Katchy Customer Service — Expert Playbook

Contents

1 Katchy Customer Service — Expert Playbook

Executive overview

Katchy’s customer service function should be built as a profit-protecting, reputation-enhancing operation tightly integrated with product, logistics, and marketing. In practice that means defining clear Service Level Agreements (SLAs), staffing to peak volume, and instrumenting every contact so you can reduce repeat contacts and returns. A mature small-to-midsize hardware/e-commerce brand like Katchy typically supports 10,000–100,000 active customers; the playbook below is tailored for that scale but is parameterized so it scales to 1,000 or 1,000,000 customers.

Operational targets to adopt immediately: a First Response Time (FRT) of ≤15 minutes for live chat, ≤4 hours for phone on business hours, and ≤24 hours for email/ticketing; a resolve-within-48-hours rate of ≥75% for non-shipment issues; and a Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) target ≥90% with Net Promoter Score (NPS) target ≥50 within 12 months of program maturity. These targets are aggressive but achievable with the tooling and staffing model described below.

Support channels, hours, and SLAs

Katchy must support a minimum omnichannel footprint: Email/ticketing, live chat, phone, self-service knowledge base, and social/channel monitoring (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter). For hardware products (traps, fans, small appliances) include a returns & warranty hotline and an RMA portal. Recommended hours: 9am–9pm local time Monday–Saturday; 24×7 monitoring for critical safety issues and escalations.

Channel SLAs (example targets): Chat FRT ≤15 minutes; Chat median handle time 6–12 minutes. Phone answered within 60 seconds during business hours; voicemail callback within 2 hours. Email/ticket initial response ≤24 hours, resolution goal ≤72 hours. Self-service should resolve ≥30% of inbound contacts within 6 months of launch.

Volume planning: expect chat to be 20–35% of inbound volume, email 35–50%, phone 10–20%, social 5–10%. Peak concurrency planning: 1 chat agent per 6–8 concurrent chats; plan for 2–3x average concurrent chat during promotion or product launch weeks.

Organization, staffing, and training

Design a three-tier support structure: Tier 1 (generalist agents), Tier 2 (technical/product specialists), Tier 3 (engineering/returns & warranty/exec escalation). For an average e‑commerce SKU portfolio and 50,000 active customers, a staffing baseline is: 10–20 Tier 1 agents, 3–5 Tier 2 technical specialists, 1 dedicated returns coordinator, and 0.5–1 QA/training manager. Adjust ratio by average monthly orders (baseline: 1 Tier 1 agent per ~2,000 monthly orders).

Training must be documented to a 5‑module curriculum: product fundamentals, warranty & RMA policy, troubleshooting scripts, soft skills/objection handling, and escalations. Track agent certification: require 12 hours onboarding and monthly 2-hour refresh; target QA scores ≥90% on knowledge checks and call/chat audits sampled at 5% of interactions weekly.

Metrics, reporting, and quality assurance

Measure both efficiency and effectiveness. Core KPIs: First Response Time, Average Handle Time, Resolution Rate (within SLA), Reopen Rate, CSAT (post-interaction), NPS (quarterly), and Cost Per Contact. Target cost per contact depends on channel: chat/email $3–$8, phone $8–$20, social <$5 when routed correctly. Track monthly trends and cohort performance by product SKU and campaign.

Quality program: QA scoring with a 12‑point rubric (accuracy, tone, resolution completeness, next-step clarity, documentation). Escalation quality: average time to resolve Tier 2 escalations ≤48 hours; warranty RMAs processed within 5 business days. Use weekly dashboards and a monthly executive pack including top 10 product issues, return rate by SKU, and NPS drivers.

Escalation, refunds, and warranty handling

Document a clear escalation matrix: Tier 1 attempts resolution using scripts; unresolved technical issues go to Tier 2 within 2 hours; hardware failures suspected go to returns coordinator who issues RMA within 24–48 hours. Refund windows for consumer goods: standard 30 days return, 12-month limited warranty for manufacturing defects. For replacement shipping, aim for same‑business‑day or next‑business‑day label issuance when within SLA.

Economics: if average product price is $39.99, returns and RMAs can represent a 5–12% margin leakage if not controlled. Use clear triage to separate warranty defects (ship replacement free) from user-damage (offer paid repair/replacement at defined price points, e.g., 50% of MSRP). Maintain a log of serial-numbered RMAs and require photo/video evidence for rapid triage to reduce fraud and unnecessary replacements.

Tools, automation, and integrations

Stack recommendations: Zendesk or Freshdesk for ticketing (support workflows, macros, SLA enforcement), Intercom for website chat and proactive messaging, Gorgias if heavily e‑commerce/Shopify-integrated, and a returns/RMA platform such as Returnly or Loop for automated label issuance. Integrate CRM with ERP/fulfillment to fetch order status in 1 click and reduce average handling time by 30–50%.

Automate to deflect volume: AI-powered self-service articles with embedded videos should aim to deflect 20–40% of common inquiries within 6–9 months post-launch. Use bots for order-status lookups (order#, tracking#) and for simple warranty checks. Maintain human handoff triggers so complex issues never remain with a bot beyond a 2‑minute window.

Practical rollout, contact templates, and example contacts

Rollout plan (90 days): 30-day design & tooling, 30-day agent hiring & training, 30-day QA ramp & self-service hardening. Start with published KPIs and an executive SLA review at 30, 60, and 90 days. Provide customer-facing transparency: publish SLA and RMA policy on support page and include contact windows in shipping confirmation emails.

Example public contact templates (use as starting points): Support portal URL: https://katchy.example/support ; support email: [email protected] ; support phone (example): +1 (800) 555-0199. Replace example domains/numbers with real corporate endpoints before publishing. Monitor metrics weekly; expect to reach target CSAT and resolution goals within 3–6 months with disciplined QA and tooling investments.