We can initiate calls directly, which makes it easier for our team to call customers and reduces misdials.
Mark Hansen
Customer Happiness Phone Team Manager, NakedWines.com
NakedWines.com takes full advantage of the RingCentral platform to keep their Angels singing… and sipping.
NakedWines.com is changing the way wine is made and enjoyed.
Their customers (who they call Angels) directly support independent winemakers in return for exclusive access to delicious handcrafted wines at insane prices.
Customers are called Angels
Angels put $40 a month into their nakedwines.com piggy-bank, money they spend on whatever wines they like, whenever they like, in return for 40–60% off exclusive wines, monthly samples and more, which helps us fund talented winemakers to follow their dreams.”
As investors as well as customers, Angels expect prompt service when they call with a question or need help with their order. NakedWines.com has tailored its RingEX™ implementation to make sure they get it. One of the most basic benefits comes from the design of phone queues, with a voice menu that encourages callers to categorize their type of inquiry, Mark Hansen, Customer Happiness Phone Team Manager at the company says, “We ask customers to select from a short list what they are calling for: to place an order, join as an Angel, to track a shipment or any other queries. This way we can direct their calls to a specific queue where we can best handle their inquiry.”
In addition to being one of the first to do a custom integration with the RingCentral APIs, NakedWines.com served as a beta tester for the new Live Reports feature of RingEX to monitor call queues and adjust staffing so customers will not be left hanging on hold.
The challenge: a growing, worldwide operation
Founded in 2008 in Norwich, England, NakedWines.com has been a RingEX customer since 2010, which was when it first opened an office in the Napa, California. RingCentral allowed the company to establish a common phone system that worked in both locations, with affordable internet calling between them.
“The scalability from a company standpoint—being able to grow and shrink as needed—has been huge for us,” Hansen says. Adding a new extension is as simple as plugging a new phone in to an internet socket, and moving operations is a breeze because everything is in the cloud, he says. Derek Hardy, Chief Technology Officer at NakedWines.com, says he appreciates the way RingCentral simplifies his job. “Not having to worry about the telephones means that I can get on and do IT work, and the phones just work,” he says.
At the same time, simple victories emboldened NakedWines.com to get more ambitious about its use of RingCentral services.
We ask customers to select from a short list what they are calling for: to place an order, join as an Angel, to track a shipment or any other queries. This way we can direct their calls to a specific queue where we can best handle their inquiry.
Mark Hansen
Customer Happiness Phone Team Manager, NakedWines.com
Pioneering new services
With a click-to-call function for its customer service and support software, NakedWines.com became one of the first RingCentral customers to take advantage of the RingCentral API platform for a custom integration. That was worth a little extra programming, Hardy says. “We can initiate calls directly, which makes it easier for our team to call customers and reduces misdials.”
More recently, NakedWines.com participated in the beta program for RingCentral Live Reports, which provides real-time data on the performance of call queues. That allows Hansen to rebalance staff members assigned to the four queues or pull in additional staff if necessary. “With Live Reports, I can monitor the traffic on those queues and see who’s holding, how many calls we have taken on a queue, how many agents we have available, how many missed calls, and what our service level is. I can slice and dice the data on those queues very finely and ensure we have the right number of staff available to service our customers.”
Live Reports makes it easier for Hansen to spot emerging patterns in the call traffic and prevent problems, rather than waiting until the call queues are overloaded. “Live Reports really helps us shine a light and get visibility into what’s coming our way and proactively plan our staffing based on these patterns and call volume forecasts.”
Like fine wine, customer service benefits from attention to detail, and NakedWines.com is producing a better vintage with the help of RingCentral.
