will it help most partners?

We talk through new requests as a team on Tuesdays and Fridays. If it’s a yes, we’ll add it to the roadmap. If it’s a maybe or a not-right-now, we’ll let you know.

We don’t promise timelines — that keeps us from overpromising and gives us room to prioritize what makes the most impact.

Onboarding Support

You’re considered onboarding until you’re using Afterword daily.

If we agreed on specific needs during onboarding, we’ll make those a priority, before tackling new requests or ideas that come up later. Anything outside that scope will be reviewed just like any other feature request.

We’ll be clear about what’s in and out of scope at the start. We use Notion to track what we agreed on and keep everyone aligned.

Updates & Visibility

You’ll see progress in a few ways:

• We include updates in our monthly product update email, including the most requested features.

• For now, Zack tracks top requests in Notion. We’ll share more structured updates as we grow.

If You Need to Escalate

If something feels urgent to you, email or call us. We’ll call you to talk through what you’re trying to do, clarify the request, and see if there’s a workaround. After the call, we’ll send a written summary to make sure we’re on the same page.

Who’s Handling This?

Right now, you’re talking to the founders. In the future, our Customer Success team will triage requests and loop in Product as needed.

We’re not yet tracking formal SLA metrics like resolution time or delivery velocity — but we will as we grow.

Let us know if something feels off or unclear. Our goal is to make sure you feel heard, supported, and not left in the dark.

—The Afterword Team

Scope & Definitions

1. What qualifies as a non-urgent request?
A non-urgent request is anything that doesn’t block a customer’s current workflow, delay their launch, or prevent them from serving a family. Examples include cosmetic issues, workflow suggestions, and feature ideas.

2. How do we define and prioritize customer feature requests?
We ask:

• Are they in the middle of launching (and is this needed for launch)?
• Is it aligned with our roadmap or upcoming priorities?
• Has it been requested by multiple customers?
  Only after prioritization does it move into the backlog.

3. What does “onboarding” include — and when does it end?
Onboarding lasts until a customer is using the product daily.

4. What communication channels are in-scope?
Email and phone calls.

Response & Resolution Expectations

5. What’s the expected initial response time for non-urgent items?

• Within 2 business hours (during business hours): Acknowledgement that we’ve received the request.
  By the next business day: A follow-up confirming how we’ll handle it — e.g., “Great idea, we’ve added it to our roadmap” — plus a workaround if possible.

6. When can customers expect an update or resolution?

• An initial decision/update by the next business day.
  No guaranteed delivery timeline for feature requests, but updates are included in the monthly product update.

7. How often do we update customers on feature request status or onboarding progress?

• Through monthly product updates (listing top-requested features).
  During onboarding calls or check-ins.

Prioritization & Planning

8. How do we weigh feature requests from onboarding vs existing customers?

• Onboarding needs first — but only items agreed upon during scoping.
• Then existing customer requests.
• Finally, additional requests from onboarding customers as they scale.

9. Is there a process for customers to escalate a non-urgent issue?

• They can email us.
• We’ll call to clarify their needs and discuss workarounds.
• We follow up by email to confirm exactly what they’re asking for (since initial requests are often unclear).

10. How do we determine if something gets fast-tracked, added to backlog, or declined?

• Non-urgent items are reviewed in our Tuesday and Friday product meetings to see if they fit our current priorities.

Communication & Transparency

11. Do customers get visibility into where their request stands?

• Yes, through monthly product updates and (for now) Zack’s Notion list.
• We’ll refine this visibility as we grow.

12. Do we promise timelines for new features?

• No. We maintain a general feedback loop and focus on features that make sense for the majority of customers.

13. What level of custom work do we allow during onboarding, and how is that managed?

• All custom work is agreed upon before onboarding begins.
• We scope this in Notion and stick to it once the plan is set.

Operational Considerations

14. Who owns triaging and responding to non-urgent tickets?

• Currently, it’s handled by us.
• In the future, Customer Success will triage and escalate to Product.

15. How do we measure if we’re meeting this SLA?

• Currently not tracked formally (given our size).
• Future team will track response times and resolution velocity.

16. How do we communicate changes to the SLA or request status?

• Updates will be shared in monthly product updates and as part of onboarding follow-ups.
• Any SLA changes will be communicated via email and discussed with existing customers during touchpoints.