Brand Insight from Saski CEO Tammy Hembrow
I’m really proud of what we’ve created here at Saski Collection, but no matter how hard we work or how many great ideas we come up with… we are nothing without our customers. When we launched the business last year, the desire to provide exceptional customer service was one of my major goals and a foundation of the business plan from day one. So much so that the continual feedback we receive shapes the direction of our business even now.
As founder and CEO I created the first collection based on feedback I received from my fans and followers and even my own experience with activewear I trained in. I wanted to create something our customers raved about.
We also wanted an online experience that was quick, easy and enjoyable and the anticipation and excitement to last until you hold the product in your hands. This shaped our decision to switch to Shopify Plus after a couple of rocky launches where our website couldn’t handle demand. The user experience is so important, because not only do we want people to return, we want them to tell everyone they know about the great experience they had when shopping with us.
Our customer feedback comes from many channels, including all forms of social media such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Important data is also collected from customer emails and our website.
Being so open to comments on social media, it’s important for the team to stay on top of all comments and questions left on the business pages or my own personal social channels and make sure queries are answered promptly. We still answer everything ourselves. This way, we really know what your concerns are and it is an action point in every team meeting to share customer concerns and complaints and how they were dealt with and resolved to improve future experiences. This also helps with transparency, the answers we provide are honest and there isn’t much of a barrier between the team and the consumer.
Comments are also taken on board and complaints are dealt with as compassionately and sincerely as possible. There is a small team of us sitting behind the keyboards in our office on the Gold Coast and we personally do our very best to ensure your experience with us is nothing less than 5 stars. We put ourselves in your shoes, we imagine what level of service we’d expect and aim to deliver that or better. We want to surprise you with something you may not expect, a hand written note, an early delivery or a new style that fans have been asking for.
Our mailing list is key for delivering messages about new drops, restocks and sales, we know how important it is to keep our customers in the loop and informed. We give something to these subscribers that’s a step above following on our social channels. Being a global company based in Australia can be tough sometimes, so our communication has to be clear when dealing with different timezones – we don’t want people to miss out because of lack of communication. It’s an irresponsible and unnecessary way to lose customers.
I know our products will exceed customers expectations when they train in them, but I want our customers to love Saski Collection because of the overall experience – from the moment they arrive on our website to when a parcel arrives on their doorstep. We heard the frustrations when our website crashed, rushed shipments when stock was running low and love surprising our loyal following with new and exciting additions to the collections.
Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and the best feedback we receive is a notification of a new photo being posted of a Saski Girl in her new outfit – the joy it brings me to see my collection on someone shows me that our customers are happy and that makes me happy.
We’re still a young business and we have more to learn, but we also have so much more to give our customers, so stay tuned in 2018 for even bigger and better things from the Saski girls!
