At A Glance

Ulla Mankinen, Director of Customer Care at ACON, brings over fifteen years of expertise in delivering exceptional customer experiences. Her career has spanned multiple industries, ultimately leading her to the trampoline world. At ACON, she oversees a global team, focusing on providing personalized, premium service while navigating challenges like time zones and diverse cultural expectations. Passionate about customer connection, Ulla discusses how empathy, continuous training, and a human-first approach define her leadership style.

Who is Ulla Mankinen?

Meet Ulla, Director of Customer Care at ACON!

About ACON

They call it the “best bounce in the business.” ACON specializes in high-end trampolines that are made to last. Rectangular and round in build, these are designed to be durable, safe, and even quiet. 

Ulla’s CX Journey

Ulla, Director of Customer Care at ACON, started her career in retail handling claims before transitioning into leadership roles within customer service. With a passion for helping people and solving problems, she moved through various management positions, ultimately overseeing ACON’s global customer care team.

"I’ve always loved working with people and learning from every situation. That’s what has kept me in customer service and experience, the constant challenge of making things better for both customers and the team."

The CX Team at ACON

At ACON, Ulla’s team operates across multiple time zones and languages to ensure a seamless experience for their global customer base. In Finland, the team consists of two full-time employees, with additional part-time staff during peak seasons. In the US, ACON has another two full-time employees, complemented by an outsourced partner in France, and another partner in Finland who manages chats outside of core hours.

“Customers in France really want service in their native language,” Ulla explained, highlighting the company’s commitment to localized support. For the rest of the world, ACON handles customer service in-house, managing a diverse set of languages and regions. This flexible approach helps maintain strong customer relationships while keeping operations efficient.

Biggest Challenge

One of Ulla’s biggest challenges in managing ACON’s customer care team is the geographical and time-zone differences. With an eight-hour gap between their main locations, balancing the needs of her global team while also maintaining personal downtime is tricky. “I personally would love to be there for them all the time,” she noted, acknowledging the difficulty in staying constantly available while needing rest.

When hiring, Ulla focuses on finding passionate and enthusiastic team members who align with ACON’s values. "We want people who share our values of passion, innovation, and care," she emphasized. As a premium brand, the company aims to exceed customer expectations, so having a team that embodies these principles is crucial.

ACON has developed comprehensive training documentation to support its global customer care team, given the diverse locations and cultures they serve. Ulla highlighted the importance of having a well-organized system in place: “We have a really good guideline and a handbook for our customer service to let them know the basic information about all locations or areas.” In addition to this, they have a separate manual for their systems, providing step-by-step instructions for handling various cases.

New team members receive mentorship from senior staff, ensuring they always have someone to turn to with questions. “Whenever somebody is starting, there’s always somebody senior who is taking care of them,” Ulla explained. This structure helps ensure new hires receive the support they need to succeed in their roles.

CX Team Success Factors

ACON primarily communicates with customers through email, phone, and chat, with additional support available via social media and offline forums. 

Ulla noted that while they’ve considered adding WhatsApp as a channel, its limited popularity in the U.S. has made them hesitant to implement it. “We don’t have WhatsApp yet, something that we’ve been thinking about, but it’s not that popular in the U.S., so I don’t know if it’s needed,” she said. For now, the current channels cover most customer needs effectively across their global markets.

At ACON, Ulla tracks several key metrics to evaluate and improve customer service performance. Alongside customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores, she also monitors Customer Effort Score (CES) and first-response time.

“How much time it takes to get back to the customers—that matters,” she said. But numbers alone aren’t enough. Ulla personally reads every single piece of customer feedback, positive or negative. “I might be overdoing it,” she admitted, “but I think it’s the only way to get better, if we actually listen to the customers.”

Handling Tough Cases

When it comes to ticket escalations at ACON, Ulla has built a structure that empowers her team to resolve most issues independently. 

“We have documentation with tier levels and certain limits for what customer service can handle themselves,” she explained. For the rare cases that fall outside those boundaries, team members escalate to her directly. 

“I think my team can handle almost all of our cases,” she said, noting that their claim percentage is “ridiculously low”, a fact she attributes to the brand’s high product quality. Most of the claims they do see are related to shipping issues, particularly during peak seasons or in U.S. regions hit by natural disasters. “FedEx isn’t always doing what they’re supposed to do,” Ulla added.

Revenue Generation/AI/topics of interest 

As a premium brand, ACON holds itself to equally high standards in customer service. “All customers are obviously expecting a premium level of service,” said Ulla, who sees it as her responsibility to ensure her team has the knowledge and tools to deliver on that expectation. “The best way they can serve, and even sell, is through professional knowledge. That’s the best selling tool we have.”

She also emphasized the importance of digital infrastructure in supporting that experience. ACON recently made a significant investment in its e-commerce platform, overhauling its web stores just over a year ago. “That has definitely made it better, a lot better, for the customer experience,” she said.

Thoughts on AI

When it comes to AI, Ulla’s stance is clear: “AI is not the answer for us. We need the human contact, definitely.”

Although she and her team actively use AI behind the scenes to streamline internal processes, they’ve found that customers aren’t receptive to it in direct interactions. “They always call us or they want to talk to a human,” she explained. 

With trampolines priced between $1,000 and $4,000, ACON’s customers tend to take their time before purchasing, sometimes as long as six months, and need reassurance that they’re making the right choice. “They don’t make those decisions based on just a feeling.” For Ulla, investing in real human conversations is non-negotiable.

Future of CX

Ulla believes the future of customer care will involve more technology, AI will certainly play a bigger role, but she doesn’t see it ever fully replacing human connection. “Some businesses use it more. Others don’t that much,” she said. “But I still don’t think it will fully replace the human contact.”

Instead, she sees a major shift coming in another area: sustainability. Particularly in Europe, and increasingly in the U.S., customers are placing more weight on the values behind the brands they support. “Transparency is going to be a huge thing,” she said. For premium and luxury brands especially, sustainability and responsible business practices are becoming non-negotiable. “Those are going to be huge, huge values for customers.”

Best Advice to CX Leaders

Ulla’s leadership philosophy is grounded in presence, empathy, and integrity. “Be there. Be present. Be available,” she said. “Do whatever you can to emphasize their passion. It will bring them a long way.”

She believes consistency is key to building trust. “Be always a steady leader. Don’t let your emotions get the better of you,” she said. That steadiness helps create a sense of security on the team.

Just as important, she added, is transparency. “Always stand behind your decisions, but you have to give reasons why those decisions have been made.”

And above all else: “Never betray your team.”