In 2019, a popular Canadian e-commerce marketplace (similar to Etsy but focused on sustainable and handmade products) reached out to us for call center support. They were growing rapidly and needed a partner that could offer round-the-clock, multilingual support for buyers and sellers alike.
The brand was known for its community-driven mission and eco-conscious ethos. However, poor phone support was beginning to erode that trust. Customers had long wait times, inconsistent responses, and difficulty tracking orders — especially during peak holiday seasons.
They wanted to:
Call Center Support
2019 – Present
Canada (serving North America)
Inbound Call Handling, Order Tracking, Returns & Refund Support, Seller Escalations, 3PL Coordination, Holiday Surge Scaling
Our approach involved deeply understanding the platform’s structure — with two types of users: buyers and independent sellers. We built dedicated processes to serve both with speed, empathy, and efficiency.
We onboarded agents with a 3-week intensive training program including:
Training included real-time shadowing, mock calls, and daily assessments to prepare for high-pressure situations.
We developed a call routing system using Aircall and Zendesk Talk to direct users into two smart queues:
Buyers Queue:
Sellers Queue:
This ensured that buyers weren't stuck in seller queues and vice versa, leading to a 22% drop in average wait times.
We anticipated demand spikes and built:
Our ability to scale up to 50 extra agents within 48 hours became one of our most appreciated strengths by the client.
Scripts were guidelines — not rules. Agents were empowered to make judgment calls, offer goodwill credits, or route cases directly to the executive team if the situation required empathy over policy.
This approach helped us convert frustrated users into brand advocates.
Disputes between buyers and sellers were sensitive. Our agents served as mediators:
This decreased complaint-related churn and encouraged more sellers to stay active on the platform.
| Metric | Before Our Involvement | After (6–9 Months) |
|---|---|---|
| Avg. Call Wait Time | 4.2 minutes | 1.5 minutes |
| First Call Resolution (FCR) | 62% | 93% |
| Refund Inquiry Calls | High volume during sales | Dropped 34% via proactive messaging |
| Call Abandonment Rate | 10% | 2.1% |
| Holiday Season SLA | ~70% | 98.7% (even on peak days) |
| Seller Escalation Rate | 1 in every 10 orders | 1 in 25 orders |
