Listening To Your Customers: The Path To Success

As a startup, it's essential to get a good product developed that meets your vision; what many growth-oriented companies tend to forget, though, is that this product has to be built to serve our customers in the best way possible. A vision, or even an incredible product that doesn't connect and adapt to the daily needs of its users, is inevitably bound to fail.  

Tate Hackert, President and Co-Founder of ZayZoon, understood this early on. He spent time directly interacting with customers in a customer service capacity when the company was launched. 

“I saw it as a way to really learn the business from the point of the customer and take those learnings back and figure out exactly what process would work to better service them. Not just the CS process, but the overall product. You get to see the quirks and the issues. The things that people like.”

This hands-on approach meant Hackert was able to understand what’s important to our customers and align our product and service offerings with their financial needs. It was the key to figure out what ZayZoon can do differently to better service customers.

What resulted was the creation of the Customer Success team where the role goes above and beyond answering customer inquiries. 

“As we looked to build out the team at ZayZoon, it was important we have members that embody our core values; Trust, Mastery, Hustle and People Driven. Being able to treat customer inquiries with urgency and care is a delicate balance,” Hackert says.

Additionally, Hackert recognized the Customer Success team needed to have extra drive to get the job done and truly serve our customers. “We are counting on the CS team to not to just have the mentioned qualities but they need to be freaking smart and intuitive and be able to surface problems, recognize unique situations and things customers are speaking about, interact with development, communicate with product, connect with the operations team and ultimately be the conduit of how do we improve the process, the product for the end customer.”

This strategy has proven to be successful, as we've worked to gain the confidence of our customers who have given us a 4.9/5 average customer review rating.

This type of team ethic helped the Customer Success team navigate uncharted waters when the COVID-19 pandemic affected individuals around the world. 

While many companies struggled to operate with pre-pandemic policies, resulting in customer frustration and anger, the ZayZoon team went back to basics.  All activities and interactions were aligned to provide an outstanding customer experience while maintaining a clear understanding of our purpose: financial wellness, even during these uncertain times.  

“COVID meant a shake up to personal lives, professional lives and businesses themselves. It was new ground for everyone. For the Customer Success team, it meant an increase in understanding and empathy required when dealing with customers.”

Hackert admits that “It’s easy to pigeon hole CS to the task of supporting customers, but in a high-growth company, and especially one going through a pandemic, the requirements of CS are much more. Product changes occur quickly and constantly, requiring a sharp mind to stay up to date and communicate appropriate information to customers. Other teams look to CS for guidance on how to best treat certain issues. What are customers saying? Where are the pain points? How can the product be changed to accommodate this?”

Lem Edillon, Customer Success Team Manager, admits high customer ratings are a reflection of the passion the team displays daily.

"I am extremely proud of the Customer Success Team for providing exceptional front-line support to the customers or ZayZoon while also providing critical feedback to our development team to improve the overall customer experience. The Customer Success Team displays incredible teamwork and hustle to ensure our customers are able to access their earned wages when they needed it most."

As many people experience stress and anxiety during this time, Edillon hopes the CS team is able to provide a small measure of relief through customer interactions. “Over the past year, the pandemic has had such a massive impact on the lives of many of our customers. It's been really inspiring to be a part of a team that can provide financial assistance during times of incredible uncertainty.”