Working to provide world class customer service to all our members, and to help our artists achieve maximum sales
Hi, I’m Nancy-Ellen Martin and I love my job. I’m the Director of Member Services here at TurboSquid, and I’m really excited to do our first Member Services Blog entry. Our team provides support to all our artists and clients on TurboSquid, and to our own TurboSquid team as well.
Our members sometimes ask exactly what it is that we do in Member Services. The short answer is that we talk to TurboSquid customers and artists, all day every day, and help them with whatever they need. We’re very proud of the fact that we offer 24/7 support, 365 days a year via Live Chat and our Ticket system, and we also offer phone support during business hours M-F. To my knowledge, we are the only 3D marketplace where you can talk to a real live person 24 hours a day.
I can safely say that there’s something new every single day. From time to time we get some really interesting stuff, like customers wanting to know why their port-o-john has not yet been delivered. I mean, who the heck thinks they can get a port-o-john shipped to their door for only $15? Or the guy who wanted to get his sawed-off shot-gun immediately and seemed happy that we weren’t running a background check. We also get lots of frantic parents trying to get that plastic solar system or human body model in time for the science fair. And recently, a gentleman who wanted to know if the magic staff he purchased was made of wood, and did it cast real magical spells? Have to be honest, that one had us giggling. A model mistaken for a real-world object is a credit to the artist who created it, but still, we never cease to be amazed at someone who thinks they can get a shiny new sports car for $200.
Because we have agents available 24/7 we have a day shift and an evening shift, with some agents in the USA and others in Europe. On an average shift, an agent handles live chats and sometimes phone calls, often helping customers shop for models, and works on incoming tickets in between. And when an agent isn’t busy with these activities, he or she converts models based on customer requests, updates the knowledge base, deals with copyright issues, reviews assets on the site for quality, gathers up customer and seller requests and sends them to marketing and development for implementation, helps a client through a Talent on Demand application, learns new software in preparation for supporting an up-and-coming file format, and whatever else is needed to help customers and artists as much as possible.
Member Services has a unique job—we straddle the fence between artist and customer. A large number of support tickets deal with purchases, where a customer wants a model in a different file format, or can’t find the textures that go with a model. Our primary goal is to give the customer what he or she expects and needs while retaining as many sales as possible for our sellers. On an ideal support request we help both the customer and the artist, but sometimes, one half of the equation is satisfied while the other is not. We try to help artists increase sales, improve quality and make sure their products are complete and accurate, and at the same time keep current customers happy enough to come back and bring their friends. Being on the “front lines” is a big challenge, and something that everyone in our department truly enjoys.
Our support ticket system allows us to track all our communication with you, ultimately leading to better service for everyone. You might think email would be faster, but it’s not; you would not believe the amazing volume of spam mail we get (I mean, how much Viagra does one planet need?). So we appreciate it when you use the ticket system. While we resolve 87% of tickets within 24 hours, we sometimes don’t have the right answer right away, but we’ll let you know we’re looking and will answer you as quickly as we can.
One of my favorite things is when a happy customer or seller takes the time to tell us we’ve made their life easier. Here are a few recent comments from TurboSquid members:
“Thanks for your fast and nice attention in Member Services. I’m a new customer and will be gladly getting more products.”
“Great response time, 5am EST. Thought we were the only ones working this early!”
“My experience with TurboSquid has been great. I plan to purchase more in the future and also begin selling as well.”
We invite your suggestions or comments any time! Just open a ticket from our website, give us a call or start a chat session. We’re here for you!
Nancy-Ellen Martin
Director of Member Services
TurboSquid