Customer support for small online businesses that sell software
If you sell software, a plugin, a course or a membership online, your customers ask the same questions every week. Roper gives you a help center, a chat widget with AI answers and one inbox, for $19 a month.
By the Roper team · Published
The short answer
Roper fits small online businesses that sell digital products: software, plugins, courses and memberships where customers ask how-to, login and billing questions. It gives them a help center, a chat widget with AI answers from their own articles, and one inbox, for $19 a month. It is a poor fit for shops that need order lookup, local services that take bookings by phone, or anyone who needs WhatsApp or Messenger.
Roper is made by the team that wrote this post. Figures for other tools come from their own public pages, listed under Sources, and are list prices in US dollars that can change.
Who this is for
- Small software and app businesses, including plugins and browser extensions
- Course creators and membership communities with a members' area
- Newsletter and paid-content businesses that handle account and billing questions
- Anyone selling a digital product to customers who log in
Who it is not for
- Online shops that need order lookup. Roper does not connect to Shopify or other store platforms. A tool built for ecommerce support will serve you better.
- Businesses that live on WhatsApp, Messenger or phone. Roper has none of those channels.
- Teams that need to take actions from the chat, such as issuing refunds or changing plans. The AI only answers from your articles.
The questions it takes off your plate
| Question type | What handles it | Where a person steps in |
|---|---|---|
| How do I do X? Where is Y? | A help article, found by search or by the bot | Only if the article is missing or unclear |
| Login, password, email change | A help article with the exact steps | If the customer is locked out |
| Plan, pricing, invoices | A help article linking your billing page | Refunds, double charges, disputes |
| Bug or something not working | The widget collects details and hands off | Always: a person looks |
| Feature requests | The public feedback board | When you reply or change the status |
The bot hands off automatically on words like "refund", "charged twice", "cancel my account" or "human", and whenever the articles do not cover the question. See chatbot human handoff best practices.
A first week
- Day 1: sign up, set your brand colour and greeting, and paste the widget tag into your members' area or app.
- Day 2: write your ten most-asked questions as articles. The bot and the help center read the same ones.
- Day 3: forward your support email address to your Roper address so email lands in the same inbox.
- Day 5: tag what you answered. Turn the top repeat into an article.
Questions
Common questions
- Can I use Roper for a course or membership business?
- Yes, if your customers log in somewhere you can place the widget script and mostly ask how-to, access and billing questions. Pass their name and email to the widget so you never ask for them.
- Does Roper work for an online store?
- It can answer FAQ-style questions and take email, but it does not connect to Shopify or look up orders, so tools built for ecommerce are a better fit for stores.
- Do I need a developer?
- You need to paste one script tag where you can edit your site's HTML. Most website builders have a custom code or footer field for that.
- Can customers email us instead of using the widget?
- Yes. Forward your support address to the address Roper gives your workspace. Each email becomes a conversation, and your replies go back by email.
- Does it support languages other than English?
- The widget and the bot are built and tested in English. Multilingual answers are not a designed feature, so test with your own articles and customers before you rely on them.
Keep reading
Sources
Answer the repeat questions once, and keep the human path open.
One inbox, one help center, one flat price. $19 a month for Pro.