Joann elevates the customer service conversation

A craft and fabric specialty retailer is turning customer communications into a coherent, lifetime connection.

Joann is deploying the Gladly customer service platform to replace its existing environment of legacy, disparate, single-channel customer service technologies. Within the first month of using Gladly, Joann reduced its weekly backlog of customer emails by 93%, and cut email response times by 70%. 

In addition to streamlining management of email communications, the Gladly platform enables Joann to eliminate customer service tickets and case numbers. Instead, Joann can engage in seamless conversations with customers across and between all channels, without interruption. This includes voice and text as well as email. 

Joann customer service agents now have visibility into a customer’s entire communication history and relationship with the company, and can switch seamlessly between channels during a conversation as needed. They can also intelligently route queries to the agents best suited to resolve specific concerns.

Furthermore, Joann can now onboard customer service agents in three to four days, compared to the previous three-to-four-week onboarding period. With unified reporting across all communication channels, senior management can better understand how the retailer’s customer service is impacting the bottom line.

“Since our partnership with Gladly, our customers could not be happier,” said Drew Chamberlain, director of store operations and customer experience at Joann. “For years, we saw customers reaching out across a variety of channels, but the technology made overall visibility a struggle, increasing wait times and risking customer drop-off. Not only have we seen significant results in reduced response times and email backlog, but Gladly has helped us develop more meaningful, personal relationships with our customers.”

Joann operates more than 865 stores across 49 states and an e-commerce business.