Who is Alex Kurtz?

Meet Alex Kurtz, the Director of Client Experience at Melanie Casey.

About Melanie Casey

Melanie Casey is a high-end jewelry brand that makes rings designed to tell a story. The products are all designed by the brand’s namesake—Melanie Casey, an experienced jeweler and goldsmith who has set out to challenge industry standards and produce beautiful products.

Alex’s CX Journey

Alex discovered his passion for customer service early in his career. "I quickly realized like outbound sales is just not my skill set but where I really found my niche [...] was game nights and so like helping people just navigate the stadium," he reflects on his time working for a hockey team. Later, he applied his talent for navigating complex processes when he worked at a college admissions department.

"I felt like I was using my skill set to actually help people,” Alex says.

Now, at Melanie Casey, Alex oversees both the on-site shipping team and the remote customer care team. Having started as a customer care agent five years ago, he has grown into his current leadership role, where he continues to focus on assisting others.

The CX Team at Melanie Casey

Alex leads a team of nine customer care professionals, with eight working fully remotely and one in a hybrid role. The company has embraced remote work for its customer care team since its inception, with the first remote hire dating back seven years.

The hybrid customer care agent plays a crucial role in bridging the gap between the remote team and the physical studio space at Melanie Casey. This agent can physically examine returned items, communicate directly with clients, and facilitate in-person appointments at the studio, despite the absence of a traditional storefront.

Top Remote Team Challenges

In the era of COVID-19, remote work has become the norm for many companies, and Melanie Casey is no exception. With most team members now geographically isolated, the company has faced the challenge of maintaining personal connections.

"I think with everyone remote it’s harder to have that sense of connection,” Alex acknowledges. "Not only as a team but as a company too."

To overcome the obstacles posed by different time zones, schedules, and locations, the customer care team has implemented various strategies. "Figuring out how we can collaborate from different time zones or schedules….That's probably the biggest challenge, but our team does a really good job of making sure there's space for check-ins or weekly team meetings," Alex explains.

Furthermore, the company emphasizes the importance of fostering relationships between the customer care team and other departments. "As cheesy as it can be, we do a lot of stuff as a company to make sure that people are seeing like customer care is interacting with the jewelers and with the marketing team and different people throughout the company," Alex adds, highlighting the efforts made to ensure that remote employees can put "faces with names" and maintain a sense of connection with their colleagues.

Tech Stack

Gorgias—Makes it simple to answer a DM or email.

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‍CX Team Success Factors

At Melanie Casey Jewelry, the customer care team's approach differs from the typical "move people along quickly" mindset often associated with customer service. With a focus on engagement rings, the company recognizes that the buying process is often a lengthy one, requiring patience, empathy, and trust-building.

To ensure the team is well-equipped to handle this unique approach, the hiring process at Melanie Casey Jewelry prioritizes finding individuals who possess a balance of empathy, relatability, and a touch of sales skills. "Empathy is really important too because we know our role is not to just churn as many tickets as possible," Alex emphasizes.

Going to Great Heights

Alex is used to tickets taking a long time to resolve. “[Once] in my normal weekly audits of tickets there was one interaction that was over 100 emails before,” Alex recounts. Despite the unusually high number of exchanges, Alex praised the agent for their perseverance, saying, "I complimented that agent because I was like, thank you for staying with it."

While such a lengthy interaction is not the norm, Alex acknowledges that the team is prepared to invest the time and effort required to meet each customer's unique needs. "At the same time, I don't really want you to have 100 conversations, but if that's what it takes for a person, that's what it's going to take," he states.

Alex isn’t very worried about KPIs but he does pay attention to response time. He doesn’t want too much time to pass from when a customer reaches out and when they get a reply. “If you're having a hundred tickets with somebody, so be it. I just want that first response to be as quick as possible,” Alex reflects.

Prioritizing Human Interaction

At Melanie Casey, the customer care team's primary focus is on providing exceptional human interaction and prioritizing the customer's needs above all else. This approach is deeply ingrained in the company's culture and is reflected in the way the team is structured and managed.

"For us, it's just really doubling down on that human interaction,” Alex emphasizes.

To ensure that the team can dedicate the necessary time and attention to each customer, staffing levels are carefully considered. "I don't want to tell you, hey, spend as much time as you need to. Also, you have 300 other tickets that I need you to get to today. So, staffing in a way where it's like, you have your set tickets for the day, and then you can spend time with them," Alex explains.

By giving each team member space to handle tickets as they see fit, Alex reflects the needs of the business. People spend a lot of time thinking about what engagement ring they want to buy. In-person, they can spend all day at the store if they want to. Online, they need a little help from an attentive staff to make sure all of their concerns are addressed. Alex’s team is willing to give it to them.

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