Approaching a common problem in an uncommon way, read this white paper on a successful use of the design thinking process.

1. Customer Support—e-commerce
A Case Study by Diane Jacobsen
curiosita, LLC
January 2011
Background: A global leader in online e-commerce had uncovered signifcant issues with
the way it was addressing its customer support demands. These issues focused on, (but
were not limited to) the following areas of concern:
• Inconsistent and conficting responses to customers requesting help.
• No master knowledge/content management system or process in place to support
members or agents.
• Issue identifcation, categorization and naming conventions vary drastically across
channels with members left to rationalize relationships and continuity.
• No centralized system, framework or process existed across stores, or geographies.
• Data related to responses was growing exponentially with existing data base
nearing maximum capacity.
The result to the company of these cascading issues caused a signifcant increase in
processing costs and margin loss due to refunds and returns. In addition, customers were
increasingly confused and disappointed in terms of gaining resolution to their support
inquiries and internal customer service ratings were further proof of this situation.
Desired Solution: The approach for this solution was focused around the replacement of
multiple, disparate systems with a single, unifed effort involving both the front-end and
back-end of the data base. The goal was to reduce the number of redundant systems,
reduce data and improve process resulting in signifcant reduction in refunds and return
costs while improving customer service ratings.
Design Approach & Testing: In the Context phase of this project, existing systems and data
models were evaluated in order to set the groundwork for the creation of a new global
taxonomy for all e-commerce stores and help related systems. Global stakeholders were
interviewed in the US, EU and Asia to fully understand the current situation and the
reasons for and barriers to change. In the ideation phase the team evaluated best
practices for on-line customer service and working closely with stakeholders collaboratively
developed a single taxonomy for all help requests and responses. The recommended
taxonomy was extensively tested with end users and then further challenged by scaling a
large sample of existing data to test the long term viability of the both the short and long-
term strategies.
Copyright 2011 curiosita, LLC All Rights Reserved 1

2. Result: Utilizing the Curiosita Design Thinking Process, the team was able to refocus the
help function onto the end user creating a customer-centric vision of the future.
Requirements for a single desktop application were developed to facilitate the RFP process.
Standardized templates and metadata were created for the entry of data and the process
was improved and standardized across all stores and geographies. The team trained
administrators and established a governance process and board to maintain the changes
long term.
The entire process and system was simplifed resulting in shorter service times
with more consistency and accountability. The new structure allowed the administrators to
delete redundant fles resulting in available capacity, this allowed the team the time needed
to design and build a replacement solution.The reduction in eNotes responses (a result of the
new taxonomy) eliminated 2/3rds of the data which allowed the team to easily transition the
existing system.
#
For More Information, please contact:
Diane Jacobsen, Principal
curiosita, LLC
Seattle,WA
email: dianej@curiosita.biz
web: www.curiosita.biz
Copyright 2011 curiosita, LLC All Rights Reserved 2