VP, CX Insights & Community at PartnerHero | Talking about creating your customer experience from scratch. I build and scale customer-facing teams that give a shit and can help you do the same.

I transitioned from being a barista to working in customer experience 20 years ago, and life hasn't been the same since.

I've been fortunate enough to work at companies like Wistia, Atlassian, Trello and Appcues. I've worked with amazing customer-facing folks to create scalable strategies and delight customers. 

Now, I spend my time helping to elevate leaders of teams and empower them to create the best customer experience. Employee-centered teams with simple, beautiful processes are where I find my joy.

Outside of my work with Boldr, I also consult and write for businesses such as Help Scout, HubSpot, and others. Let's work together!

Mercer Smith

Some of you have never spent 3 hours wrestling with a Zapier webhook payload, crying, googling “why won’t this JSON work,” and then discovering you missed ONE curly brace…and it shows.

I just thought I'd give Zapier's copilot a little spin to create a custom Slack bot and it just...works? What?

Send help, I'm about to automate everything.

CX Strategy & Solutions at Boldr; Author of CXOXO | Talking about creating your customer experience from scratch. I build and scale customer-facing teams that care and can help you do the same.

If you're feeling the ripple effects today… you’re not alone. Lots of DTC/ecomm teams are feeling the Shopify wobble, and EVERYONE is quietly doing the same 3–4 moves to keep things sane. If you're stressed, here are the things that actually help (and you can do all of them in the next 15 minutes):

1) Set expectations everywhere customers look.
Homepage banner, help center note, updated auto-replies, one pinned social post. Nothing fancy, just “We’re experiencing platform issues; replies may be delayed; your order is safe.” This alone cuts inbound fast.

2) Switch support into triage mode.
Not everything needs to be answered right now. Focus on:
 • cancellations
 • address changes
 • fraud/chargebacks
 • time-sensitive shipping issues
 For everything else, acknowledge the limitation and promise a follow-up once visibility returns.

3) Use any source of truth that isn’t affected.
If your 3PL, WMS, ShipStation, AfterShip, or carriers are still giving clean data, respond from that. If you can’t confirm something, don’t guess! It’s okay to say “we’ll follow up when system access is back.”

4) Don’t add pressure while things are wobbly.
Lots of teams are temporarily slowing promos or pausing paid spend until checkout/admin visibility stabilizes. 

Does anyone have a great reply that they've used or ARE using in this case that could help the class? If so, drop it below.

But genuinely: you’re doing great. You’re not powerless. There are moves you can make TODAY that lower chaos immediately. You’ve got this. Happy Cyber Monday!

Some of you are out here using AI for PrOdUcTiViTy while I am creating a GPT to DM and manage 4 other AI-generated player characters through Curse of Strahd because I can’t maintain a regular game night and I miss tabletop. 

We are not the same.

Average Handle Time is the MLM of CX metrics. It really is out here “Hey Girl”-ing your entire org.

It's all fun and games until you realize the whole thing is propped up by bad incentives, magical thinking, and a promise that “if you just do MORE, you’ll be successful.”

It rewards hustle over outcomes (“Just answer faster! Grind harder! Crank those numbers!”). It turns your team into performers instead of problem-solvers. It punishes anyone dealing with real complexity, and the only people who benefit are the ones SELLING THE NARRATIVE (hi, CFO dashboards).

Fast doesn’t equal good. Short conversations don’t equal resolution. And also, spoiler alert, if your human AHT isn’t going up, it means your bot isn’t doing nearly enough/the right things.

One time I accidentally reopened 40k closed tickets, and when I reached out to Desk support to try to get help they said that I was SOL. So instead, I had to operationalize a dream team of my colleagues to help tackle the backlog and get back to a good place with the queue.

Nightmares like these can be learned from. Let my (and our other speakers') mistakes be your advantage.

Come hang out on the 20th to get more! and bring your own stories!!

Open article: Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: “When SaaS teams learn the hard way”. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar. by zoom.us

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: “When SaaS teams learn the hard way”. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.

Everyone in CX has a horror story, the kind where you think it can’t get worse… until it does.

We are 3 days away from our Masterclass for SaaS leaders who’ve lived through the burn-it-all-down kind of CX chaos: angry customers, team burnout, and “we’ll fix it later” moments that came too late.

