LitFad Customer Service — Professional Operational Guide

Contents

1 LitFad Customer Service — Professional Operational Guide

Overview and Service Philosophy

LitFad customer service should be positioned as a revenue-protecting, brand-defending function with clear, measurable outcomes. The primary goals are fast resolution, predictable policy execution, and an experience that converts irate customers into repeat buyers. For an e-commerce brand, target acceptance metrics are a Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) ≥ 90% and Net Promoter Score (NPS) ≥ 50; these targets guide hiring, tooling and escalation design.

Adopt a policy matrix that balances automation and human empathy: automated flows for order-tracking, payments and returns; human agents for exceptions, fraud disputes and loyalty recoveries. Communicate service promises publicly (response-time windows, refund SLA) to set expectations and reduce repeat contacts—companies that publish SLAs see ticket volume reductions of 8–15% in year one.

Operational Metrics and Staffing

Define and monitor a compact set of metrics daily: First Response Time (FRT), Average Handle Time (AHT), Resolution Time (RT), CSAT, and Contact Per Order (CPO). Practical targets for a mid-market brand: FRT ≤ 1 hour for email/ticket, ≤ 30 seconds for phone, ≤ 2 minutes for chat; AHT 6–12 minutes depending on channel; resolution within 48 hours for non-technical issues. Expect peak-season contact volume increases of 2–4x; plan capacity accordingly.

Staffing formulas: for email/chat, plan 120–200 tickets per agent per week; for phone, 25–40 calls per agent per day. Example budget case: if average salary + benefits = $55,000/year, each full-time agent can handle ~45,000 contacts/year across channels; therefore 1,000 annual escalations would require ~0.02 FTE, but factoring for peaks and training you should plan 1.2–1.5× baseline headcount. Outsourcing or seasonal hires are common to absorb November–December spikes.

Channels, Tools and Technology

LitFad should operate an omnichannel stack that centralizes tickets into a single view: shared inbox/CRM, order look-up integration, returns management, and a knowledge base. Recommended platforms with current price ranges (examples): Zendesk Suite from $49/agent/month, Gorgias e-commerce plans from $60–$350/month depending on volume, Freshdesk starting at $15/agent/month. Choose based on integrations: Shopify/Magento orders API, Stripe/Adyen payment lookup, and a WFM (workforce management) addon for scheduling.

Automate the low-complexity workload: chatbots that handle order status and basic refunds can deflect 15–30% of contacts if configured well. Configure escalation triggers: unresolved chatbot interactions escalate to Tier 1 within 90 seconds; payment disputes escalate to Tier 2 with priority flag. Public-facing endpoints (recommended examples): support.litfad.com for FAQs, [email protected] for email, phone support number (example) +1-800-555-0199, and dedicated B2B SLA emails for wholesale partners.

Policies, SLA and Escalation

Publish clear SLAs so customers know what to expect. Example SLAs (recommended): same-day response for issues submitted before 3:00 PM local time, refunds processed within 5 business days of approval, replacements shipped within 48 business hours for in-stock items, and a 30-day return window for unworn merchandise. Explicitly document exceptions (final-sale items, personalized goods) to reduce dispute friction.

Escalation workflow: Tier 1 handles 0–15 minutes triage and resolution using templates; Tier 2 handles technical, fraud, or refund approvals and should have manager-level permissions. Escalate to leadership for any repeat negative CSAT (>2 in 30 days) from a single account. Track time-to-escalation: aim to escalate within 24 hours for unresolved tickets and resolve critical incidents (inventory outages, payment system failures) within 4 hours with cross-functional incident response.

Training, QA and Continuous Improvement

Onboarding and continuous training are essential to maintain quality: new agents should receive 40 hours of structured onboarding (product, policies, systems) plus a 30-day supervised handling period. Performance coaching cadence: weekly 1:1s for the first 90 days, then biweekly. Implement QA sampling of 5–10% of handled interactions, scoring for accuracy, tone, policy compliance and resolution completeness; aim for an internal QA pass rate ≥ 92%.

Invest in root-cause analytics: tag contacts by cause (shipping, sizing, product quality, payments) and run monthly trending. For example, if ‘sizing’ accounts for >12% of contacts month-over-month, allocate product team resources to update size charts and reduce contact volume. Use a closed-loop feedback mechanism so agents can submit product notes; review and close the loop in design reviews every 30 days.

Essential KPIs and Channel Rules (compact checklist)

KPIs — FRT: Email ≤ 1 hour, Chat ≤ 2 min, Phone ≤ 30 sec; AHT: 6–12 min; CSAT ≥ 90%; NPS ≥ 50; First Contact Resolution (FCR) ≥ 75%.

Volume planning — Expect 2–4x seasonal increase; staff with a 1.2–1.5× buffer; train 2–3 weeks before peak season.

SLA examples — Refunds processed ≤ 5 business days; replacements shipped ≤ 48 business hours; return window 30 days; escalation to Tier 2 within 24 hours for unresolved tickets.

Quality — QA review 5–10% of tickets, target QA pass rate ≥ 92%; coaching weekly for new hires.

Costing — average cost per contact $3–$18 depending on channel and region; budget accordingly for support headcount and software: estimate $50–$120/agent/month for helpdesk plus $4,500–$8,000/year per agent in tooling and integrations.

Public-Facing Contact Template (recommended examples)

To present consistent, professional contact details for LitFad, publish a single source of truth page: support.litfad.com. Example public hours: Mon–Fri 09:00–18:00 EST, Sat 10:00–14:00 EST. Example emergency channel: [email protected] for wholesale escalations with a 4-hour SLA.

Example contact block to publish (template): Phone: +1-800-555-0199 (example); Email: [email protected]; Returns: [email protected]. Example headquarters address for legal/returns label (use exact legal address you control): 123 Market St, Suite 400, New York, NY 10001 (example). Always show timezone, cut-off times for same-day actions (e.g., orders placed before 12:00 PM local ship same day), and clearly link to the returns portal for labels and tracking.