The furniture brand Cotswold Company faced an unexpected opportunity during early COVID. As governments imposed restrictions on movement, people stopped going out and travelling. Stuck at home, many people turned an eye towards home improvements.
Cotswold Co sells furniture for homes and offices. They offer different styles including pine, oak, painted, and rustic. They have physical stores but have always focused on online sales. This set them up to capitalise on what has become their best sales year on record.
The sales kept flooding in. It’s a good problem to have, but it can be a problem. We’d had Odondo recommended to us, and they were really able to step up and help us grow in an unexpected moment.
— Tom Evans - Head of Customer Experience and Contact Centre
In June 2020, Cotswold Co started working with Odondo to access the flexible customer support they needed to match increasing demand over the summer for pre-sales support, delivery and fulfilment queries and post-sales return questions.
The problem: Unpredictable customer service requirements
The unprecedented surge in sales resulted in an overflow of customer service demands. “What made things particularly difficult was the fact that we didn’t know if this surge in sales would last,” Tom recalled. The specific circumstances surrounding Cotswold’s growth cast doubt on whether or not it would be sustained over time.
“We didn’t want to build an in-house team, or lock ourselves into a 12-month contract” noted Tom. Cotswold Co needed help to expand capacity, but they needed that help on a flexible basis.
The solution: On-demand customer service
What attracted us to Odondo was the on-demand flexibility. We also knew that they would deliver a quality service, and their commitment to learning our brand has been on point. But their ability to flexibly scale to match demand really set them apart.
— Tom Evans - Head of Customer Experience and Contact Centre
Odondo was quick to provide much-needed assistance. After onboarding and learning Cotswold Co’s unique CRM, Odondo got an initial team of four agents up and running to help the in-house team. As their needs continued to grow, Odondo scaled up to 38 agents, while training several additional agents to create an experienced overflow capacity. That meant learning about:
- Pre-sales: Helping customers with orders to assist in the purchasing process and understand different products and payment options.
- Post-sales: Assisting customers with product delivery, shipping status queries, returns and refunds, as well as any other issue with products.
Although Odondo provided access to trained representatives, Cotswold Co was only charged for the hours they needed. Odondo’s ability to provide flexible customer support allowed Cotswold Co to add more agents whenever they needed to, but not overstretch commitments in case demand fell back down to normal levels.
At all times, both teams worked closely together with weekly updates and regular support. Using Microsoft Teams it was possible to ensure fluid collaboration and operations — supplying the in-house expertise that Odondo needed to deliver the branded service Cotswold Co wanted.
The results: Growth and quality customer experiences
There are now over 35 Odondo agents working with the Cotswold Co team to provide the support they need through this period. When operating at full capacity, this accounts for nearly two-thirds of Cotswold Co’s customer service resource.
The outcome for Cotswold Co has been the ability to grow without compromising customer experiences. Customers can call up and talk to a real person, without needing to wait, and get the support they need. Most importantly, Cotswold Co has been able to deliver the customer service necessary without committing to long-term costs. They can dial up or down the services offered depending on the market demands.
Odondo’s flexibility is impressive. They helped us grow and did so without requiring commitment or risk. The level of quality and brand expertise is second to none.
— Tom Evans - Head of Customer Experience and Contact Centre
