/customer-research

name: customer-research
description: "Multi-source research on a customer question or topic with source attribution. Use when a customer asks something you need to look up, investigating whether a bug has been reported before, checking what was previously told to a specific account, or gathering background before drafting a response."
allowed-tools: Read, Glob, Grep
argument-hint: <question or topic>

/customer-research

> If you see unfamiliar placeholders or need to check which tools are connected, see [CONNECTORS.md](../CONNECTORS-customer-support.md).

Multi-source research on a customer question, product topic, or account-related inquiry. Synthesizes findings from all available sources with clear attribution and confidence scoring.

Usage

/customer-research <question or topic>

Workflow

1. Parse the Research Request

Identify what type of research is needed:

• **Customer question**: Something a customer has asked that needs an answer (e.g., "Does our product support SSO with Okta?")
• **Issue investigation**: Background on a reported problem (e.g., "Has this bug been reported before? What's the known workaround?")
• **Account context**: History with a specific customer (e.g., "What did we tell Acme Corp last time they asked about this?")
• **Topic research**: General topic relevant to support work (e.g., "Best practices for webhook retry logic")

Before searching, clarify what you're actually trying to find:

• Is this a factual question with a definitive answer?
• Is this a contextual question requiring multiple perspectives?
• Is this an exploratory question where the scope is still being defined?
• Who is the audience for the answer (internal team, customer, leadership)?

2. Search Available Sources

Search systematically through the source tiers below, adapting to what is connected. Don't stop at the first result — cross-reference across sources.

**Tier 1 — Official Internal Sources (highest confidence):**

• ~~knowledge base (if connected): product docs, runbooks, FAQs, policy documents
• ~~cloud storage: internal documents, specs, guides, past research
• Product roadmap (internal-facing): feature timelines, priorities

**Tier 2 — Organizational Context:**

• ~~CRM notes: account notes, activity history, previous answers, opportunity details
• ~~support platform (if connected): previous resolutions, known issues, workarounds
• Meeting notes: previous discussions, decisions, commitments

**Tier 3 — Team Communications:**

• ~~chat: search for the topic in relevant channels; check if teammates have discussed or answered this before
• ~~email: search for previous correspondence on this topic
• Calendar notes: meeting agendas and post-meeting notes

**Tier 4 — External Sources:**

• Web search: official documentation, blog posts, community forums
• Public knowledge bases, help centers, release notes
• Third-party documentation: integration partners, complementary tools

**Tier 5 — Inferred or Analogical (use when direct sources don't yield answers):**

• Similar situations: how similar questions were handled before
• Analogous customers: what worked for comparable accounts
• General best practices: industry standards and norms

3. Synthesize Findings

Compile results into a structured research brief:

## Research: [Question/Topic]

### Answer
[Clear, direct answer to the question — lead with the bottom line]

**Confidence:** [High / Medium / Low]
[Explain what drives the confidence level]

### Key Findings

**From [Source 1]:**
- [Finding with specific detail]
- [Finding with specific detail]

**From [Source 2]:**
- [Finding with specific detail]

### Context & Nuance
[Any caveats, edge cases, or additional context that matters]

### Sources
1. [Source name/link] — [what it contributed]
2. [Source name/link] — [what it contributed]
3. [Source name/link] — [what it contributed]

### Gaps & Unknowns
- [What couldn't be confirmed]
- [What might need verification from a subject matter expert]

### Recommended Next Steps
- [Action if the answer needs to go to a customer]
- [Action if further research is needed]
- [Who to consult for verification if needed]

4. Handle Insufficient Sources

If no connected sources yield results:

• Perform web research on the topic
• Ask the user for internal context:
• "I couldn't find this in connected sources. Do you have internal docs or knowledge base articles about this?"
• "Has your team discussed this topic before? Any ~~chat channels I should check?"
• "Is there a subject matter expert who would know the answer?"
• Be transparent about limitations:
• "This answer is based on web research only — please verify against your internal documentation before sharing with the customer."
• "I found a possible answer but couldn't confirm it from an authoritative internal source."

5. Customer-Facing Considerations

If the research is to answer a customer question:

• Flag if the answer involves product roadmap, pricing, legal, or security topics that may need review
• Note if the answer differs from what may have been communicated previously
• Suggest appropriate caveats for the customer-facing response
• Offer to draft the customer response: "Want me to draft a response to the customer based on these findings?"

6. Knowledge Capture

After research is complete, suggest capturing the knowledge:

• "Should I save these findings to your knowledge base for future reference?"
• "Want me to create a FAQ entry based on this research?"
• "This might be worth documenting — should I draft a runbook entry?"

This helps build institutional knowledge and reduces duplicate research effort across the team.

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Source Prioritization and Confidence

Confidence by Source Tier

| Tier | Source Type | Confidence | Notes | |------|-------------|------------|-------| | 1 | Official internal docs, KB, policies | **High** | Trust unless clearly outdated — check dates | | 2 | CRM, support tickets, meeting note