Why I Still Reply to Customer Emails (Even as a SaaS CEO)

Not long ago, a customer emailed us at 11:47 PM—clearly frustrated, struggling to make sense of a report in their dashboard.

I could’ve let support handle it. We have systems for that.

But I read it, paused, and wrote back personally.

Not because I had to.
Because sometimes, replying yourself says more than any fix ever could.

We’ve built automations. We’ve hired amazing support people. We’ve built workflows that scale.

But even now—as the company grows and my calendar fills with meetings, investor calls, and roadmap planning—I still take the time to answer emails from customers.

Here’s why I don’t plan to stop.

1. Feedback is gold—when it’s unfiltered.

Most feedback that reaches a founder has already passed through layers—support agents, summaries, tags, tickets.

But a raw email? That’s the source code.

It tells you what’s confusing, what’s broken, what’s frustrating—and how someone feels when they hit that wall. You won’t find that depth of context in your analytics dashboard or CSAT score.

When a customer reaches out directly, they’re not just logging a bug. They’re offering a window into how your product feels in the wild.

And if you’re willing to step into that feedback, it can change how you build.

2. It's about empathy, not escalation.

There’s something powerful about a customer hearing from the CEO.

It shifts the dynamic from “support ticket” to “human conversation.”

It shows them they’re not just a line in a queue. They’re part of something that matters enough to warrant attention from the top.

And that moment of connection—just one thoughtful reply—can flip the narrative. What started as frustration often ends in gratitude, even advocacy.

Empathy scales more than people realize. Especially when it starts from the top.

3. It sharpens your instincts.

Every email I read reveals patterns.
Which features confuse people.
What language is causing friction.
What’s unclear in our onboarding, our UX, our naming conventions.

These moments sharpen my product intuition in ways dashboards simply can't.

When I see the same confusion pop up in five emails over a week, I don’t need a usability study—I already know where we need to focus.

And that loop, repeated over time, makes me a better founder.

4. It sets the tone across the company.

When your team sees that you’re in the inbox—not to micromanage, but to engage—it creates a ripple effect.

They start to lean in more too.
Support becomes more thoughtful.
Product teams start asking better questions.
Everyone is reminded that what we build is only half the story.

How it lands is the other half.

Culture trickles down. Whether we’re intentional about it or not.

5. It keeps the mission alive.

The deeper you get into leadership, the easier it becomes to drift into abstraction—metrics, milestones, meetings.

But customer emails pull me back to the ground level.
They remind me why we built this.
Who we’re building for.
And what it feels like to be on the receiving end of the thing we’ve created.

Behind every dashboard issue, feature request, or venting message is a person who’s betting on us to make their life easier.

That’s not just feedback—it’s trust.

And I never want to lose sight of that.

This isn’t scalable. That’s the point.

No, I can’t answer every single email forever. That wouldn’t be sustainable.

But not everything needs to be scalable.

Some things—like being present, like listening—should stay human.

Especially when your product is being used by real people, with real pain points, trying to run real businesses.

The takeaway?

If you’re building something, and you feel like you’re getting too far from your customers…

Step back into the inbox.

You’ll get better ideas.
You’ll lead with more clarity.
And you’ll build a company that listens—because it starts with you.

Replying to a customer at 11:47 PM might not look efficient on paper.

But it’s one of the most powerful things I do as a CEO.

And I’m not planning to stop.

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If this resonated, let me know.
Yes—I read and reply to every email.