At A Glance

Mieka Loepp brings nearly a decade of e-commerce experience to her role as Head of Customer Care at Tuft and Paw, having discovered her passion for customer experience through different roles at various companies. With a self-described "giant nerd" approach to data analysis, she manages a globally distributed team across multiple time zones to provide 12+ hours of daily customer support. Her management philosophy centers on taking care of her team first, believing that exceptional customer experiences naturally follow when managers prioritize their people.

Who is Mieka Loepp?

Meet Mieka, Head of Customer Care at Tuft and Paw!

About Tuft and Paw

At tuft + paw, we have a simple mission: make the most thoughtfully designed, high-quality products for cats and their people. We believe that less is more. We don’t add unnecessary frills or gimmicks, just carefully curated pieces that complement your home and bring joy to your cat.

Mieka’s CX Journey

Based in Toronto, Mieka describes herself as "your friendly neighborhood extrovert.” Her motivation is clear: "I like helping people and I like solving problems."

Her educational background proved uniquely relevant: "I actually have a weird degree that doesn't exist anymore in e-com of all things," she explains, noting the timing was so aligned with the industry's growth that "you would think it's sponsored by Shopify." Her career advanced from E-Commerce at Walmart.ca to Operations and Success at a Tech Startup before returning to Ecomm seeking clarity and purpose."I missed that screamingly obvious target that everyone's working towards versus this department has this goal, this department has this goal." The pet space felt like a natural fit: "I have always been a pet person, so there is a lot of natural empathy and understanding there. While it helps that I love ecomm, the pet space is also the cutest part of the internet - how could you pass it up?"

Her transition to Tuft & Paw happened organically. "I always joke that I had spent a few years spoiling my dog at work, and now it was high time I spoiled my cats at work. In all seriousness, the company has so many smart, driven, determined people; it was a no-brainer to join." Mieka explains. 

What excites Mieka about CX?

Mieka believes customer experience is the ultimate competitive advantage in today's crowded digital marketplace. 

"In a world where you can go on the internet and search up absolutely anything to purchase from anywhere, you're going to find probably like a hundred options of the same thing," she explains. 

"The thing that's going to make you pick that thing over another is your experience with that company." For her, this creates an exciting opportunity: "You're kind of in that front seat of what's going to make them talk about your company and make them a lifelong customer advocate."

The CX Team at Tuft and Paw

Tuft & Paw operates with a "small but mighty team" that combines in-house staff with offshore agency partners. "Tuft & Paw is a fully remote company," Mieka explains, with team members spanning "several time zones in Canada" and "several time zones across the world for our care team specifically." This global distribution serves a strategic purpose: "Our care team works not necessarily around the clock, but we have a proper 12-plus hours that we're available for folks." The time zone coverage also enables behind-the-scenes efficiency, allowing team members to handle tasks "before anyone else on the team is even awake" so staff can "come in, start their day, already know that a good chunk of stuff is taken care of."

What Mieka Looks For in a New Hire

Mieka takes a data-driven approach to team planning and hiring at Tuft & Paw. "I'm a giant nerd and I love a good spreadsheet," she admits, explaining how she forecasts staffing needs based on "tickets, orders, sales, and growth targets" and potential business launches. Her process includes working backward from projected needs: "Adding in that buffer of a few months to find, hire, onboard, train, get them feeling really comfortable before they're actually needed."

When evaluating candidates, she looks beyond the obvious requirement of empathy. "I feel like you're not going to find a care leader that doesn't want someone who's empathetic," she notes. Two additional qualities stand out: problem-solving depth and resilience. 

CX Team Success Factors

Mieka employs both standard metrics like response time and CSAT alongside deeper data analysis examining "what kind of customers are asking which questions" and "which concerns take the longest to solve."

Rather than treating these as absolute targets, she views metrics as guidance tools: "I think all of these tend to be more of a guide for me." Her philosophy prioritizes experience over numbers: "I don't want to optimize to hit a number. I want to optimize to create a really seamless experience."

Succeeding During High-Growth Periods

Tuft & Paw is experiencing rapid expansion, creating unique challenges for Mieka's customer experience team. "We're in this crazy, exciting, hectic phase where we're doing a lot of explosive growth," she explains. Unlike project-based roles with clear deadlines, her responsibility is continuous: "I just kind of have this infinite to-do list. Mine is the same thing every single day - create an awesome experience for everyone."

Her strategy focuses on maintaining quality while scaling operations. "Fundamentals at scale is one of my biggest focuses for the next however many months, years," Mieka notes.

 "As we launch more products, as we launch in more places, I want to make sure that we don't lose what makes our team special." 

Her approach involves strengthening core processes: "A lot of startups are built out of duct tape and love, and I'm here to peel back the duct tape and ask, how do I fix this properly?" The goal is sustainable growth: "Let's make sure that something doesn’t come crumbling down just because we became a victim of our own success."

Revenue Generation/AI/topics of interest 

Mieka views AI as a valuable tool that enhances rather than replaces human customer service capabilities. "I see it as one tool in the tool belt that customer experience has," she explains. "It's not going to replace the person wearing the tool belt." Her approach focuses on strategic implementation for routine tasks like order tracking inquiries: "We don't necessarily need a human being to say, 'here is your link.' That is absolutely something that can be handled by AI." This frees up human agents for more complex interactions requiring "empathy and emotion and compassion and understanding context."

At Tuft & Paw, they use AI thoughtfully as a support system. "We use it as a way to almost jumpstart sometimes when you're crafting long responses or you need to gather your thoughts," she explains.

However, she cautions against over-reliance: "I don't think people should start assuming they can replace a whole team. I think that will likely backfire, and it's probably a pretty terrible experience to have no human being behind human contact."

Advice for CX Leaders

Mieka's management philosophy centers on a simple but powerful principle she learned early in her career. "I was told early in my career when I first became a manager by another leader I really admire: 'You take care of your people, they will take care of your customers, the rest will follow,'" she recalls. "I've taken it to heart, I've tried to embody that everywhere I go. I take care of my team, they then take care of customers, everything else follows, and it's never failed me."

She emphasizes the serious responsibility that comes with managing people. "Take being a leader and a people manager very seriously. You kind of hold someone's career and livelihood in your hands, and it’s your responsibility whether you like it or not," Mieka explains. 

Understanding the impact managers have on employee well-being drives her approach: "When people are stressed nine times out of 10, they're going to say it's because of their job. When you say what's stressful at your job, they're going to say their boss. I never want to be the reason for someone's stress." Her core message to fellow managers is straightforward: "Take it seriously. You're managing humans. Their career, their livelihood, is in your hands. Take care of them."