Case Study: Customer Service Platform Lifts ideeli's Conversion Rate

PROBLEM: ideeli, an online flash-sale retailer of apparel, accessories, shoes, and home and travel items, needed to scale its customer relationship management (CRM) system to meet the needs of its rapidly growing business.

SOLUTION: Implemented a third-party provider’s CRM system.

RESULTS: Since going live with its new CRM in May 2010, ideeli has lowered its live chat response time to an average of 15 seconds, decreased its customer service abandonment rate to under 2 percent and increased its first contact resolution rate for emailed customer service questions to nearly 85 percent. These improvements have led to an increase in conversion rate among members seeking customer service help.

Launched at the height of the flash-sale craze in 2009, ideeli grew faster than it planned for. Sounds like a good problem to have, right? Well, sort of. The retailer’s rapid growth left its in-house customer service team unable to provide the high level of service that it believed its members deserved.

To remedy the problem, ideeli partnered with RightNow Technologies, a CRM solutions provider. Specifically, ideeli implemented RightNow’s CX platform, including its dynamic agent desktop, web self-service, live chat and co-browse features. These tools have allowed ideeli’s customer service representatives (CSRs) to better handle the influx of traffic to its site in the moments leading up to the close of a sale.

“The overwhelming majority of ideeli’s traffic happens as soon as we send out an email to our membership,” notes Jason Faria, ideeli’s senior manager, customer service. “We have to be able to handle most of our traffic within a very narrow window. RightNow allows us to juggle that many incidents that fast with the staff side being cost appropriate.”

RightNow’s live chat solution has proven particularly effective for ideeli. In fact, more than 50 percent of the brand’s customer service interactions now occur via the channel. With members keenly aware of the time-sensitive nature of ideeli’s sales and its limited product inventories, they frequently opt for live chat to get answers in real time rather than calling on the phone or sending an email. Live chat also allows ideeli’s CSRs to answer multiple product questions at the same time, helping to expedite the shopping experience for members.

ideeli chose RightNow’s CRM system in large part because the retailer could design the user interface to its own unique specifications. With an eye towards keeping members’ shopping experiences as seamless as possible, ideeli’s CSRs have all of the tools they need right at their fingertips. For example, when an incoming query comes into a live chat, the CSR can instantly see the entire purchase history of the member asking the question — all on the same screen. This allows them to bypass background questions and get right into answering their question.

“RightNow is a great conduit to what our customers are thinking at any given moment,” Faria says. “We use the chat functionality to see in real time any issues, problems or concerns that may come up.”

Looking Ahead
ideeli sees proactive chat as the next improvement to its customer service program. Faria envisions a scenario where the retailer’s CSRs identify members who are “hunting and pecking” around the site but not converting. ideeli then initiates a chat with them to see if it can be of assistance. He believes this would provide a lift to ideeli’s conversion rate.

Mobile is an area that ideeli has identified for future customer service upgrades. The retailer has a mobile app and is developing a mobile website. It’s likely that ideeli will use RightNow’s pre-built mobile app to provide the same seamless customer service experience for mobile users as it does on its traditional e-commerce site.