In 45 minutes, we’ll show you where to actually invest in CX to improve retention, which tools are worth your time (👀 CSAT, we’re looking at you), and how to turn CX from a cost center into a growth advantage.

📅 November 20th
🕛 12:00 PM CT
Come for the lessons. Stay for the laughs. 

🔗 Register now: https://hubs.ly/Q03TB00g0

Content & Comms Strategist | Knowledge Manager | Experience Architect

Hi, friends! As my temporary contract as a Senior Support Content Strategist at Coinbase comes to a close, I’m looking for my next step.

I don’t just write communications and content - I build the systems behind them. Mature operations, smoother reviews, and faster launches. That’s the impact that I bring.

Over the last few years, I’ve focused on:

 🔨 Building scalable knowledge base & help center content
 🔁 Designing and maturing the systems that power content intake, production, and review
 🤖 Structuring content for both AI-forward and human-first support experiences
 📣 Strengthening change management and team culture through thoughtful internal and executive communications

I’m open to opportunities in:

 🧠 Knowledge management
 📖 Content operations & marketing operations
 💬 Internal communications
 🌐 Web content production & maintenance
 🎯 Program and project management
 ❓ More? My skills flex into all sorts of roles!

And while I’m flexible on industry, I have deep experience in:

 💰 Fintech & financial education
 🎨 Artist tools & the creator economy
 📺 Entertainment, media, & events

I’m largely looking for a full-time role, but I’m also open to contract and freelance opportunities. If something crosses your feed that feels “very Alex,” please send it my way!

I’m lucky to have built meaningful relationships with so many talented teammates and collaborators, and I’m grateful for the support as I figure out what’s next. ✨

Customer Experience Maven, Events & Community Enthusiast, and Believer in the Best in People.

🐍 2025 was a 9 year, an ending year, the year of the snake. A year to slither out of that old skin that doesn't fit or leave room for growth and cast it behind, drying to dust. 2026 is a 1-year, the new beginning year, the year of the horse. We gallop into our future, trodding over the broken dreams of this horrible, tension-filled year, and we propel ourselves into the next, great things waiting for us with ferocity. To wrap up the 2025 year in CX, Erica Clayton, Mercer Smith, and I are going live on Dec 10! What a year it's been, and what a future we're stepping into.  🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎

Never heard of the phrase shadow support, but Ben is wicked smart so I’m curious!!

Regional Director for North America at Helpfeel

Shadow support is huge and growing fast. It's when customers go to reddit, a group chat, or their favorite personal AI instead of getting support from an official channel 👻  

Help me get a pulse on this:

You may have heard of shadow IT. Have you heard of shadow support?

The author can see how you vote. Learn more

My nine year old just asked me “mama, how did bowser raise his funding?”

Happy Saturday.

I love seeing others sharing the stuff that I see about our company. Feels good to be seen. Thank you Neal Travis 🌱 for sharing this and your kind words.

Helping professionals be better at what they do - Head of CX @ AIHR - Host of Growth Support

Came across this interesting piece of news yesterday. 

It's a move from Boldr showcasing how classic BPOs are evolving in the new landscape of CX. 

Boldr is launching services that go beyond staffing, and is now supporting the work that leads to it. (https://www.boldr.cx/)

There is a huge opportunity here. 

You might think that you need a BPO or more people because of the way that you have your operations in place. 

But you might be missing some key pieces ahead of that. 
Are they set up in the best way possible in the first place?

I think it's a pretty great move by Boldr 
Ensuring that customers are set up to scale smarter, not harder

Especially in an age of CX that is dominated by smarter technology, where just needing to fill seats is no longer something that works.

What do you think? Are more 'Operations Partners' becoming needed?

P.S. See the full release here from CEOTimes: https://lnkd.in/e9uuErim

Yo have you ever seen a better lineup? I'm not on the picture, but I will ALSO be leading this conversation with the ever amazing Chrissy and Jessica-Rose. 

If you are looking at 2026 and shakin' in your boots, feel that fear no more.

Your 2026 CX plan isn’t going to magically appear in your stocking, unfortunately.

We’re bringing in a trio of CX minds who know how to turn year-end chaos into clarity: Jessica-Rose Garcia, Chrissy Sebald, and our host Mercer Smith. Together, they’ll share their tips on how to step back, rethink what actually matters, and build a 2026 plan that doesn’t immediately ⚠️self-destruct⚠️.

