Community-driven support offers benefits beyond cost savings, for one, it allows users to get faster responses. Your email probably can't provide answers every hour, but a vibrant support community will.

Additionally, it gives you a way to show publicly how friendly and responsive you are (assuming you participate in the community), which can impact your signups.

We always offer both, a public support option, community, or Facebook page, and an obvious private email link. Most users seem very happy with that level of interaction.