Remembering the good
Editor’s note: This was written last month but kept unpublished until the actual baby shower happened.
Today I remembered the good stuff that comes out of Big Cartel.
I spend a lot of time thinking about why Big Cartel matters to me and to our users. I love our mission, I love our goals. But since switching from our Community team (full of Big Cartel puppy dogs and rainbows) to our Support team (full of broken stores and disputes) back in January, it’s complicated — and sometimes tough to see the silver lining all the time.
Today I saw the silver lining.
Let me tell you a little about Big Cartel Support. It’s a great way to interact with our users, help them help themselves, and really make a difference in their business. It’s also filled with hundreds of emails every day, and not all of them have a happy ending. We have shoppers telling us that a Big Cartel store never sent their purchase. Bummer. We send out takedown requests because there are Big Cartel stores selling fake or infringing products. Bummer. We hear from frustrated users who want a feature we haven’t built and aren’t building and want to build, but can’t yet. Big bummer.
Sometimes it gets hard to see the good through the bad, even though I know it’s there. But not today.
Today I saw too much good to even blink at the bad.
You see, our longest-standing employee and veteran of the Support team, Karen, is taking off next month to have a sweet baby girl. So the rest of the support crew decided to have a virtual baby shower for her, buying all of her gifts direct from Big Cartel stores. Today we made our final selections and I made all the purchases.
Quickly my inbox filled with Order Notifications! Big Cartel stores were using this optional feature, and it was exciting. As a customer, I‘m happy to have a detailed receipt for my purchase. As a Big Carteler, I‘m thrilled to see stores using something we built to help keep customers in the loop. I wanted to high-five each store as a confirmation email hit my inbox.
About 15 minutes after placing my final order, I got an email from one of the stores. The products I ordered wouldn’t be in stock until next Friday, could I wait that long. The answer was no, but I was pleased to have the chance to say that — instead of being forced to wait and wonder. What great service! The lovely lady on the other end of my emails recommended a couple of comparable, in-stock gifts, and we were back in baby shower business.
Then, just moments after that pleasant exchange, I got an email from Stamps.com telling me one of my orders had already shipped. Yes! Not only had it shipped within minutes of being placed, but this amazing Big Cartel store was keeping me, the customer, informed (and excited) about my purchase. More high fives!
So today was a good day. Today I saw features we built being used with great purpose. Today I saw our store owners offering excellent customer service. Today I saw our stores keeping customers informed. Today I saw why we have over half a million stores, and only a few hundred support emails a day. Today I got a new perspective, and remembered the good stuff.