📅 December 17th 
⏰ 12:00 PM CT

Because if you wait until January to get strategic, 2026 is going to roll in like “Hey bestie, remember that pile of unresolved CX problems?”

Jen is amazing, and any role working with her would likely be sooooo much fun. If you are in the NYC area, have a look at what she's got cooking!

GM, US Operations & Head of Global Customer Support at Tapstitch | Sweetgreen CX Scale ($50M→$600M) | ex-Warby Parker | Building Customer Experience, Operations & Service Design Systems That Scale

I’m excited to share that I’ve stepped into a new role as GM of U.S. Operations & Head of Global Customer Support at Tapstitch.

We’re building the U.S. team from the ground up: owning the customer journey, GTM and lifecycle strategy, and the systems, culture, and operating model that will carry Tapstitch through our next phase of growth. I feel incredibly grateful for our 120+ cross-border teammates in Guangzhou whose garment sourcing, production, logistics, product, and development work is the backbone of everything we do.

Tapstitch is a fast-growing Series A company with a simple mission: to make it easy for creators, entrepreneurs, and small businesses to bring their fashion & brand ideas to life.

Our platform connects U.S. customers (and beyond) directly to a flexible fashion supply chain in China. We offer an on-trend catalog, powerful design tools, and seamless dropshipping so  creators can focus on what they do best: building their brand. We integrate with Shopify, Etsy, Wix, etc., making scale frictionless.
Our U.S. team in DUMBO is small but mighty: high-EQ, analytical, creative, and driven. Every day we get to partner with inspiring customers across industries and creator communities.

And now… we’re hiring.
I’m looking for creative, analytical builders who want to shape something from day one. Open roles:
Customer Success Manager
CX Strategy & Standards Manager
CX Vendor & Workforce Optimization Manager
If you love building systems, improving experiences, and working closely with creators and entrepreneurs, there’s so much opportunity here.

We’re NYC-based, working out of a sunny loft in DUMBO, and moving fast.
If this sparks something for you (or someone you know), drop me a note!

PS: This also doubles as my ‘I’m officially back in NYC’ announcement. If you have any great gluten-free or dairy-free spots, farmers markets, or epic coffee shops, the Californian in me would love your recs.

The power of AI AND HUMANS TOGETHER cannot be understated.

As customer expectations rise, evolving from a scripted chatbot to a generative AI agent isn’t just smart; it’s essential. At IPSY, making that shift helped us achieve a 943% ROI in just four months.

I recently connected with the ada CX team to discuss IPSY’s AI transformation journey and the progress we’ve made in a short amount of time. Since launching our ACX program earlier this year, the results have been exceptionally strong. The momentum has given us the confidence to continue investing and to pursue even more ambitious opportunities.

This work has meaningfully elevated the role of Customer Care across IPSY. Our advancements in AI have unlocked new investments, strengthened cross-functional partnerships, and set a new standard for how we approach automation across the organization.

While AI is central to this progress, the driving force has been the people leading it. I want to recognize Anna Prince (Ricci), our AI & Automation Strategy Manager, whose early leadership played a pivotal role in our success.

For the full story, you can read the case study here:

Open article: IPSY | Ada | Case Study | Ada by ada.cx

Odyssey

• Optimized automations and introduced AI to absorb 5x growth in ticket volume over 9 months by increasing support staff by only 10%, resulting in a streamlined and efficient support operation.
• Led a global support organization managing a team of specialists dedicated to delivering exceptional service to our partners, enhancing overall support quality and satisfaction.
• Oversaw end-to-end support operations, including SLAs, ticket routing, knowledge base, customer satisfaction, and systemic improvements, ensuring consistent and high-quality support delivery.
• Identified and implemented new strategies to enhance our support model, aligning with Odyssey's mission of expanding access to high-quality education, driving continuous improvement and innovation in support services.
• Leveraged analytics and insights to evaluate support metrics, trends, and opportunities, resulting in improved products, programs, and processes through data-driven decision-making.
• Fostered a collaborative and empowering team culture focused on excellence, empathy, integrity, and grit, enhancing team performance and morale.

