Merger plus growth
Maintaining service standards during a full operational merger while volume doubled is two problems at once.
Client success story · CS29
Two specialists, holding support through an acquisition
Tickets, chat, payment disputes and reputation for a global art marketplace
- SectorGlobal art marketplace
- ContextPost-acquisition operational merger
- TeamTwo dedicated specialists
- ScopeTickets, chat, disputes, reviews
- 4.7Trustpilot rating sustained
- 85%average CSAT
- 4.4 → 4.6Trustpilot movement during the engagement
Client background
A global platform connecting consumers with art from independent creators needed to sustain service standards through a 2024 acquisition — aligning processes, systems and brand values across two platforms while order volumes doubled.
The problem was the support-to-revenue ratio. A surge in live chat and ticket volume threatened the customer experience, payment disputes were being managed passively, and Trustpilot feedback was going unattended.
Problem
Operational challenges
As order volumes doubled following the acquisition, the internal team faced operational bottlenecks in live chat and ticket volume that threatened to degrade the customer experience.
Passive management of PayPal and Stripe disputes was losing revenue that dedicated attention could recover, and the inability to proactively manage Trustpilot feedback put the public trust the marketplace depends on at risk.
Revenue leaking through disputes
Chargebacks were not being contested with dedicated attention, so recoverable revenue was simply lost.
Solution
Custom solution executed
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01
Primary support ownership
Full management of the ticket queue and live chat, so no inquiry went unanswered during the period when the internal team was absorbed by integration work.
-
02
Back-office financial defence
Targeted handling of PayPal and Stripe disputes to minimise chargeback losses — the part of support that is usually deprioritised because it is not customer-facing.
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03
Reputation advocacy
Active monitoring and response for all Trustpilot reviews, with consistent thorough follow-up on individual cases and proactive review solicitation.
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04
Training and onboarding ownership
All incoming team members were onboarded by a senior specialist rather than by the client's staff, freeing the client's senior people to focus on escalations and higher-level decisions.
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05
Integration and process optimisation
The team was integrated directly into Stripe, PayPal and the helpdesk for autonomous end-to-end task completion, mastering marketplace logic from artisan shipping nuances to refund policies, and identifying and automating repetitive ticket types.
Impact
Business value delivered
- Average CSAT sustained above 80% through significant operational change
- Trustpilot rating sustained at 4.7, having moved from 4.4 to 4.6 during the engagement
- Chargeback losses reduced through dedicated dispute handling
- Client leadership freed to focus on post-acquisition integration
What it changed for the client
- A small expert team outperforming a larger, less-specialised pool
- Ticket volumes reduced through process optimisation, lowering recruitment need
- Self-sufficiency in training removing a load from the client's senior staff
In short
Scale does not always need scale to answer it. Two specialists with deep platform knowledge, direct system access and ownership of their own onboarding held service quality through a merger — and the dispute handling alone recovered revenue that passive management was losing.
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