Alice Shabazian is the CX Supervisor at Wool&Prince, a premium merino wool apparel brand. Alice is a big proponent of “micro moments” rather than “surprise and delight” and she chatted with us to share how that philosophy came to be, how to implement it, and why it works.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Hope Dorman: How did you come to build this philosophy through the micro moments rather than big surprise and delight moments?
Alice Shabazian: I feel the surprise and delight, the big splashy moments are really easy to talk about, and people love to bring them up. And so I felt early on in my CX days, surprise and delight—everybody loves surprise and delight. That's how you build loyalty. That's how you keep customers engaged.
But I noticed a lot of brands that do utilize the surprise and delight maybe don't pay as much attention to the smaller moments that you can utilize to build customer loyalty. And that's where I find as I've built those micro moments, I've noticed a huge shift in customer loyalty, and I've noticed a huge shift in the way customers interact with us and the way they talk about the customer service that we provide.
Hope Dorman: My thought on it is that it provides a better, more uniform experience for more of your customers rather than just the lucky few that get selected for a surprise and delight moment, which is either random or strategic, because they're a really important customer. And it is important to keep those folks around, but it's maybe not necessarily going to keep a lot of customers around. So I think this is really neat, and it reminds me of a conversation that we had with a CX leader at a jewelry brand who was saying that they offer things such as a little extra gift if somebody mentions it's their first order or it’s for a gift. It's maybe not a huge thing, but it's paying attention to the right moments rather than just randomly selecting them.
So I am wondering if you could share an example of some of these results about some of the micro moments that you've been able to bring about.
Alice Shabazian: So it can be so many things. It can be a small little discount. It could be just a little store credit as a courtesy. It could be as simple as a personalized line in a macro, not just sending the macro off as is, but maybe if they mention a pet. People mention all kinds of things. If they mention their pet, just saying, “Oh my gosh, I have a pet too. What's your pet's name? Send a picture.” Stuff like that can be a really good way to build relationships with your customers.
So balancing personalization and efficiency by just adding a nice little line.
We have challenges that we do. So we have a hundred day and a thirty day wardrobe challenge. Customers wear one of our dresses for thirty or a hundred days and then send us photos of them wearing their dress during that time. Those are always really good moments for us. We see everything they've been doing for a month or three months. That's a really good way to connect with them and add a personalized note.
It could also be going above and beyond. For example, with shipping issues, we always put a note to snooze the ticket and check back in rather than having customers write back into us. It reduces the friction. Removing that step can go a really long way. People know you haven’t let it fall through the cracks. You're taking care of them, and they won’t fall to the wayside.
We also use personal anecdotes wherever possible. For example, I am short—I'm 5’2. So if somebody mentions they’re petite, I’ll say, “Hey, I'm a fellow short person too. I'm 5’2, and these pants work really well for me, or this dress hits me just where I want it to.” It gives you a chance to be human along with the customer, and it goes a long way in loyalty.
Hope Dorman: Right. It sounds like it's more about delivering that human service that maybe takes a little extra time to share that anecdote. As you said, they're adding something rather than just firing off the macro as is, but that's the kind of thing that brings people back.
I distinctly remember when I was a frontline customer service agent, somebody was buying something for their pet, which we didn't sell a lot of. We were a furniture brand. And I asked her, “Are you getting a new puppy?” And she was so happy and excited. We had that autonomy as agents. It wasn’t about getting somebody off the phone as fast as possible, and we weren't evaluated on that. We had that freedom. And I mean, I'm remembering that interaction eight, nine years later. I don't know if she does.
Alice Shabazian: I bet she does!
Hope Dorman: I hope so! So that leads into one of the questions I had about how this allows for more autonomy for your team members. Can you speak to that or anything your team members have said once you started implementing this?
Alice Shabazian: I think it absolutely gives them a lot more autonomy to just be human along with your customers. I'm not one of those people who puts on a face for my professional self. I want to give my agents that freedom as well. I think that's kind of rare in customer service. We can be quite detached from our personalities at work, and I never want my agents to feel detached from their personalities.
So I think encouraging them to share their personalities gives them more autonomy. It also reduces burnout because you're not putting on that mask at work, and you're a little more free. It just makes it more fun to have those conversations.
It also results in more positive relationships with your customers, which makes work feel easier and results in better numbers for your business. It's a win-win.
