Expanding Customer Services into the Digital Realm

When I heard about a job opening at Sephora, I decided to give it a try – afterall, I’ve worked with Sephora on several Customer Relationship Management (CRM) projects in my previous role. Running Sephora is a lot more complex than running a business with a single beauty brand. To support my transition, my manager and colleagues provided me great guidance and encouragement. After six months, things started to fall into place.

Sephora loves taking bold decisions, especially in my function. When it comes to getting team members to work on new projects, our leaders care more about your interests and self-confidence rather than whether you have done it before. It’s a driving force that I truly admire and love – and it has been a great boost to my career transformation.

When I first joined Sephora, the company was moving towards a shared “omnichannel” vision and was challenged to find out what the omnichannel customer service experience would look like. Guided by our corporate DNA, I decided to take the customer service team out of their comfort zones by finding new ways in rejuvenating our online customer service channels and ensuring we understand the needs of our customers by analysing their comments and sentiments on social media.

A Strong Team is a Strong Backbone

The CRM team has a deep emotional bond with Sephora. We see ourselves as custodians of the brand. We are online 365 days a year, dealing with a wide range of needs, and as long as our customers trust us, we will always return their trust by never letting them down. Our philosophy is to put ourselves in our customers’ shoes. In addition to external customers, Sephora’s employees occasionally call our hotline for help. We always try our best to help them with whatever they need so they can focus on the front-end of business.

The sudden outbreak of the pandemic at the beginning of 2020 was a massive challenge. Customer service is a very specialized job. It requires reliable equipment and a quiet environment, and it has been extremely difficult working from home. In order to keep our promise to our customers of “uninterrupted service”, we had to simply rise to the occasion and do our best to adjust best we could. In the end, all our online services stayed available and telephone customer service side experience only a 1.5-day delay…a wonderful result.

An Endless Evolution of our Team’s Capabilities and Perspectives

Cross-functional and cross-departmental collaboration is the norm in Sephora. When members of different teams work together, they can unlock opportunities and go beyond expectations. My department is no exception. We are constantly reflecting on our existing frameworks and exploring shifts in our mindset that will benefit Sephora as a whole.

People Make The Difference, and it rings true at Sephora. By removing the limitations on people – potentials shine. Over the past three years, I have witnessed that even in business-as-usual times, our transformation continues. Many norms and barriers still exist and are just awaiting to be broken. I’m looking forward to this Endless Evolution!