SmugMug’s Stellar Support Catapults Them to 94% Customer Satisfaction

SmugMug is a place made for photographers, by photographers. The priority is to empower photographers to tell the stories they want to in the way they want to. 

SmugMug has built-in systems to keep billions of photos safe in every sense: their pixels, bytes, access, and rights. This way, photographers can showcase their photos with ease. The company listens to its customers and builds what they need, and LiveChat makes the communication between SmugMug and its customers easier.

The challenge

Diversified support options for customers

SmugMug provided only email support before they installed LiveChat. Since it never wanted to offer phone support, the company was looking for an additional, efficient communication channel. Director of Support at SmugMug, Barb Gates, explained:

We wanted to give our customers almost instant access to our support agents and adding a live chat platform was the best way to do that.

Barb Gates, SmugMug

SmugMug needed a simple chat feature that was easy to learn and use, and they got that with LiveChat. It seamlessly integrated into the support platform they were using at the time.

The solution

A personalized approach and data are the keys to success

SmugMug’s support team consists of 32 people that chat daily with its community of photographers and potential customers. The chat is available 12 hours a day from Monday to Friday.

LiveChat’s features help SmugMug communicate with its customers. For instance, because of message sneak-peek, the agents can see what customers are typing before they hit the “send” button. This helps the agents reduce response time. Support process manager at SmugMug, Denise Twum, said:

With message sneak-peek, we’re able to ‘wow’ the customers by looking for answers based on what they are already typing.

Denise Twum, SmugMug

Visitor information shows data about customers that allows for more personalized service. When you know a visitor’s location, you can potentially use it in a conversation to better connect with the customer. 

Other valuable features include chat archives and transcripts that they use to review and follow up on the cases. SmugMug also turned on notifications to never miss customers waiting to chat on the website.

Whenever an agent feels their colleague can handle a case better, they use chat transfers to move a customer to another agent who can assist that customer in a specific area.

SmugMug’s team also uses statistics and chat reports to improve their service. With LiveChat, they can check their customers’ satisfaction, the average time it takes to handle cases and solve tickets, and much more.

The result

Customer satisfaction that’s nearly maxed out

SmugMug’s customers have been pleased with LiveChat. The company sees the difference LiveChat makes, especially during emergency moments when support is needed immediately. Twum said:

LiveChat has been beneficial because it allows customers to reach us right away whenever they have critical issues.

Denise Twum, SmugMug

SmugMug receives a lot of inquiries daily, which is why LiveChat support is available in higher-priced plans. With over 1,000 chats each month, SmugMug’s customer satisfaction reached a spectacular 94%.

Kuba Rogalski

LiveChat