Support And Updates

When you’re building a SaaS product - even a small one - you need to think about what happens after you ship. People will have questions. Things will break. You’ll push updates. And they’ll want to know what changed, and why.

This doesn’t mean you need a 24/7 support team on Day 1. But you do need a plan. Maybe something like this:

flowchart LR
    U[User] -->|"Has a question"| Email[Email Support]
    U -->|Searches docs| Docs[Documentation Site]
    U -->|Wants to report a bug| Issues[GitHub Issues]
    U -->|Opens a discussion| Discussions[GitHub Discussions / Gitter]
    U -->|Wonders if it's down| Status[Status Page / Uptime Kuma]
    U -->|Sees what changed| Changelog[Changelog / Releases]

    subgraph Internal Ops
        Docs --> Dev[Developer]
        Issues --> Dev
        Discussions --> Dev
        Status --> Infra[Infrastructure]
        Changelog --> Dev
        Email --> Dev
    end

    Dev --> Update[Publishes Fix or Release]
    Update --> Changelog
    Update --> Docs
    Update --> Status

Hopefully this helps visualize how a one-person or small-team SaaS can provide the same support surface area as a big company - without the bloat.

Setting Up Email Support

At a bare minimum, your app should have a support email like [email protected].

You don’t need Google Workspace or a corporate mail server. There are free or cheap options:

Choosing Budget Email Hosting

You can use small cloud providers and domain registrars if you “domain email” (e.g. [email protected]), and it’s typically $5/user/month or less, everywhere. However, if you just need email forwarding, then that is often free. That is where the user sends an e-mail to [email protected] and it gets forwarded to your personal inbox like [email protected]. That’s not ideal, because you can’t reply from the support address, but it works for small projects.

Building Community Support

You don’t need to host a forum from scratch - especially for an open source project.

Picking Support Channels

• GitHub Issues – Classic bug reports or feature requests.
• GitHub Discussions – For more open-ended topics. Great for community Q&A.
• Gitter – Lightweight chatroom for GitHub projects. Real-time and threaded.
• Discord or Slack – Useful if you already have a following, but can be noisy.
• IRC – If you’re really old-school (and your audience is too).

For a solo developer, GitHub Discussions + tagged Issues is often enough.

Sharing Status and Incidents

When your SaaS app goes down - even briefly - users will want to know what’s going on. A status page saves you from getting flooded with emails.

Comparing Status Page Tools

If you’re already paying for a VPS or Docker host, installing Uptime Kuma is a no-brainer.

Adding Call Center Support

Most indie SaaS apps won’t need phone support - but if your users are non-technical (like local business owners, older adults, or government clients), it might come up.

You don’t have to answer the phone yourself.

Using Virtual Call Centers

Give them a support script that covers the top 5 things people ask. For everything else, they forward the call or email you the transcript.

Creating a Documentation Site

This one is underrated.

A clear, simple documentation site does two things:

• Helps your users get value from your app
• Cuts down on support noise

Choosing Docs Generators

Make sure to include:

• Getting Started
• FAQ
• Screenshots and GIFs
• “How do I…?” examples
• Known issues and workarounds

Tracking Changes and Updates

People want to know what changed, especially if something broke or moved. Here are a few ways to track and share version history:

Picking Changelog Tools

• Add a CHANGELOG.md in your repo
• Include a changelog page on your docs site
• Post to GitHub Releases with each version
• Announce updates via email, newsletter, or your status page

Even just writing a 2–3 sentence summary of each release is helpful. If you are using GitHub Copilot you can have it summarize your commits into a changelog format automatically.

Bringing It All Together

If you’re a solo founder or dev, you can set up all of this with minimal cost:

• Email support: Forwarding or cheap mailbox
• Community: GitHub Discussions
• Status page: Uptime Kuma or Better Uptime
• Docs: Hugo or Docusaurus
• Changelog: GitHub Releases or CHANGELOG.md

This creates a perception of professionalism without needing a support team. People don’t expect perfection - but they do want clarity, responsiveness, and a way to find help when they need it.