Director of Support

Readyly

Advisor to the Board

SwiftCX

CXperiences

Founded and operated consulting firm dedicated to creating exceptional customer experiences that drive business growth and success.
Specializing in:
• CX Coaching for Startups, empowering them for effective customer success and experience strategies.
• Operations Management, optimizing efficiency and productivity for superior customer experiences.
• Leadership Development, instilling a customer-centric mindset and creating a culture of excellence.
• Technical Solutions, integrating the right tools and technologies for enhanced customer experiences.
• Cross-Functional Leadership, fostering collaboration and synergy across departments.
• Data and KPI Analysis, utilizing insights for continuous improvement.
• Measurable Cost Savings, achieving efficiency without compromising quality.

Founder and CCO

Zendesk

Collaborating with Founders and CX leaders in Zendesk's startup community to coach and mentor them on developing their CX strategies.  Focusing on automation, data-driven insights, and innovative CX strategies to level up companies to meet ever-changing consumer needs in an all-digital world.

Volunteer CX Coach at Zendesk for Startups

Noom

●	Lead cross-departmental implementation of ticket deflections in Webforms resulting in a 38% reduction in the number of tickets being submitted.
●	Spearheaded the reimplementation of Agent Productivity KPI resulting in a 30% reduction of the Cost Per Contact.
●	Partnered with the Learning & Development Team to implement Dynamic Content for multi-language support, leading to an 80% reduction in the number of Macros used and a 4% reduction in Average Handle Time.

Head of CX Tools & Technology

Ordway - Billing and Revenue Automation

Ordway is redefining what an interconnected sales and finance org looks for growing businesses. Built by a team that helped design much of the world’s cloud-based financial billing and ERP systems, Ordway modernizes the end-to-end billing process and eliminates the need for error-prone spreadsheets, manual accuracy checks during the monthly close process to ensure compliance to GAAP & IFRS, and time-consuming invoicing. Designed with the flexibility that today’s customers demand, and optimized to guide organizations during their growth phase, Ordway smartly manages a business’ most complex customers. Explore the platform at www.ordwaylabs.com.

Senior Director of Support

● Achieved 17% reduction in escalations while sustaining a 4x ticket increase.
● Drove customer behavior to self-help increasing article viewership by 48%, thus reducing ticket
submissions via email to 15% from 98%.
● Increased One-touch Resolution tickets by 40%.
● Reduced support costs by reducing the number of escalations to engineers by 29%.
● Created a customer-centric team with cross-functional efficiency and reduced overall MTTR for customer issues by Integrating Zendesk with Rippling, Salesforce, Jira, Slack, Litmos LMS, and Productboard.

OpenGov Inc.

Lead the Technical Support, Premium Services, Support Operations, and IT Services teams for OpenGov.

• Over my tenure we absorbed the increased number of cases created by our rapid growth, leading to 5x weekly ticket volume.  All of this has been achieved while maintaining a CSAT above 98%.
• Established 24 x 7 support coverage coupled with the rollout of omnichannel support that included, email, web, chat, phone, and messaging for the unification of the customer experience across all acquired companies.
• Continued staff training and development ensured that 90% of tickets are solved without the need to escalate to Engineering, and lead to the promotion of four agents to management positions, three to Account Management, and three to Product Management, all while completely eliminating unwanted attrition.
• Implemented Internal SLA Management between R&D and Support increasing cross-departmental efficiency and reducing overall MTTR for all customer issues, while reducing the R&D backlog by 50% within the first 3 months

• Rolled out a revamped Resource Center including the introduction of Chat support
• Developed automation of follow-ups on customer tickets reducing agent workload by 23%
• Introduced the use of forms with conditional fields to expedite initial triaging resulting in shorter resolution times
• Assumed leadership of the IT department upon the departure of the Director of IT and completed requirements for FedRAMP certification

