When shopping for your home - it's personal. Home is where we unwind after a long day, where we spend quality time with family and friends. It’s where we play, entertain and, for many of us, it’s where we work. At Wayfair, we are focused on giving everyone the power to create spaces that are just right for them, and our award-winning Customer Service team plays an essential role in that. From sharing specialized product expertise for a home improvement project, or providing a delivery update for a much-anticipated crib, to being there to make it right if things go wrong, our team supports our customers every step of the way.
This Customer Service Appreciation Week, we sat down with Sanjeev Sahni, Head of North America Service, to hear how our team is helping to deliver the best possible shopping experience for home.
When a customer contacts Wayfair, what can they expect?
First and foremost, our customers can expect that we have their back. All of our Service agents are empowered to take the best action or make the best decision for the customer. We have their best interests in mind — always. Customers can also expect that we’re prepared to meet whatever unique needs they may have. Whether we're serving business customers, Canadian customers, Spanish and French speakers and more, we have specific teams to help.
Wayfair was recognized with a
2021 Stevie Award for Customer Service. To what would you attribute that recognition?
Our Service agents are the primary reason we earned this recognition. Our entire team works to empathize with our customers, to understand why they’re contacting us, and to provide a solution that is unique to each situation. They are able to spend their time and energy to think through “how best can we make the customer happy,” centrally focusing on that as a true goal of their interaction.
What makes Wayfair's Customer Service team unique?
In a unique category like Home, answers and perspectives from a real person matter. When our Service agents connect with a customer, we make that person-to-person count, and in the way the customer prefers — whether they want to talk via phone, email or chat, we're there. Our Service agents take the time to understand each customer's unique needs. Oftentimes, customers contact us because something has happened that’s made them unhappy. Part of our Service agents’ role is to understand why the customer is unhappy and get to the root cause.
What does “making it right” mean to Wayfair? Where do you start?
Many times, conversations with customers start with a request to fix a problem, like “I want to return this item.” Above and beyond simply taking action on this, our Service agents want to understand why. By approaching the situation with empathy, perhaps it comes out that the customer actually likes the item, but they’re missing the correct tool to put it together. Our Service agents are empowered to think critically and creatively to help solve that problem so that the customer can keep their item — and get the help they need — whether that's receiving a replacement part or a discount so they can use the money saved to purchase the necessary tool at their local hardware store.
Our Service agents are always customizing their response based on the individual customer need, specific scenario, and related timing — I think that’s what really differentiates us.