Emergency preparedness company preps its team for rapid growth

Any good scout knows how crucial it is to always “be prepared.” At any moment our lives can be uprooted by political unrest, war, famine, pandemics, economic collapse, natural disasters, and other unexpected events. These unforeseen emergencies are best weathered when we are prepared. That is where our client comes in—they are in the business of equipping customers with the emergency preparedness and survival gear needed to weather any storm (both literal and metaphorical). This spirit of preparedness transcends their products and is also key to their business strategy. When they needed to manage a sudden increase in business, this company geared up by partnering with our team of customer support Ninjas to keep operations running smoothly. 

Growing demand for preparedness products

Founded in 2011, this US-based company has been keeping customers  stocked with emergency and survival products for over a decade. Growth remained steady for much of that time. Then in 2022 they experienced sudden, rapid growth due to increased demand for their products. Such growth was not unheard of during this time. Despite economic challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, a Mckinsey survey revealed that consumer spending in the United States remained robust in early 2022. Demand for certain product categories boomed more than others. Topping the list were wholesale clubs and sporting apparel—categories related to emergency preparedness and survival products. 

Managing growth without sacrificing customer satisfaction

Increased consumer spending and growing interest in this company’s emergency products put a strain on their existing customer service team. This team holds high expectations for customer service agents and has a reputation for responsiveness and customer satisfaction. As part of the recent growth, the company had an influx of customer service inquiries, making it more challenging to achieve their high standards of service. They needed to scale their operations on multiple contact platforms to meet the needs of their growing customer base. This had to be executed in a way that would preserve the team's responsiveness and maintain high quality customer interactions. This meant scaling operations, improving efficiency, and increasing customer satisfaction in a way that would ultimately result in cost savings for the company. To accomplish this, they sought a partnership that would meet their needs quickly. The urgent need for support and limited time available for training meant they needed to find a partner with existing resources, skills, and experience to quickly onboard and get the job done. 

Surviving growth with SupportNinja

To quickly and effectively meet the needs of their growing customer base, this emergency preparedness company turned to SupportNinja and our existing team of trained, experienced Ninjas. They trusted us to rapidly fulfill their needs while meeting their high customer service standards. We began working together in August 2022 with a mission to aid their existing team with outsourced customer service support. SupportNinja worked closely with this client to understand the company's products, brand, and customer service philosophy. Two Ninjas were dedicated to this client as virtual customer service representatives to handle incoming customer inquiries and support requests. The virtual assistants provided by SupportNinja were quickly trained to handle a range of customer service issues including product inquiries, order processing, and shipping updates. 

Our Ninjas spent much of their time on this company’s social media platforms, managing customer inquiries and fortifying relationships. Social media is a critical platform for this client to engage with customers, answer their questions, and build long-term relationships. Like this company, social media is central to the marketing and customer service strategies of many brands. According to Qualtrics, about 1 of every 3 customers will turn to social media to ask questions prior to a purchase. They will go to social media to ask their network for product advice or even contact a business directly. Managing this outreach well and in a timely manner can make a huge difference in consumer sentiment and revenue. On Twitter, for example, negative tweets that are resolved can lead to 3X more revenue potential when compared to just a positive tweet. And tweets that are handled in under 4 minutes can actually open up the opportunity for customers to spend, on average, $17.18 more. 

Responding quickly and capturing the right voice on social media can make a big difference in how customers perceive a brand. Our Ninjas were up to the task with our survival and emergency preparedness client. To engage with the customer, Ninjas took a sincerely human approach to social media conversations—responding to customers with relatable, honest language and even injecting a fair dose of Wendy’s-style humor. These comments earned our clients more engagement. Some customers and potential customers even said, “I’m here for the comments.” Our Ninjas helped this emergency preparedness client realize their goal to please customers by using personality, humor, authenticity, and a distinguishable style in customer engagements on social media. 

Assessing results

At SupportNinja, we are fortunate to associate with great companies that want to do right by their customers. When our client started making more sales, and expanding its customer base, they did not make excuses or cut corners. They sought expert support to meet the needs of their customers by providing high-quality, and responsive customer service. Our partnership had four notable benefits in the immediate aftermath of this increase in sales and customer service inquiries: 

1. Improved Customer Service: Our virtual assistants got a strong start right out of the gate and were exactly what the company needed. Each Ninja aligned their approach with client expectations by addressing customers with authenticity, humor, and even sarcasm—a tone combination that is well received and appreciated by consumers online. Both Ninjas were proficient in recognizing and making the most of opportunities to engage with customers on social platforms. They did this in a way that consistently honored the company’s voice and online presence. The SupportNinja virtual assistants’ knowledge of the client’s product, voice, and internal processes enabled them to thoroughly handle customer inquiries and support requests. This holistic, fluid integration into the client’s team and workflow improved overall customer satisfaction.

2. Scalable Growth: SupportNinja was able to quickly scale its operations to meet the needs of our client’s growing customer base. Our Ninja’s rapid onboarding and mastery of the client’s workflow and voice reassured the company that customer service was in good hands. This allowed them to focus on other areas of the business, such as product development and marketing.

3. Cost Savings: By outsourcing customer service to SupportNinja, our client was able to reduce overhead costs associated with hiring and training additional customer service representatives. 

4. Increased Efficiency: SupportNinja's virtual assistants were trained to handle a range of customer service issues. This noticeably reduced the need for our client’s internal customer service team to handle routine inquiries. As a result, the company increased its efficiency because they transitioned extra internal resources to handling more complex customer issues.

By outsourcing customer service operations to SupportNinja, this emergency preparedness and survival company was able to improve customer service, scale its operations, reduce costs, and increase efficiency. This allowed the company to focus on other areas of their business and continue its growth trajectory. Our client’s customer service team trusted its new Ninjas to take good care of customers and were delighted to see that each agent even exceeded benchmarks for success. After conducting quality audits, both Ninjas received a perfect score of 100% which well exceeded the intended goal of 90%. These results are evidence of high quality, efficient customer service which has garnered improved customer relationships for the company, enabling them to continue uninhibited growth. 

SupportNinja: a partner you can count on

As part of this ongoing partnership, our Ninjas are always looking for ways to improve efficiency and add value to customer interactions. This is a solid partnership and our Ninjas will continue to meet and exceed the client's expectations with a mission to maintain that 100% perfect quality score. It has been rewarding to enable this company to grow and scale their support operations. Looking forward, we are dedicated to fulfilling this client’s vision by learning quickly, using our expertise to assist customers, and capturing the company’s relatable, humorous tone on social media. 

These strategies have had an astronomical impact on this company during a critical time of growth and change. Our expertise in customer service can be utilized in any rapid-growth business scenario. When a SupportNinja virtual assistant joins a new team, they bring with them existing skills and knowledge to provide high-quality service. Their deep understanding of customer service and experience working with varied clients and industries reduces the time needed to train and onboard them. This enables each Ninja to hit the ground running. Ninjas are accustomed to tweaking their refined process to fit the unique needs of each individual client. Their work seamlessly blends with and supports the great work strategically-minded companies are already doing to help their customers.