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1. Build an Emotionally Intelligent Team: Mona prioritizes integrity, emotional intelligence, and a growth mindset when hiring for customer service roles – valuing team players who care deeply about the brand, the team, and the customer experience.
2. Utilize a Collaborative Approach to Training: Mona’s onboarding process blends structured training with team collaboration and cross-functional exposure, allowing new CS agents to grow into roles that match their skills and interests while maintaining customer service as their core responsibility.
3. Prioritize Personal Connection in CS: ThinOptics prioritizes human connection in customer service, opting for real, personalized interactions including virtual consultations with an optometrist over automated solutions like AI. Mona believes that sentiment and the solutions customers want cannot be achieved with automated responses.
4. Encourage a Transparent and Flexible Work Culture: Mona maintains that a supportive, flexible work environment helps the team succeed under pressure. Personal well-being is prioritized, allowing employees to bring their best selves to work.
5. Stay Current with Customer Needs: Mona believes that keeping both her team and customer service programs up to date is critical to long-term success. In addition to traditional phone support, she’s exploring new ways to connect with customers such as offering Zoom consultations to provide more personalized and hands-on assistance.
When joining ThinOptics nine years ago, Mona started as a Customer Service Representative. In 2017, she was promoted to Brand Security Manager, with the promotion leading to include Customer Care in 2018 to her role at ThinOptics. Mona has built a supportive customer service culture rooted in transparency and flexibility. It’s no surprise that many of her agents have been with her since the beginning. Discover how Mona and her team are building strong customer connections and helping people find the best products and solutions for their eye care needs.
Meet Mona Smith, Customer Care and Brand Protection Manager at ThinOptics!
ThinOptics, the first reading glasses that are ALWAYS WITH YOU. ThinOptics was formed to fill an important gap in the optics market: having access to your glasses at all times. The E-Commerce company’s first product is reinventing the $1B reading glasses product segment. ThinOptics weigh less than a nickel, are thinner than 3 credit cards, and are carried in your mobile phone case or on your keychain for constant availability.
Mona joined ThinOptics as Customer Care and Brand Protection Manager in 2016. “I was the seventh employee. We had started as a very small startup company in California that had the idea of creating the world’s thinnest, most portable reading glasses,” she remembers, noting that they are now a global brand. ThinOptics has since expanded its product offering to include prescription glasses, blue light blockers, and sunglasses.
Mona heads a customer service team comprised of 7 members. “I’m very lucky,” she confides. “Some of my agents have been with me from the beginning, while others have been here for 5 to 6 years.” Extending beyond CS duties, her team is also responsible for patent and trademarks, marketing, legal, social media, and referrals. “We wear a lot of hats within our department. I like to say we’re small but mighty.”
Key Hiring Traits Mona Looks for in a New CS Agent
The key attributes Mona looks for in a new CS agent is integrity, honesty, and a genuine desire to learn. Strong communications and the ability to be collaborative in a team environment are also imperative at ThinOptics. “Above all, I want somebody who is actually going to care not just about customer service, but also about the brand and our team as well,” she finishes, highlighting the importance of emotional intelligence, empathy, and dedication. “I want to know what you are going to do for me with the opportunities you are given.”
The Training Process for CS Agents at ThinOptics
Onboarding for new CS agents begins with a training guide followed by one-on-one training sessions. “Our training is collaborative – everyone on the team is going to contribute. The new agent is going to work with our CS team member who answers most of our calls,” Mona says. From there, new hires learn the rest of the business – brand security, social channels, affiliates, legal, etc., so they become familiar with all aspects of the CS department and ultimately decide what area best matches their skill set. “Your primary role is going to be customer service,” Mona adds. “But you have all these outlying tasks that you can choose to work on.”
Key KPIs and Metrics Mona is Tracking
In addition to standard KPIs – response time, resolution time, CSAT scores, Mona pays close attention to customer sentiment to see if there are any recurring issues that the team needs to work on. “Marketplace reviews are very important to us as well – they contribute to our KPIs. It helps us with all our metrics, setting up what we need to for our customers. Reviews help us refine products for our design team and strategies for our marketing team,” she notes.
Future Focus: Mona’s Key Customer Service Goals
“My biggest goal is to grow my customer service team so that we can be more effective in what we’re moving towards,” Mona shares. She envisions sectioning the team into specialized areas that include new products, prescription, readers, and social and communication channels. “We’re constantly expanding – I just want to make sure my agents are always up to date and bring my programs up to date,” she says and goes on to finish, “And I want to start to engage with our customers via Zoom so we can help adjust their glasses and ultimately help them in a bigger and better way.”
Readying the CS Team for Peak Season
Mona credits her team’s hands-on approach for successfully navigating ThinOptics' peak season, which falls during the holidays. “Nothing matters in Q4 except the customer being satisfied. When it gets really busy, it’s all hands-on deck,” she emphasizes. To meet demand, customer service hours are extended from Monday through Thursday, while Friday afternoons are reserved to give agents a well-deserved break.
Mona’s View of AI in Customer Service
ThinOptics tested AI with customers and found little success. “They did not like it. ThinOptics is very hands on, and our products require a human to be answering,” Mona stresses. Emphasizing a personalized approach to CS, the company hired an optometrist who does virtual consultations with customers. “AI just can’t give that same one-on-one… Our CEO is very committed to customer service and knows that it’s the pillar of any business,” she adds. “AI just doesn’t align with the ThinOptics mindset or goals.”
Mona’s Top Challenges as a CS Leader
“My number one challenge is finding consistency in the chaos,” Mona admits. With the company’s dynamic structure, staying on top of her team’s many responsibilities is no easy task. She attributes their ability to thrive under pressure to a transparent, flexible work culture. “It’s a family atmosphere. If you have a family emergency or you’re not feeling well, just let me know,” she says. “I’ll give you the time you need to recover and take care of things, because my agents need to manage their personal lives before they can fully show up at work.”
To manage her team's extensive list of responsibilities, Mona uses a robust tech that includes Zendesk, Shopify, Meta Business Suite, Aftership, Looks for referrals, and Beacon Fraud to identify fraudulent orders.
Favorite Communication Channel for Support?
Slack. We use it for communication with all the other channels. And we also have a living room set up as a personal space for agents. If they are having a bad day, they can scream into slack. It doesn’t matter to me because that’s their spot.
Recent Book or Podcast?
I was just listening to the podcast This Week in Startups. They’re funny, but they also hit on some interesting questions and subjects. My all-time favorite book to this day is The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. The habit ‘begin with the end in mind’ is literally how I run my team. I’m never thinking about what we are going to do today? Rather, at the end of the day, I want X number of tickets gone, etc.
#1 Challenge as a Leader?
Following finding consistency in the chaos, a big challenge is being able to disassociate myself from tasks and things that I can’t fix or control. I am so overprotective of my company and team that I find myself not being able to let things go.
How a Reading Glasses Brand Found Success by Staying True to Its Vision
“We try to stay in our own lane,” Mona says. “Because everything else is a fad and we’re here to stay.” ThinOptics aims to form lasting relationships with customers, understanding that everyone’s needs change with age and adjustments (e.g. cheaters and readers) will need to be made to support better vision. “We’d rather have people come to us than just follow along with the fads.”
The Meaning Behind ThinOptics’ Promise: Always with You
ThinkOptics’ reading glasses are ultra-thin and portable and can easily be stored in a pocket and pulled out when needed. “Our trademark is always with you,” Mona shares. “It’s literally how we feel about our customers.” This sentiment is underscored by the product line’s affordability and frequent discounts directed towards connecting with more people, fostering brand loyalty, and building a customer base.
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