Primos Customer Service — comprehensive operational guide

Contents

1 Primos Customer Service — comprehensive operational guide

Executive overview

Primos customer service is designed to deliver fast, consistent resolution across sales support, technical help, returns, and warranty cases. The operating philosophy combines measurable SLAs with human-centered policies: resolve 80% of inquiries on first contact, deliver a median resolution time under 48 hours, and maintain a CSAT (customer satisfaction) score ≥ 4.5/5. These targets reflect industry best practice for consumer-facing product brands in 2025 and give clear, auditable goals for daily operations.

This document frames the front-line customer experience (phone, email, chat, portal), the back-office workflows (RMA, refunds, replacements), and the staffing, tooling, and reporting necessary to sustain those targets. It is written for operations managers, team leads, and senior leaders who must balance cost (target service cost per ticket: $6–$12) and outcome (NPS target ≥ 40). The guidance below is immediately actionable and includes sample metrics, response templates, and escalation contacts.

Contact channels, availability, and routing

Offer multi-channel access: phone, email, live chat, and a dedicated support portal. Recommended public-facing endpoints: [email protected], help.primos.com (portal with knowledge base + ticketing), and a single toll-free number for the U.S. — 1-800-PRIMOS0 (example). Hours: standard coverage should be 8:00–20:00 local time (Mon–Sat) with 24/7 emergency tech routing for critical failures. Peak-volume staffing should cover 9:00–12:00 and 16:00–19:00 local time when call volumes historically rise by 40–60%.

Automated routing and prioritization should be used: create VIP flags for warranty claims, orders older than 7 days, and customers with NPS > 9 who report issues. Use IVR to collect order number and product SKU; average IVR time should be under 30 seconds. For chat, target an initial response under 30 seconds and full resolution (chat-to-close) under 20 minutes for standard inquiries.

Service levels and KPIs

Define clear KPIs and publish SLA commitments both internally and to customers. Below is a compact list of recommended metrics and year-over-year targets that keep service effective and scalable.

Average Speed of Answer (ASA): ≤ 30 seconds for phone; ≤ 30s initial response for chat.

First Contact Resolution (FCR): ≥ 80% for order inquiry and basic troubleshooting.

Median Time to Resolution (TTR): ≤ 48 hours across channels; ≤ 4 hours for priority escalations.

Customer Satisfaction (CSAT): ≥ 4.5/5 measured after every closed ticket; sample response rate target ≥ 20%.

Net Promoter Score (NPS): goal ≥ 40, measured quarterly with follow-up on detractors within 72 hours.

Cost per ticket: maintain $6–$12 for standard tickets and up to $50 for RMA-managed hardware replacements.

Measure these KPIs daily for operations and produce a consolidated monthly report that includes trend lines (90-day lookback), top complaint categories, and a root-cause analysis of any KPI misses. Use a rolling 7-day window for staffing adjustments and a 28-day window for workforce planning.

Returns, warranties, refunds, and pricing mechanics

Policy clarity reduces contact volume. Standard return window: 30 days from delivery for full refund, with a suggested restocking fee of 0–15% only for non-defective, opened electronics. Warranty coverage: two years for electronics, one year for consumables, with express replacement processing in 48 hours where stock permits. For refund timing, commit to issuing refunds within 7–10 business days after receiving the returned item in the warehouse; communicate expected credit posting time to customers (bank-dependent).

Provide concrete pricing examples on the website: shipping for replacements under warranty should be free; exchanges within 30 days can incur a flat $7 handling fee for small items and $15 for larger items (example pricing). For expedited replacements (next-business-day), charge a premium that covers cost: typical expedited fee $25–$45 depending on weight. Clearly display these figures on the Returns page and in the order confirmation emails to reduce disputes.

Escalation paths, sample contacts, and compensation rules

Escalation must be fast and transparent. Define three tiers: Tier 1 (front-line agents), Tier 2 (technical specialists), and Tier 3 (operations/exec oversight). Escalation SLA: Tier 1 → Tier 2 within 2 hours for technical cases; Tier 2 → Tier 3 within 24 hours for unresolved or high-impact issues. Record escalation timestamps and owner IDs in every ticket for auditability.

Example escalation contacts (internal examples): Tier 2 Tech Lead — [email protected]; phone: 1-555-101-2020. Tier 3 Ops — [email protected]; phone: 1-555-101-3030.

Compensation matrix: for verified shipping errors or damaged items, immediate full refund or replacement + $10 goodwill credit; for delays over 7 business days, offer $15 discount code or free expedited shipping on next order.

Documentation: preserve photo evidence, serial numbers, and RMAs for 18 months for warranty claims and potential supplier negotiation.

Publicly state escalation expectations on the Support/Contact page so customers know response windows and how to escalate if their case is not progressing. This transparency reduces repeat contacts and improves CSAT.

Tools, staffing, and training

Operate on an integrated stack: ticketing/CRM (Zendesk, Freshdesk, or Salesforce Service Cloud), knowledge base (KB) with version control, call recording, and workforce management (WFM) for forecasting. Automate repetitive tasks (order lookups, RMA creation) through APIs to reduce average handling time (AHT) by 20–30%. Keep the KB up to date monthly and tie content changes to a reduction in repeat-contact rate.

Training: a 5-day onboarding for new agents (product fundamentals, system training, compliance), followed by a 90-day competency track with weekly coaching. Target certification: 90% pass rate on a scenario-based assessment. Maintain continuous learning with 1.5 hours/week of microlearning and monthly QA calibration where supervisors review a minimum of 50 tickets per agent per month.

Reporting cadence and continuous improvement

Operational reporting should follow a cadence: daily dashboards for ASA, backlog, and live SLA adherence; weekly deep dives on top complaint categories and FCR drivers; monthly executive summary showing KPI trends, cost per ticket, and improvement initiatives. Use A/B testing for small process changes (e.g., new email templates or return flows) and measure lift in CSAT or reduction in contacts before full rollout.

Commit to a continuous improvement cycle: plan (quarterly goals), do (pilot changes), check (measure against KPIs for 30–90 days), act (scale successful pilots). Maintain a single public-facing status page for outages or large issues (status.primos.com) and send proactive notifications to affected customers to reduce inbound volume by up to 40% during incidents.