JOANN Partners With Gladly To Personalize Customer Service, Creating Happier Crafters

By moving to a modern customer service platform, the craft retailer reduced its email response times by 70%, lowering backlog by 93% while delivering more personal service

San Francisco, CA (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) - Gladly, the company making customer service radically personal, today announced its partnership with JOANN, the nation’s leading fabric and craft retailer. JOANN is using Gladly’s customer service platform to modernize its customer experience by putting customers at the center of a lifelong conversation, no matter where they are — from voice to modern messaging. Within the first month of using Gladly, JOANN reduced its weekly backlog of customer emails by 93 percent, and cut email response times by 70 percent. By investing in Gladly’s people-centered approach to service, JOANN is delivering a more personal experience and helping customers find their “creative happy place.”

JOANN has long been a destination for customers to find inspiration, guidance, and new skills, and the company is investing in optimizing the customer experience in its stores. As it grows its omnichannel and e-commerce capabilities, JOANN is also focused on modernizing the customer experience across all of its channels. After years of using legacy, disparate, single-channel customer service technologies, JOANN’s partnership with Gladly reflects the brand’s ongoing commitment to providing personalized, convenient service to its customers — and showing them how much they are valued.

“Since our partnership with Gladly, our customers could not be happier,” said Drew Chamberlain, Director of Store Operations and Customer Experience at JOANN. “For years, we saw customers reaching out across a variety of channels, but the technology made overall visibility a struggle, increasing wait times and risking customer drop-off. Not only have we seen significant results in reduced response times and email backlog, but Gladly has helped us develop more meaningful, personal relationships with our customers. For a brand that stands for individuality, that is the most valuable service a partner can provide.”

Gladly’s platform puts people at the center of a lifelong conversation to make great customer service the expectation, not the exception. The company starts with the customer and eliminates the old-school model of tickets and case numbers, facilitating a seamless conversation from voice to modern messaging –– all out of the box. Through Gladly, JOANN team members have visibility into a customer’s entire communication history and relationship with the brand and can switch seamlessly between channels, without interruption, to meet customers where they are.

Gladly enables the JOANN support team to intelligently route queries to the agents best suited to resolve specific concerns — so they can focus on what will best serve the individual on the other side of the phone. And Gladly’s intuitive interface allows agents to be onboarded in just a matter of days, a decrease of 3-4 weeks with previous platforms. With unified reporting across all communication channels, company leaders can better understand how the brand’s customer service is impacting the bottom line.

“Customers want to be treated like people, not cases to be resolved,” said Joseph Ansanelli, CEO and co-founder of Gladly. “To create a loyal customer base in today’s highly competitive market, brands must offer customer service that’s not just seamless and convenient, but feels personal and tailored to them. JOANN’s investment in customer service shows just how much the brand loves its customers — and how much investing in quality service can impact a company’s success.”

Brands interested in learning about the value the Gladly customer service platform provides can find more information about the technology here.

About Gladly
Gladly is the only platform making customer service radically personal by allowing agents to communicate with customers seamlessly across channels. Gladly centers customer service around the person, not a case or ticket number, giving agents full visibility of customers in a single view. With Gladly, the world’s most innovative consumer companies like JetBlue, JOANN, and TUMI develop lifelong customer relationships, not one-off experiences. Based in San Francisco, Gladly was founded in 2014 and is privately backed by industry leaders including Greylock, GGV Capital, NEA, and JetBlue Ventures.

About JOANN
For more than 75 years, JOANN has inspired creativity in the hearts, hands, and minds of its customers. From a single storefront in Cleveland, Ohio, the nation’s leading fabric and craft retailer has grown to include more than 865 stores across 49 states and an industry-leading e-commerce business. With the goal of helping every customer find their creative Happy Place, JOANN serves as a convenient single stop for all of the supplies, guidance, and inspiration needed to achieve any project or passion. For store locations, project ideas, and a full product offering, visit joann.com.

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