AT A Glance

‍Amanda Battle, CX leader at OSEA Malibu, shares how she’s reshaping customer support by leveraging AI to handle routine inquiries—freeing up her team to focus on meaningful, revenue-driving conversations. She talks about the challenges of leading a remote team, what she looks for when hiring, and why listening to agents is the key to smarter, more effective customer care.

Who is Amanda Battle?

Meet Amanda, the Director of Customer Care at OSEA!

About OSEA

OSEA provides seaweed-infused skincare products. Since the beginning, we’ve been on a mission to create clean, clinically tested skincare from the sea. Born in 1996 in Malibu, California, we set a new industry standard—creating safe and effective seaweed-infused skincare with a holistic approach to wellness and self-care

In the three decades that have followed, OSEA has renewed that commitment with every single one of its many thousands of customers. 

Amanda’s CX Journey

Amanda Battle is the Director of Customer Care at OSEA, but she started in the industry as a customer service agent at an e-commerce brand. “I was doing all the things—phones, emails, chats—and that’s how I started in this space,” she said. Over seven years, she moved up within the company, eventually becoming one of the managers of Customer Care before leaving for her current role.

She loves that CX is all about real human interaction. “There’s this challenge with every conversation that I found very exciting when I first started,” she said. In the early days, she got a lot of satisfaction from turning around tough customer interactions.

 As she moved into leadership, that challenge shifted. “It became about more than just answering emails and calls—it was about figuring out how to do those things better, how to make them easier for the agents.” The constant problem-solving and sense of accomplishment are what keep her hooked.

The CX Team at OSEA

Amanda prioritizes two things with potential hires. "The first thing I look for is critical thinking," she says. "In my years as a manager and director, I’ve learned that it’s really hard to teach." She wants people who can problem-solve on their own instead of just following a script.

The second is empathy. "It's not easy being a customer care agent," she says. "You're hearing a lot of negativity." She looks for people who genuinely want to connect—both with customers and the team. "Being able to say, 'I hear you, I want to help, let’s see what we can do together'—that makes all the difference." If someone has that instinct from the start, they’re set up to succeed.

Amanda says that the transition into remote work has been slightly difficult. "We have a remote team, and then we have two agents in an office in the Philippines," she says.

When everyone is in the same space, it’s easier to tell  something isn’t  clicking. "If my manager told me something and I was like, ‘Um, okay,’ she could see on my face that I didn’t quite get it," Amanda says. " In a remote setup, I don’t have that. I can’t just look at the team and know if they fully understand a new process or feature." That extra layer of distance makes communication more complicated.

CX Team Success Factors

Amanda's team relies on more than just CSAT to measure performance. "We have a manager who meets with each team member once a week, goes through their QA score, and coaches them based on feedback from that week," she explains.

While CSAT is valuable, it doesn't always tell the whole story. "Sometimes a bad rating isn’t about the agent at all," Amanda says. "It could be a policy issue or something we have to say for legal reasons, and the customer just doesn't like the answer." That’s why quality assurance plays such a big role. "If an agent followed policy, used the right brand voice, and handled everything correctly, we want to make sure they’re recognized for that—even if CSAT doesn’t reflect it."

Looking Ahead

One of Amanda’s goals? Changing the way CX is perceived. "A lot of people see support as a cost center," she says. "We're not necessarily bringing in revenue." But in 2025, she wants to change that.

Her team already knows the brand inside and out, and she sees an opportunity to use that knowledge to drive revenue. "How can we take what we know and turn it into something proactive?" she asks. One idea is reaching out to customers when volume is low. "Maybe we follow up and say, ‘Hey, we had a great conversation—do you need anything else?’"

The goal isn’t just to make an immediate sale but to create long-term connections. "Whether it’s right in that moment or six months from now, we want them to remember that great experience."

Revenue Generation/AI/topics of interest 

Amanda sees AI as a way to free up her team for more meaningful work. "We're still new to it, very, very new," she says, "but we're using it to handle those mundane tickets that don't really need a person behind them."

Her team’s focus is shifting toward driving revenue, and AI is a key part of that strategy. "If we want to make real connections and work on the harder tickets, we need AI handling the basics," she explains. Right now, they're using it primarily through email, but she sees room for expansion. "We have great opportunities to do more with it."

On slower days, Amanda’s team shifts focus to proactive outreach. “If somebody had a really nice conversation with us yesterday and we have the time, we might reach back out and say, ‘Hey, we’d love to send you a sample for just being so great with us.’”

For her, it’s all about reinforcing human connections. “Those moments let us go beyond just solving problems. They let us create real relationships.”

Advice for Other CX Agents

Amanda’s biggest piece of advice? Listen to your agents.

“They have so many insightful nuggets, but if we’re not asking, they might not think to share,” she says. “If they’re typing the same response ten times a day and I never ask what’s going on, they won’t tell me they need a macro.”

For her, it’s about more than just gathering feedback—it’s about acting on it. “Show them how their input is being addressed. Let them see the changes. That’s how you build trust and make sure they know they’re heard.”

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