Makesy

The Challenge

Makesy is a crafter’s dream, with supplies, products, and tutorials to help create an environment of inspiration and well-being. Behind the scenes, though, a lackluster CRM prevented the customer service team from connecting with customers in a timely, efficient fashion, and the dearth of customizations prevented the Makesy voice from shining through.

The Results

• Improved self-service capabilities
• Decreased overall response times
• Higher customer reviews

 

“[Kustomer] is simple enough for all our agents to use yet functional enough for customers and clients to navigate. It boosts our response time, encourages interactivity, and helps us keep our brand top of mind.”

Kristen Contreras, Customer Service Manager, Makesy

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The Story

Makesy was built for creators, by creators. Their mission is to elevate, educate, and inspire through innovative products and resources, with environmental care is woven into all elements of their brand. Makesy wants to be expert leaders in the space, and to do that, they rely heavily on reviews and customer insights to stay on top of evolving trends as they expand.

But the dispersed customer support team had a hard time staying organized and leveraging those customer insights. Even though they have fewer than 10 agents, it was difficult to balance nontraditional schedules, and their previous CRM didn’t offer any insight into agent availability. Agents had to select messages manually, which meant some customers waited for responses longer than Makesy found acceptable. And because agents managed 10–15 customer conversations at a time, it reduced high-touch service and made it hard to maintain the brand’s unique voice during interactions.

This lack of organization and customization prevented the customer service team from keeping up with the business as it grew. They had to send bulk emails manually, sapping precious hours from agents’ days. Their previous CRM, Gorgias, had a confusing tagging system, and they couldn’t accurately determine why customers were calling. At the time, the lack of SMS messaging limited their reach as a global brand, too.

Makesy’s Customer Service Manager, Kristen Contreras, had experience with Kustomer at a previous company, and knew it was exactly what Makesy needed. She had seen Kustomer features such as volume managers, tagging tools, and customizations, and knew they would have a big impact at Makesy. She wasn’t disappointed.

“Every highlight solved another pain point, and every detail was future-focused, innovative, and functional. The platform was a huge upgrade,” Contreras said. Once the team started using Kustomer, Contreras could see agent activity and metrics, which not only helped with scheduling, but enabled her to better determine where agents were strong and where they needed to improve.

They also benefited from the individual agent inboxes, which automatically routes emails and live chats to individual team members in the order they arrive. Contreras sets ticket limits, ensuring each customer gets a consistent, high-touch experience and a meaningful response. Agents can send bulk messages with the click of a button, and new customizations guarantee that all customer contacts reflect the lighthearted, playful feel of the Makesy brand voice.

Kustomer’s Knowledge Base has increased the customer’s self-service capability, too. In the first week post-launch, the conversational assistant resolved 48 tickets without connecting customers to an agent. Within three months, that number grew to 71. Makesy’s customer service agents are no longer overwhelmed, and they’ve received higher customer reviews based on positive customer interactions—perpetuating a cycle of happier agents.

What’s Next

Contreras has made use of many Kustomer features, and there are still more to explore. One of those is Kustomer’s SMS integrations, which will allow Makesy to reach customers in a new way, removing a barrier to scalability. “We’re a small team, but with Kustomer we can do a lot. It’s made a dramatic difference in our service, enabling us to serve our customers with the care they deserve,” Contreras said.

With the adoption of Kustomer, Makesy’s customer service team has a CRM that will support them, however they grow.