When customers order a product from Stardust Memorials they may well be seeking customer service during one of the most emotionally painful moments of their lives.
Stardust Memorials, Traverse City, MI, is the nation’s premier online retail source for cremation urns for people, cremation jewelry, pet urns, flag cases and other memorial products. The company has provided service to thousands of families and funeral homes. It offers more than 30,000 premium memorial products complemented by personalized engraving and rapid delivery.
“We knew the choice of our call center services partner was a very important decision,” said Jordan Lindberg, CEO, who started Stardust Memorials in 2010. “Customers form their whole impression of our company based on their telephone interaction experience. We needed a call center with representatives who are empathetic and compassionate, who have the ability and maturity to support customers who may be emotionally distraught, yet also able to effectively help them through the product selection process. OnBrand24 and its representatives understand this very well. They’ve been a major contributor to our company.”
Naturally, close attention to customers’ questions and instructions is critically important.
“It’s often the case that we take an order for a custom urn with personalized engraving that has to be delivered for a funeral or memorial service within two or three days,” said Lindberg. “There is no room for error – getting the order right is an absolute must. OnBrand24 has consistently delivered the highest quality accurate customer service.”
The Beverly, MA-based call center services company provides Stardust Memorials after-hours customer support from 5 to 9 p.m. on weekdays, enabling live call center customer service for the company’s West Coast customers, and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends. OnBrand24 also handles overflow activity during regular business hours when there are too many inbound calls for Stardust Memorial’s in-house staff to answer themselves.
“One thing I respect about OnBrand24’s representatives is that they never guess at an answer to a customer’s question,” said Lindberg. “Guessing at answers, making promises that turn out to be false, can really get you into trouble. OnBrand24’s people are never afraid to tell a customer they aren’t sure of an answer about engraving or shipping time, and rather than giving them bad information they will check with us and get back to the customer ASAP.”
Stardust Memorials has grown rapidly and is on pace to double in size this year, which Lindberg credits in part to OnBrand24.
“We realize revenue from many after-hours and weekend customer orders that we wouldn’t have without extended coverage,” Lindberg said. “And we have gotten consistently good feedback from customers on the customer experience they received. Satisfied customers tell their friends about companies they like, and I’m sure that’s helped our growth too.”
Lindberg foresees a strong future with OnBrand24.
“I’ve dealt with many call centers,” he said. “A lot of them try to scrimp and cut pennies any way they can, which can hurt service quality and be a real problem. There are a lot of 10-cents-a-minute or off-shore call centers, but that’s really not right for a high-touch company like ours where each customer interaction has a lot of detail. That’s why OnBrand24 is great – the quality of their service matches the requirements of the quality service we provide our customers.
“Like every business manager I spend thousands on a variety of different channels. But the money I spend with OnBrand24 is the best we spend. It’s been a great partnership for us.”