Meet the retailer: Bedrooms Plus Solving customer service challenges

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Established in 1980, Bedrooms Plus is a UK supplier of sliding wardrobe doors, both direct to the public and trade. Even today, the company makes sliding wardrobe doors by hand in its workshops using the same quality-focused skills and techniques from its inception 40 years ago.

In addition to wardrobe doors and interior storage fittings, Bedrooms Plus also offers a range of products and supplies that cater to the DIY market, as well as the joinery, shop fitting, furniture manufacturing and construction industries.

In addition to selling on the company’s main website, Bedrooms Plus also sells on other channels, such as eBay and Amazon.

A Tale of Two Customers

Due to the nature of their business, the team at Bedrooms Plus deals with a unique combination of customer service needs. This is because there are generally two distinct types of customers at Bedrooms Plus:

  • Members of the general public who are buying custom-made furniture.
  • Trade customers who are buying parts and supplies for their own projects.c

    Obviously, the customers who are buying custom-made furniture often have a lot of questions, and also require pricing quotes.

    That always involves quite a lot of conversation. They’ve typically got a space where they’re wanting to have a wardrobe installed and discussing things about dimensions and all that, [as well as] their designs or colours. That’s quite heavy communication, a lot of back and forth tickets for the same customer before they proceed with an order.
    – Craig McCormack, Director, Bedrooms Plus

    On the flipside, there are the trade customers who are buying parts, supplies and submitting bulk orders. Their customer service needs are a bit less intensive, but at a higher volume.

    Why you need exceptional customer services

    Whenever he is asked about his advice for ecommerce sellers, Bedrooms Plus company director Craig McCormack invariably offers the same mantra:

    Exceptional customer service is always remembered.

    Answer questions quickly and with detailed information. Know your product and you will be able to serve your customers better.
    – Craig McCormack, Director, Bedrooms Plus

    When it came to the customer service offered by Bedrooms Plus, Craig knew how important it was to get things right.

    With so many customer inquiries coming in each day from various places, Craig knew he wanted to centralise the company’s messaging. This would make it easier for him and his team to better serve customers and manage communications.

    Solving customer service challenges

    Craig was using an email consolidation software tool. Although it proved to fit his company’s basic needs, after some time, the ROI just didn’t make sense. After that software’s pricing structure changed, it quickly became markedly expensive. Another problem the Bedrooms Plus team faced with this particular platform was that the interface was somewhat convoluted… and then Replyco hit the market and seemed to offer everything the Bedrooms Plus crew was looking for, including:

    • Centralised email for all selling channels.
    • Unlimited integrations and users.
    • Clean, easy-to-navigate interface.
    • Affordable, ticket-based pricing.

    Craig explains that, since signing up with Replyco, his team has found it much easier to accomplish customer service goals. The following are a few of the Replyco benefits enjoyed by Bedrooms Plus.

    Don’t waste time logging in and out of multiple systems

    Selling on multiple channels means logging in and out of several different systems to handle customer inquiries. But with Replyco, the Bedrooms Plus team only has to log in to one platform in order to view and respond to all messages. According to Craig, “The only way I would explain it is, if you’re selling multi-channel, then Replyco is essential. Otherwise, you’re going to waste time every single day logging in and out.”

    No more having to share eBay login

    Craig employs a team of 15 people at Bedrooms Plus. Prior to joining Replyco, if he wanted them to handle messages from eBay customers, he had to give them the company’s eBay login information. But now, thanks to Replyco’s eBay integration (and unlimited users), all he has to do is assign teammates as “Users,” and they have full access to manage eBay inquiries within the Replyco system.

    Tags help prioritize messages

    The team loves having the ability to tag incoming messages from trade customers as high-priority. This enables staff members to see which messages need to be responded to within two hours rather than 24.

    More user-friendly design

    Craig explains that the Replyco interface is much easier to navigate than the previous software the company used for centralised messaging. He says, “[The previous software we were using] was an absolute godsend when we found it, but Replyco is doing everything we need and is more user friendly. We’ve just found there’s a little bit less going on. The sidebar on the left hand side of [the other software’s interface] used to be filled with so much stuff that we had a hard time figuring out how to navigate it — even after having used it for a while.”

    Better customer service and communication management

    The most important benefit of using Replyco has been a significant improvement in the management of customer service and communications for Bedrooms Plus. Craig and his team can easily view and respond to customer inquiries, prioritize messages, leave notes for other staff members, allocate responsibilities and stay on top of customer needs. All by logging in to one easy-to-use system.

    Affordable, ticket-based pricing

    When the previous software used by Bedrooms Plus changed its pricing structure to a per-user, per-month plan, the rates for Craig and his team were set to skyrocket. He says their price would have increased by six or seven times what they were already paying. But with Replyco, the rates are based on how many total tickets per month a company handles — and users are unlimited. This means you can have as many users as you want taking care of customer inquiries and your price will stay the same.

    Why you should try Replyco

    Does Bedrooms Plus company director Craig McCormack recommend Replyco to other ecommerce sellers? He offers a resounding, “Yes!” When asked how he would describe Replyco, he says, “In one word: essential. That’s the only word I could use to describe Replyco.”

    Many companies face the same challenges and needs described by the Bedrooms Plus team. If you want to improve customer service, boost ROI and take control of your messaging, come and take a tour of Replyco’s features, or better yet: start your free trial today!

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