[CX Stories] Luana Perez, Sr. Director of CS at Ergatta

Introduction

Luana Perez is a Senior Director of Customer Experience at Ergatta with over 10 years of experience in the fitness space. Ergatta is a connected fitness company that offers game-based rowing workouts. Its sleek, wooden rower pairs with interactive software that turns exercise into personalized challenges and races.

Interview

1. How did your journey into CX start, and how did you know it was your calling?

My CX journey started with a part-time job in college that became a full-time position after I graduated. I was promoted to store manager at a local and very busy bakery. I loved managing a team and overseeing the in-store and digital experience for our customers.

We had customers who were visiting from out of town and made a stop at the bakery as a part of their trip, and we also catered orders for special moments, including baby showers, birthdays, weddings, and more! I saw the impact I was able to help in creating a transformative experience.

I knew that I wanted to do something similar but with a larger impact, and I started looking into CX positions. I started as a CX associate for a boutique fitness brand called Flywheel Sports in NYC. During my time there, I learned more about how CX partners with a wide scope of departments, from marketing to product development.

While at Flywheel, I was able to support initiatives, including developing our first FAQ center, launching additional support channels, and training and leading our support team.

I found my way to Ergatta 4 years ago through the network I made at Flywheel. 

2. What’s unique about the way CX is run at Ergatta?

I really value how ingrained customer experience is in our company culture. I know that in the past or at other companies, CX is considered customer support and overall an afterthought or a cost center.

This past Q4, when our queue volume was quite high, we had employees from other departments offering to jump in the queue to help support - even our COO jumped in to help clear out some tickets.

It’s really important to me that my team feels supported, and I think Ergatta has set the bar high for expectations I have for future companies. 

3. What are the biggest CX challenges you are trying to solve at Ergatta?

Like many other CX teams, a lot of our processes are quite manual, which can leave room for mistakes or slow the team down from supporting the queue. We’re constantly trying to find areas to optimize, and make this a regular quarterly goal to seek improvement. 

4. What’s the most rewarding part of leading a CX team?

It’s hard to choose just one, so I’m going to go with seeing the impact my team is able to have and also being a part of my team’s career.

I am touched and proud to see the comments that my team receives from our CSAT surveys. We have received some amazing feedback in the past years that demonstrates the personalized care my team provides. One quote that stands out to me,

“I have NEVER had better, more responsive customer service from an company that I have mail order business with. It's as if you all really like what you do...and like your customers. Clearly, Ergatta is serious about providing the best service you could and I'm glad I'm on the receiving end of that.”  

5. If you could give your past self one piece of CX advice, what would it be?

I consider myself a very driven person and hold myself to high standards, I think there are times where I probably could have taken my own advice in reminding myself to learn to ask for help!

In the last couple of years, the CX community space has really grown through in-person events and online communities like Slack and Discord. I have really appreciated these spaces as they have provided me an opportunity to connect with other CX leaders, bounce ideas off each other, and learn from them.

I wish that I had made more efforts to connect with other individuals in the CX space. I think it could have helped with discussing best practices, process improvements, etc. 

Thank you so much to Luana for being part of this interview! You can connect with Luana on LinkedIn and check out Ergatta.

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