50% More Efficiency: How Golem.de Reinvented Its Customer Support with Zammad
Golem.de is one of the best-known IT online magazines in the German-speaking world. The editorial team reports daily on IT, technology, and digital policy, reaching around three million readers every month. Around 5,000 paying subscribers rely on exclusive content such as “Golem Plus” and “Golem Pur.” For the 30-strong team, this means numerous inquiries every day – from feedback to support. Benjamin Sterbenz (Editor-in-Chief & CEO) and Felix Lindo (Assistant Product Owner Paywall) report on how Zammad helps them keep track of everything efficiently.
Zammad has brought a whole new level of flexibility and agility to our daily work. We respond to customer inquiries much faster now – and that difference is both noticeable and measurable.
When Golem.de launched its paid offerings, Golem Plus and Golem Pur, everything changed almost overnight. A broad readership turned into paying customers – with clear expectations for service and support.
And that’s where the challenge began: communication with readers had previously been largely informal. The team relied on shared email inboxes where inquiries came in unstructured and often went unnoticed. Questions about subscriptions, payments, or technical features piled up – and the existing support setup simply wasn’t built to handle that volume.
We needed to bring order to the chaos – as the saying goes.
Benjamin Sterbenz, Editor in Chief & CEO
The team’s own standards remained high. But without a professional helpdesk system, it was nearly impossible to deliver the level of support they aimed for. “There was a growing internal call for a proper helpdesk solution – especially from our developers and team members,” Benjamin recalls of that time.
The team wasn’t just looking for a ticketing tool – they needed a helpdesk solution that would integrate seamlessly into their daily workflow rather than complicate it. Their criteria were clear:
“It had to be straightforward, GDPR-compliant, cloud-based, and easy to implement,” Felix explains.
The recommendation came through word of mouth. After initial testing, the team was convinced: Zammad was the right fit.
A major advantage over other helpdesk solutions is the flexibility that Zammad offers
What set Zammad apart from other providers wasn’t just its strong value for money or its intuitive interface – it was the system’s exceptional flexibility.
That became clear early in the testing phase. Thanks to the seamless Microsoft 365 integration, Golem.de could maintain familiar workflows without having to reinvent the wheel. And the ability to trial all features in a dedicated test instance gave the team the confidence they needed to move forward with the investment.
Many companies hesitate to switch to a new support solution out of fear of lengthy, complex onboarding projects. But Golem.de’s experience was completely different: after a tailored product demo that showcased not only features but also concrete solutions to Golem.de’s specific challenges, the team moved forward with hands-on workshops and one-on-one mentoring.
The Zammad team worked closely with Golem.de’s staff to develop the ideal configuration and resolve all open questions directly.
Implementation and training took less than two weeks and went completely smoothly
Benjamin Sterbenz
One of the key success factors was careful preparation: customer groups such as Golem Plus and Pur were clearly defined, text modules were created, and email signatures were set up. The result was a custom-tailored setup that allowed the team to work productively from day one.
Today, support at Golem.de is far more organized and transparent. Every inquiry is recorded in the helpdesk, categorized, and tracked end to end. Responsibilities are clearly defined: one person handles first-level support and resolves about 80% of all requests directly, while two specialists manage second-level support for more complex technical topics.
Zammad’s powerful search function has greatly improved both team communication and our customer interactions.
Felix Lindo
In addition to power features like lightning-fast full-text search and broad integration options, Zammad impresses the team with well-thought-out details that truly make a difference in daily operations: automatic reminders ensure that no request gets overlooked. Intelligent ticket management keeps the inbox lean and organized. And the ability to group tickets using parent-child relationships provides clarity, even in complex cases.
The impact on day-to-day operations has been both noticeable and measurable. Since launching Zammad in August 2023, the team has handled over 3,000 tickets – with an impressive 0% reopen rate. In an industry where customer satisfaction depends on timely, competent responses, that’s a remarkable achievement.
Zammad has significantly reduced our workload through automation, lowered stress levels, and made our customer communication and internal processes much more transparent. It’s also improved our team collaboration and error detection
Felix Lindo
Just as remarkable is the estimated 50% increase in efficiency. Time once spent digging through email threads or coordinating internally can now be invested in higher-value projects and more meaningful customer interactions.
And team satisfaction? With a smile, they describe it as “200%.”
That Zammad is more than just a ticketing system often becomes clear in the small moments: "A customer had taken up a Golem Plus offer some time ago – we had completely forgotten about it. Zammad reminded us. Without the tool, it would have simply slipped through the cracks.”
It’s moments like these that reveal the true value of the system. Zammad not only ensures efficient handling of support requests – it also enables the team to maintain a high level of personal, reliable customer service, even as the company grows and the number of inquiries increases.
The team agrees: “Never without it again!” With Zammad, Golem.de has not only solved an acute problem, but has also taken its entire customer support to a new level. Instead of juggling messy email chains, they now rely on a clearly structured system that brings transparency and efficiency. Stress has been replaced by smooth processes that take the pressure off the team and create space for meaningful customer service.
In an era where customer satisfaction and operational efficiency are critical to business success, Golem.de has found a way to achieve both – with Zammad.
Zammad provides the backbone for a structured and reliable customer service. It enables us to uphold our commitment to service quality and customer closeness—even as our operations move further into the digital age.
We see Zammad as a dynamic system that grows with us. Its flexibility allows us to meet a wide variety of needs—which is exactly what makes it a future-proof solution for our team.
Seeing how easily Zammad integrates with all of our channels and tools immediately confirmed that this was the flexibility we were looking for in a help desk solution.
Zammad has completely changed our day-to-day work: Not only has it increased our efficiency, but it has also significantly improved collaboration and communication within our team.
There are three words that describe Zammad perfectly: intuitive, quick, and easy. The switch has definitely paid off: Zammad offers us more possibilities than we originally expected!
Since its implementation in our service department, Zammad has been at the forefront of our company as a "central" tool for daily customer satisfaction.
We wanted a simple, well-thought-out ticketing system that would allow us to handle various issues, be flexible enough to adapt to different structures, and seamlessly integrate into our system landscape at any time. Zammad has met all these requirements.
I fell a bit in love with Zammad. Little by little I took advantage of the possibilities and personalized the features more and more until I didn't want to miss the system anymore.
This is how I imagine Open Source with a company in the background! There are umpteen ways to use free software as a business model, but Zammad does it perfectly and always stays fair.
This is the only Customer Support team I like calling. At Zammad, you always have a knowledgeable employee on the phone who is friendly and competent and acts quickly. This is really personal and makes an enormous difference!