Hope Dorman: Yeah. I love a win-win. I love that you bring that up. I feel like I talk about win-wins in every single one of these thought leader calls that I do! So I'm thrilled. I think that speaks to a lot of the research that's coming out around customers' attitudes around AI-powered service as the industry shifts. Research shows that people are okay with some AI, but they don't want to lose the human connection. They still want to talk to a human, especially for sensitive issues or big purchases.
So you're really on the forefront of keeping that humanity, and that allows your brand to shine. People will come to you and buy from your brand because of the great customer service they got.
Of course, as you have those more nebulous things rather than easy inputs and outputs, I want to ask about tracking. How do you track the efficacy of these micro moments? Do you have specific before-and-afters you report on, or is it more of a team philosophy in how you operate?
Alice Shabazian: Yeah. I think it's definitely both. It's a team philosophy, and I think turnover rates are a really good indicator of how it's working for your team. We have really low turnover in a role that traditionally has really high turnover, so I think that's a good sign.
Obviously, looking at your KPIs—return and exchange rates, refund outcomes, repeat purchase rates, resolution times—those are good quantitative data. But I am biased towards qualitative data. I like to listen to what our customers are saying, and we have a lot of good ways of collecting feedback.
I look closely at CSAT surveys and what our customers are saying about the interactions they’re having with us. We also have a Facebook community where our customers chat about everything related to our brand, and we regularly get agent shoutouts there. People call us out by name and say they had really great experiences with whoever the agent may be.
So tying those micro moments back to real outcomes matters. When you take the extra time, customers feel more confident. They return their things less because they know what size they need because the person who's five two told them it worked for them. That translates to fewer returns, fewer complaints, and that saves everybody time and money.
Proactively checking on shipping delays can shift somebody's entire experience and reduce resolution time because you're not waiting for them to check back in. If someone would have otherwise left a bad review, instead they’ve had a great experience and are spreading the word directly to us, to their friends, or to the Facebook community.
Hope Dorman: That's huge. I love that there is a customer community and people are sharing their great experiences and even listing agents by name. That’s a big sign of success, and a great way to continually show leadership that this is really working. It’s a cool opportunity for CX leaders to track the efficacy of this or other initiatives.
So last question. Do you have any recommendations or tips for CX leaders that want to adopt this philosophy of micro moments with their teams?
Alice Shabazian: Start small and look at where you're seeing friction the most. Start there. And listen to your agents. Your agents are in the queue all day every day, and they know better than leaders who aren’t in the queue as much. So check in with them constantly about where customers are complaining or having bad experiences. Can we get to the root of that and make this a better experience?
Also, lead by example. Your team is going to look to you for what is acceptable. Letting your personality show when you're speaking to customers can go a long way because it shows them it’s okay for them to do that too. And trust your agents.
Hope Dorman: That's so simple and so huge at the same time. I think that's a great reminder that it comes back to the agents. Sometimes it might be a little more manual, or as you said, you like qualitative feedback that takes a little more time to sift through. But you can uncover great insights and find impactful nuggets by carving out time and listening to your customers and your agents, who are some of the most important folks keeping the team moving forward.
Alice Shabazian: Yeah. And it's all about a balance between AI and personalization. AI can help with things that feel really manual. I use AI to ask, “Hey, here’s a bunch of customer feedback—what are customers saying the most?” So it doesn’t have to be you manually sifting through all of your CSATs. AI can help with that.
Hope Dorman: Well, I really appreciate your time breaking it down for us. I think this is a really neat thing to consider for CX leaders, especially as we come into the holiday season. It's not too late to work some of these micro moments in. It may be easier than taking on a big project!
Closing thoughts
Delivering exceptional CX doesn’t have to rely on grand gestures. As Alice Shabazian shared, true loyalty is built in the micro moments like personal touches, proactive support, and empowering agents to bring their authentic selves to customer conversations. These small, human connections reduce friction, inspire trust, and strengthen long-term relationships. By encouraging teams to balance efficiency with empathy, brands can create meaningful experiences that resonate long after the interaction ends. That’s the real win-win!
Looking for a tool to elevate your brand’s customer experience? Check out the product tour or schedule time to talk with our sales team to learn how Kustomer can supercharge your brand’s customer experience!
