See the case study PDF.
About Tipsy Elves
Tipsy Elves is an eCommerce holiday-themed apparel company founded in 2011, known for its quirky, festive clothing. Based in San Diego, Tipsy Elves quickly gained recognition as one of the region’s fastest-growing companies.
The brand’s popularity skyrocketed after multiple appearances on ABC’s Shark Tank and Beyond The Tank. Alongside apparel, Tipsy Elves is committed to philanthropy, donating a portion of every sale to charity.
Jump to see the results.
The need
Tipsy Elves’ relativity to Holidays creates a challenging customer service need. They require a flexible and scalable team that can meet the high demands during these peak sales periods. This has been a challenge for their Customer Service department for many years and Influx has successfully provided the support, organization, and flexibility that their company needed.
1. Scalability (especially during peak season)
With low volume during February through September, Tipsy Elves needed an extra layer of support that could help out their internal agent year-round, and scale up significantly during Q4 when volume is at its peak.
2. Focus on customer satisfaction
As a customer-centric business, Tipsy Elves wanted to raise its customer satisfaction score (CSAT) while maintaining a customer experience aligned with its core values.
3. Workforce management and forecasting
Due to extreme seasonality, Tipsy Elves needed effective workforce management and accurate forecasting to predict the surge of customer inquiries during the Q4 peak season and to align staffing levels accordingly to meet demand without sacrificing service quality.
In February 2023, Tipsy Elves came to Influx for help.
Influx has made a huge impact at Tipsy Elves. Their attention to detail and organization is unmatched. Influx has the ability to maintain the quality of service no matter how much we expand the team. They’ve made our Holiday season much more enjoyable and efficient. Customers are happy, and we’re happier!
- Stefani, Customer Service Manager at Tipsy Elves
The solution
Tipsy Elves partnered with Influx, starting with a small team of year-round, voice-capable agents based in Jamaica. Initially, the team consisted of one dedicated agent, with a contingency agent on standby, working alongside an internal support agent at Tipsy Elves.
Handling common eCommerce customer support queries like refunds, exchanges, and returns—Influx’s agents were trained to embody Tipsy Elves’ brand voice, with ongoing weekly meetings to refine support processes and agent performance. The team expanded in Q4, ramping up to 10-15 agents during peak season to manage the increased volume of customer inquiries across voice, chat, and email channels—then scaled down to reflect demand.
In addition to customer support, Influx took over support-related social media communications when Tipsy Elves’ social media manager went on maternity leave, demonstrating the partnership’s flexibility.
The results
Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT): The team maintains above a 92% CSAT—significantly outperforming the average eCommerce CSAT of 80% for an excellent customer experience.
Average Handle Time (AHT): Achieved AHT of less than 5 minutes for voice support and less than 10 minutes for chat support—crucial for live channel interactions where customers expect immediate assistance.
Escalations and Call Transfers: The team achieves 0 transfers and escalations, which can lead to longer wait times, repetitive explanations, and frustrated customers.
Email First Response Time (FRT): Achieves FRT of 6.2 hours for email support.
Support Coverage: Influx provides Tipsy Elves with 8 hours of coverage Monday through Friday PST.
Get started with Influx
Influx builds flexible and scalable customer support teams. Our services range from eCommerce support, live chat support, voice support, and more to give you the customer assistance you need to prioritize other responsibilities and continue scaling your business.
Make your support operations fast, flexible, and ready for anything with experienced, 24/7 support teams working on demand. See how brands work with Influx to deliver exceptional customer support or get a quote now.
