‍At a Glance

A background in customer-facing roles at Apple and a luxury fragrance house gave Jennifer Villalba a rare cross-industry perspective – one that prepared her well for her current role as Director of Customer Experience at 32 Degrees, an E-Commerce apparel brand. Today, she leads a fully remote, international team navigating the demands of high-volume sales across a product range spanning everyday basics to athletic-inspired styles. By emphasizing empathy, communication, and human touch in CX, Jennifer and her agents are building brand trust and loyalty, one customer at a time.

Who is Jennifer?

Meet Jennifer Villalba, Director of Customer Experience at 32 Degrees!

About 32 Degrees

32 Degrees was founded in 2009 to provide an active wear inspired collection geared towards department stores and specialty stores. Utilizing the latest innovative fabric technologies, this collection includes ultra-light down packable jackets, innerwear and base layer as well as a complete line of ath-leisure wear. 32 Degrees markets products that utilize the latest warming and cooling technologies.

Jennifer’s CX Journey

Jennifer credits her five years at Apple with igniting her passion for customer experience. "Apple is the best retail job you can get," she reflects. "It was a great opportunity, and I learned so much." That passion carried her to House of Creed, a high-end luxury fragrance house, where she grew from Customer Service Representative to Associate Manager. With bottles priced at $500 and above, customer expectations were exacting, and any issue demanded a deft, carefully considered response. "It gave me time to explore the voice of the customer and notice trends," she says. "And I really loved turning an unhappy customer around." For Jennifer, those experiences reinforced a core belief she carries to this day: "We have the power to make things happen." 

These foundational roles shaped her career, eventually leading her to 32 Degrees, a direct-to-consumer apparel brand, where she started as Customer Experience Manager and advanced to Director of Customer Experience. 

The CX Team at 32 Degrees 

Jennifer oversees an offshore CX team of twenty agents and two team leads based in the Philippines. A direct report, also based in the Philippines, helps maintain clear communication and ensures that goals and expectations are consistently met. "We partnered with BPL Crescendo and have been working with them for about three years now," Jennifer adds.

Top Challenges of Managing an Offshore CX Team

While Jennifer meets weekly with the team's lead contacts, she does not meet directly with all of her agents on a regular basis. She acknowledges that greater proximity would allow for better insight into her agents' performance and overall well-being. "If they were in the office, I would be able to check in more often, and we could all do something together, like go out for dinner or coffee," she explains.

What Jennifer Looks for in a CX Agent

When it comes to hiring agents for her team, Jennifer looks for individuals who are good listeners, naturally curious, and passionate about helping others. "They must practice empathy – it should show in their character," she explains, adding, "I also look for a willingness to learn and grow."

CX Team Success Factors

Customers’ Preferred Support Channel

32 Degrees offers customers email, voice, and live chat as readily available support channels. "We do offer SMS," Jennifer adds. "If a customer calls in and an agent isn't available, we give them the option to send us a text." Above all, email remains the preferred support channel, accounting for 85% of the brand's overall customer communication volume.

Key KPIs Jennifer Uses to Evaluate CX Performance

A main KPI Jennifer monitors is First Response Time. “The reason FRT is very important to us is because our product is at such a low price point,” she explains, “what I’ve seen is that if we don’t respond quickly enough, customers will think it’s a scam. And we want to build that trust immediately.” CSAT is valuable for understanding feedback regarding a customer’s satisfaction level with the brand, products, and post-purchase experience. 

Looking Ahead: Main CX Goals for 32 Degrees

During Q4, 32 Degrees' busiest period, Jennifer scales her team from twenty agents and two leads to sixty agents and four leads. "It can become a little disorganized and a lot to handle," she admits, noting that whenever temporary hires are brought on, "there's a tendency for mistakes and call-outs." For this reason, she plans to leverage AI with the goal of reducing the need to scale as significantly by year's end. An AI bot is currently in development to handle order tracking inquiries for customers. "My agents will then be able to focus on more meaningful conversations and escalations that require a human touch," she explains.

With a focus on post-purchase operations, 32 Degrees recently partnered with ParcelLab to provide customers with a detailed order tracking landing page, while Wizmo manages and resolves order inquiries. Overall, the priority is to make the CX journey as seamless and efficient as possible from start to finish. "I would love to be in a position where self-service is always an easy option," Jennifer says, "and our customers don't have to wait on an email – they get a response right away."

AI and Topics of Interest

Jennifer’s Predictions for the Future of CX 

"I think with customer service, you're always going to have a need for human agents," Jennifer begins. Yet the impact AI has had on CX operations and strategy in just the past year has been seismic – roles are being eliminated as fast as new AI-specialized positions are being created. Jennifer sees this as the beginning of a deeper structural shift: as tools become increasingly accessible, even those specialized roles will eventually become redundant. "CX teams will become tighter," she underscores. "There's going to be so many more tools introduced that will make CX more efficient."

Jennifer’s Advice for CX Leaders

For CX leaders juggling agent oversight and daily operations alongside broader company goals, the focus on efficiency and seeing results can become all-consuming. Jennifer reminds leaders that it's equally important to slow down, treating slower sales periods as an opportunity to step back, analyze data, audit operations, and reconnect with their teams. "My first Q4 wasn't great, but I learned so much," she shares. "This past Q4 was successful. And at the beginning of the year, I went through everything to see what we need to fix and if there were any big trends to opportunities for the future."