Providing top-notch customer service isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing. Great customer service can help you build brand loyalty and grow your sales on Faire.
To help you take your support experience to the next level, we’ve launched a new customer service analytics tool. You can use this data to see how you’re performing on key order fulfilment metrics, including shipping orders on time, fulfilling orders after accepting them, delivering complete orders, and responding to messages on time.
Retailers factor these parts of the order experience into their reordering decisions as they’re choosing which brands to buy from on Faire. That’s why we’ve rounded up some guidance and best practices to help you make the most of this new customer service analytics tool.
4 new customer service metrics to monitor
The four new customer service metrics – Late shipments, Cancelled orders, Missing or damaged items and Missed messages – include percentage scores based on your order and account history over the past 90 days. We also provide a target for you to meet and context on whether your score is on track, has room to improve, or needs attention. Visit our Help Centre for more information about how these scores are calculated.
We created this new page based on requests from brands wanting to see more detailed analytics, and we hope these metrics will be useful in improving the way you run your business. To access your customer service metrics, head to your Analytics page in your Faire brand portal. You’ll also receive a new customer service report via email every 90 days providing a snapshot of how you’re doing on these metrics.
Gauge your performance and take action
We’ve made it easy for brands to monitor where their shop is performing well on customer service and identify areas for improvement. You’ll see one of three coloured indicators next to each service metric in your Analytics page:
- Green: You’re on track
- Yellow: You have room to improve
- Red: This metric needs attention
Additionally, you can click “Review order issues” to dig deeper into each metric and better understand your scores through a timeline of relevant customer service issues from the past 90 days. Your overall performance on these metrics is not visible to retailers – our goal is to help you provide the best customer service possible and grow your business on Faire.
Now we’ll explore each of the four customer service metrics in more detail.
Late shipments
The “Late shipments” metric shows the percentage of your orders that were shipped after the expected ship date. Shipping on time can encourage buyers to place more orders with your brand – in the first half of 2022, the top 25% of our brands shipped 100% of their orders on time.
Most orders are considered late if they are shipped one or more business days (not including weekends or regional holidays) after the expected ship date.
Cancelled orders
The “Cancelled orders” metric shows the percentage of your brand’s orders that were cancelled for reasons within your control. Consistent fulfilment lets customers know they can rely on your brand, so this is an important metric for growing and maintaining sales.
- Pre-accept orders are considered cancelled for reasons within your brand’s control if they automatically expire after 30 days, items were incorrectly priced and/or out of stock, or the retailer cancelled due to a long lead time.
- Post-accept orders are considered cancelled for reasons within your brand’s control for any of the above reasons or if you cancel due to small order size, because you don’t sell to retailers in that country, or another valid reason.
Missing or damaged items
The “Missing or damaged items” metric shows how many of your orders were reported as such and includes any order with at least one damaged or missing item. We’ve seen that accurate orders can motivate customers to leave positive reviews, so this can have an indirect impact on your brand’s image and ranking on Faire in a big way.
This metric does not include orders with items reported missing or damaged that were successfully disputed or orders reported as fully missing due to a lost or stolen package.
Missed messages
When a retailer’s introductory message to your brand receives a late response – or no response at all – it’s accounted for in the “Missed messages” metric. Quick, accurate responses are key to great customer service – customers who get a prompt reply from a brand are 45% more likely to place a first order. Response time is also one of the easiest metrics to improve. (For starters, you can download the Faire app for brands to keep in touch with buyers while on the go.)
Late responses are messages you respond to more than two full business days after receiving them. The day the message is received, weekends, and holidays in your country are not counted toward this window. This metric applies only to opening messages from retailers. Follow-ups sent by retailers, messages that you mark as spam, conversations you initiated, and messages sent when you’re in Pause Mode are not counted.
💡 Tip: If you’re ever overwhelmed with orders, planning on travelling, or just need a break, you can always put your shop on Pause Mode. You won’t be expected to return messages or fulfil orders as long as your shop is in this mode.
Ready to take your customer service to the next level? Go to your Analytics page to see where you stand today so you can grow more sales tomorrow.