Sr Manager, Technical Support

Reltio

Responsible for ensuring best-in-class service to customers using Reltio Data-driven applications. Establishing and running the processes and infrastructure to ensure support is always available, and build, train and manage a global team to meet the rapidly growing demands of Reltio’ expanding customer base. Provide 24x7, world-class technical support that helps customers get the most out of the applications, handles product support questions, troubleshooting, and escalating to Product Development as needed. 
• Established 24 x 7 support coverage with the use of staggered support shifts across five offices around the globe (United States, Russia, and India)
• Revamped Customer Success Plans to provide tiered levels SLA and monetize premier offerings
• Instituted KPIs for the Support Team leading to automated reports with analytics for continued improvement on efficiency and customer satisfaction
• Set up daily cross-departmental to review and address the progress on all urgent and escalated customer issues resulting on executive visibility and reduced customer effort
• Optimized Zendesk as our Incident Management center with 38 Macros, 105 triggers, and 15 timed automations to increase agent operational efficiency
• Integrated Zendesk with Jira, Gainsight, Aha!, Slack, Okta and Geckoboard for improved cross-departmental communications between Support and Engineering, Product Management, Professional Services, Partner Alliance, Sales, and Customer Success teams.
• Launched customized version of Customer Support Portal including multiple forms with conditional fields for faster routing of issues
• Authored and published policies, procedures, and workflows for reliable, relevant, resilient and repeatable performance across all shifts
• Led the creation and implementation of the SME, Queue Manager, and Critical Account Management programs to increase depth of knowledge on product, accounts and escalation management as part of staff development

​Senior Manager, Technical Support

Zuora

• Designed, implemented, and deployed trust.zuora.com. A public status page for transparent customer communication of uptime and incidents affecting our company
• Established the use of staggered support shifts to implement follow-the-sun support coverage based on ticket distribution trend analysis
• Led cross departmental initiative to integrate Salesforce, Jira, and Zendesk resulting on improved communications between engineering, product management, technical operations, professional services, sales, and customer success teams.
• Created workflows and automation methodologies to centralize all escalations into the company's incident management software 
• Produced training materials and imparted classes on new product release and features during our annual conference consequently driving adoption.

Senior Manager, Global Support

• Subject Matter Expert for Zuora SOAP based API Services.
• Maintained 95% of higher satisfaction with support service as rated by customers
• Developed and implemented Zendesk Widgets for Level 3, Technical Operatiions, and Product Development escalations using Javascript, Html and CSS.
• Managed the development and deployment of Javascript based Widget to integrate Zendesk with Rally.
• Accountable for on boarding procedures for new support agents, and for eight hours API training for all new hires.
• Seventh person to ever become Zuora Certified Solution Architect.

Senior Integration Specialist

• Effectively translated client's use cases to the development team and act as a bridge between the technical operations team, the development team, and professional services with the use of Zendesk and Rally.
• Implemented Zendesk to replace Salesforce as Zuora's support system, and serve as the Zendesk Administrator, writing several widgets, and implementing customization. Responsible for the implementation of Chat, Voice and Mindtouch integration.
• Conducted API Roundtable breakout session at Zuora Customer Day for developers and implamenting partners.
• Analyzed and reported on staff schedule to better allocate resources based on current demand trends, leading to schedule optimization for the Global Support Team and the implementation of 24/5 coverage.
• Central member of the Core Values Committee that defined and helped proliferate the company’s core values.
• Authored and published multiple technical documents, solutions, and training materials.
• Created new and improved upon existing reports to better align with executive staff’s requests with the use of GoodData.

Customer Support Analyst

Passionate Director of Technical Support | CX Coach for Startups | Zendesk Administrator Certified

Accomplished Director of Customer Support with a proven track record of delivering outstanding customer satisfaction, leading high-performing teams, and driving operational efficiencies in fast-paced, high-growth environments. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, demonstrated exceptional skills in developing teams through rapid growth, making data-driven decisions, and effectively communicating with leadership and business teams.

In the past 15 years leading Support teams I've had no one resign from their position.  My expertise lies in creating a supportive work environment, retaining top talent, and identifying areas for improvement with a focus on delivering results and improving customer experience during hyper-growth periods. I have consistently demonstrated this ability to lead cross-departmental initiatives, resulting in significant reductions in the number of tickets submitted, cost per contact, and support costs while increasing one-touch resolution tickets and customer self-help.

My extensive experience includes scaling teams from 3 to 50+ people, maintaining a CSAT score of 98%, and integrating support teams from multiple acquisitions into a unified team with common methodology. I am also proficient in Zendesk, Salesforce, Jira, Slack, Postman, and API development and have managed geographically distributed teams. As a Certified Zendesk Support Administrator Expert, I am well-equipped to deliver exceptional support and service to your organization.
Fluent in Spanish.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE 

Data Analytics & Insights • Startups • Business Development • Process Optimization • Personnel Development & Retention • Relationship Management

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