Avaya IP Office Helps Eye, Lips, Face Through the Holidays

Eyes, Lips, Face (e.l.f) an online retailer and small medium enterprise providing cosmetics for cost conscious consumers, has announced it is relying on IP communications from Avaya (News - Alert) to get through the upcoming holiday season.

 

Using Avaya's IP Office solution, the online retailer hopes to keep customer's satisfaction rates high as well as increase sales, even during tough economic times.

 

On Cyber Monday, a day that’s growing as key for holiday shopping- even more than Black Friday (News - Alert)- e.l.f hopes it can capture buyers with their low cost cosmetic products including eyeliner, lipstick and blush.

 

The company, which has grown significantly and is attracting thousands of customers, realized it needed to improve its contact center operations and customer service efforts to achieve their goal of keeping and gaining customers.

 

Instead of an outsourced contact center based on the other side of the country, the New York-based company chose to implement Avaya's IP Office software platform. Through the implementation, the company was able to speed up service thanks to improved call routing, decrease hold times, and answer questions more quickly for customers.

 

While improved call routing is essential to customer relationships, it is especially important during the holiday shopping season when customers are looking for the fastest, easiest ways to get their shopping done.

 

With Avaya IP Office, e.l.f can provide agents to answer questions ranging from cosmetics advice and color choices to the status of orders.

 

"Our entire New York City office is just 30 people, with 20 serving as dedicated customer service agents," said Joe Shamah, president of e.l.f. "But even though we are a small enterprise, we have big business demands all year round, 24/7, and we approach our customer service in that manner."

 

This improved, professional image will help the company to grow their business and strengthen their image with customers, who will likely make future purchases if their experience is a good one.

ICCS, an Avaya SMB Expert BusinessPartner that manages information technology for e.l.f. recommended and implemented Avaya IP Office- allowing the company to bring their contact center operations in-house.

"We trust ICCS with our Information Technology management, and the fact that they are an Avaya BusinessPartner made our decision to go with IP Office easy," said Shamah. "Along with our IT, ICCS manages our Avaya IP Office solution with great efficiency, enabling us to focus our full attention on our business, and give us peace of mind as we embark on the upcoming holiday season."

By eliminating their outsourced contact center, e.l.f was also able to cut those expenses by 80 percent and, with improved reporting thanks to Avaya IP office, the company can make better decisions and more effectively assess their resources.

 

With Avaya IP Office, e.l.f can also add customer care agents and answer calls during to fluctuating demands like during the holidays.

 

"Avaya IP Office gives us the best way to handle the rigorous and unpredictable communications workloads of this holiday season," adds Shamah. "For example, the system's 'hot desking' feature lets us have new agents log into existing communications set ups, so if we need to increase a shift from 8 hours a day to 16 hours, we can let one agent leave and another one come in using the same set. This keeps business flowing even as customer inquiries are peaking."

 

Earlier this year, Avaya's IP Office was honored with a 2008 INTERNET TELEPHONY Excellence Award.

 

"Advancing IP communications and providing solutions that add significant value in this marketplace has earned Avaya recognition from the editors of INTERNET TELEPHONY in the form of an INTERNET TELEPHONY Excellence Award," said Greg Galitzine (News - Alert), editorial director of INTERNET TELEPHONY. "IP Office has excelled in delivering communications solutions for its customers, who are extremely pleased and have offered their testaments of support."