Stakeholder Empowerment
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In my previous role, I worked for an organization that specialized in gifting. Users would receive a “Gift page" filled with options provided by their employer. They could select a gift, enter their address, and then wait for the gift to arrive, all at no cost to them.
I worked closely with our Vendors and Partners regarding any potentially defective gifts. Since Partnership tickets accounted for 85% of our volume, I was always looking for ways to improve efficiency.
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Initially, our process involved emailing each vendor about individual orders, which presented several challenges:
Agents had to switch platforms to check for replies and replies would fall through the cracks.
There was no way to track the number of inquiries each vendor was receiving.
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When the Product team let us know they were going to build a new internal platform to communicate with vendors I was tasked with finding a more efficient solution.
To do this, I considered two key questions:
Where was our Customer Experience team potentially wasting time?
What information did our Partners need to assist us better?
With both user journeys in mind, I conducted some research.
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I concluded that our CX agents, including myself, wanted a way to receive updates on the orders we inquired about without having to switch platforms.
On the other hand, our vendors were primarily interested in understanding the issues but, more importantly, in the desired solutions.
I noticed that different agents had varying communication styles, with some writing lengthy messages that reshared every detail of the recipient's initial email. Our vendors assured us that they were empathetic to the reasons we were reaching out but really just needed clear action items for the next steps.
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Because we tracked the reasons why gift recipients reached out, we also collected data on when and why we contacted our vendors. This enabled us to categorize our interactions into seven distinct categories.
We used that information to implement a dropdown menu that allowed agents to notify vendors about the specific issue and the desired outcome.
Ex: Lost item, Resend to Original Address.
Simple and easy! No need for our vendors to hear about how the user had already checked with their neighbors ect.
This approach enabled us to collect all necessary data upfront, eliminating the need for lengthy email messages.
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As a result, a task that previously took 1-2 minutes was reduced to less than 20 seconds. This streamlined process not only made life easier for our CX agents but also provided clearer communication for our Partners.
Ultimately, our resolution time decreased by 12 hours.
By collaborating with the Product, CX, and Partnership teams, we ensured smooth interactions at every level allowing us to continue delighting our recipients.