What factors are contributing to the sudden 30% increase in customer support tickets related to Rocket Lawyer's estate planning documents?

Introduction

The sudden 30% increase in customer support tickets related to Rocket Lawyer's estate planning documents is a critical issue that demands immediate attention. This analysis will systematically identify, validate, and address the root cause while considering both short-term and long-term implications for our product and users.

I'll approach this problem by first clarifying the context, then ruling out external factors before diving deep into our product, user journey, and metrics. We'll generate data-driven hypotheses, conduct root cause analysis, and develop a comprehensive plan for validation and resolution.

Step 1

Clarifying Questions (3 minutes)

• Looking at the timing, I'm thinking there might be a recent product update. Has there been any significant change to our estate planning document features in the last 30 days?

Why it matters: Recent changes often correlate with support ticket spikes. Expected answer: Yes, we updated the document generation algorithm. Impact on approach: If confirmed, we'd focus on the new algorithm's performance.

• Considering user segments, I'm curious about the distribution. Are we seeing this increase across all user types, or is it concentrated in a specific segment?

Why it matters: Helps narrow down if it's a universal issue or segment-specific. Expected answer: It's primarily affecting first-time users. Impact on approach: We'd investigate onboarding and UI clarity for new users.

• Thinking about the nature of support tickets, I'm wondering about the content. What are the top 3 issues being reported in these tickets?

Why it matters: Identifies specific pain points to address. Expected answer: Document errors, confusion about legal terms, difficulty in form completion. Impact on approach: We'd prioritize these areas in our root cause analysis.

• Considering potential system issues, I'm curious about our infrastructure. Have there been any recent changes or issues with our document processing or storage systems?

Why it matters: Technical issues can often lead to user-facing problems. Expected answer: No significant changes, but there was a brief outage last week. Impact on approach: We'd investigate the impact of the outage on document integrity.