1. Prioritize authentic interactions: Nichelle emphasizes creating meaningful moments with customers, making them feel as if they're shopping with a friend.
2. Foster team collaboration: Encouraging team involvement in decision-making boosts morale and ensures every voice is valued in customer support.
3. Assess hiring with personality in mind: Nichelle believes authenticity in candidates helps maintain a genuine connection with customers, enhancing service quality.
4. Embrace AI cautiously: While AI can streamline processes, it's crucial to ensure it complements rather than replaces the human touch in customer service.
5. Maintain brand transparency: Nichelle highlights the importance of keeping communication authentic to avoid customers feeling uncertain about interacting with a machine.
Meet Nichelle Mesa, the Customer Experience Manager at Girlfriend Collective!
Girlfriend Collective produces high-quality clothing using recycled materials. Everything from the clothes to the packaging are made using items that otherwise might have wound up in a landfill. The brand is motivated to create attractive clothing that reflects both the founders’ love for Mother Earth.
Nichelle began her career in retail customer service, then moved on to work with smaller, local brands in the fashion industry that had a focus on sustainability.
"I was wearing a bunch of other hats as well, but customer service was always the spine of what I was doing," she says.
She joined Girlfriend Collective in January 2019 when it was still a small startup. "We were only a team of five people in this Seattle office in the University District. It was my first startup experience," Nichelle recalls.
She expresses a preference for working in smaller, more collaborative environments: "I think it's either by fate, but that just seems to be where I always land. I really love being in closer knit teams and being collaborative with people.”
Girlfriend Collective has embraced a fully remote work structure since the COVID-19 pandemic, with the customer experience (CX) team having a history of remote work even before this shift.
The company's remote workforce is geographically diverse. Nichelle, who is based in Las Vegas, notes that other team members are located in various parts of the country: "We have two full-time agents, one that is still in the Washington area and the other is based in San Francisco."
The only exception to the fully remote structure is the creative team, which maintains a hybrid arrangement in Los Angeles.
Nichelle’s Approach to Hiring
When hiring new team members, Nichelle emphasizes the importance of a writer's test to assess grammar skills and problem-solving abilities. She looks for candidates who demonstrate initiative and are willing to go above and beyond to help customers. Nichelle values personality and authenticity in potential hires, encouraging them to bring their unique selves to customer interactions while maintaining professionalism.
She encourages her team to create meaningful customer moments by offering personalized recommendations and sharing their own experiences with the products.
"I love it when our agents aren’t afraid to share bits of themselves such as ‘Here are my favorite bras’ or ‘Here are my favorite tops if those don't work out’. ‘Maybe try this fabric,’" Nichelle says. “Almost as if you’re shopping with a friend. It’s casual, enjoyable, and no pressure”
She adds, "I also enjoy being a genuine advocate for the brand. I will always tell people ‘Hey, I'm biased, but I really think you should try this and this’."
Email and contact forms are the primary methods of communication for the CX team at Girlfriend Collective, followed by chat. While the company maintains a social media presence, it's used more for gathering feedback more so than answering customer service inquiries.
Regarding phone support, Nichelle explains, "We have a phone number which functions as an IVR-only system as we currently don’t offer customer support over the phone"
Regardless of how Nichelle and her team are interacting with customers, their goals remain the same. Nichelle emphasizes the importance of collaboration and team involvement. She says that she improves the way Girlfriend Collective implements customer support by routinely involving her team in the decision-making process.
She regularly reminds the people she works with “You're not just at your desk answering tickets. Your opinions have value.”
Gorgias
Slack
Stella Connect
Nichelle expresses a cautious approach to implementing AI in customer service. While acknowledging AI's potential, she emphasizes its role as a tool rather than a replacement for human agents.
She highlights the importance of maintaining brand personality and transparency with customers. Nichelle insists, “I would never want to put our customers in a situation where they are questioning the authenticity of the service we provide where they’re asking themselves ‘I don't know if I'm talking to a robot with a human name or if this is a real person.
What's the 1 tool your CX Team couldn't live without? Gorgias.
What is the most important quality when it comes to hiring a new CS Agent? Industriousness.
Favorite Communication channel for support? Text or live chat.
Last book/podcast that you found interesting? Rental Person Who Does Nothing by Shoji Morimoto
Your #1 Challenge as a CX Leader?Finding a good balance to maintain between customer feedback and delivering on increasingly high demands from customers.
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