At A Glance

Inspired by UV Skinz’s commitment to exceptional customer experience, Jenna Metheny joined the UV-protective E-Commerce apparel company as Office Manager in 2023. She believes strong leaders communicate clearly, stay proactive, and keep an open mind. Discover how Jenna and her CX team balance AI with a thoughtful human touch, amplifying customers’ voices to help guide the company’s growth and innovation.

Who is Jenna?‍

Meet Jenna Metheny, Office Manager at UV Skinz!

About UV Skinz‍

UV Skinz, Inc. was founded after creator and CEO, Rhonda Sparks, lost her 32-year-old husband, Darren, to melanoma. Through her loss, Rhonda was able to create UV Skinz, Inc: a UV protective product line for the entire family that allows men, women, and children to practice sun safety, while also providing the convenience and peace-of-mind to enjoy life in the sun. UV Skinz’s UPF certified 50+ apparel and sunwear is specially designed to block out 98% of the sun’s harmful UVA and UVB rays.

Jenna’s Customer Experience Journey‍

After more than a decade in the customer experience space, Jenna Metheny began seeking opportunities that would allow her to fully leverage her skills while forming more meaningful connections with the people she served. “I came across a job post that made UV Skinz sound almost too good to be true,” she recalls. The sun-protective clothing and accessories company’s mission and values aligned seamlessly with her own, and in 2023, Jenna stepped into the role of Office Manager. “Rhonda Sparks, UV Skinz’s Founder, is very passionate about making sure our customers have the best experience.”

What Excites Jenna About CX?‍

Jenna describes herself as a natural problem solver. As Office Manager at UV Skinz, she oversees all aspects of the customer experience, including customer relations, 3PL fulfillment, and shipping and order tracking. When asked what excites her most about her role, Jenna points to identifying opportunities to improve experiences before issues arise. “It’s about recognizing what isn’t broken yet,” she explains. “How can we put processes or systems in place that elevate the customer experience while continually challenging the status quo?”

The CX Team at UV Skinz‍

The CX team fluctuates in size depending on the season, with additional agents brought on from April through August to support increased sales at UV Skinz. Jenna notes that while her core team remains small (but mighty!), the company’s cross-functional structure ensures her agents receive additional support from teams across the organization.”The Customer Experience is truly supported by every department at UV Skinz.”

How Jenna Overcomes Top Challenges as a CX Leader‍

UV Skinz is a fast-growing E-Commerce company, and when change happens, every department feels the impact. “We move fast,” Jenna explains. “It’s important to make sure my team stays up to date and that everyone is looped in at the right time.” Slack plays a key role in ensuring clear communication, with information shared as quickly as possible across the departments that need it. While standardized processes provide guidance for handling customer service issues, Jenna emphasizes that adaptability, and the ability to pivot when needed, is essential to delivering a strong CX.

Shipping also presents challenges. “You lose control once an order is in the hands of the carriers,” Jenna says. Taking a proactive approach, she and her team work to identify potential issues early and have a game plan in place to deliver timely solutions for customers.

CX Team Success Factors

Key KPIs Jenna is Tracking‍

Gorgias helps manage customer interactions across multiple channels, including email, chat, contact forms, and social media. “The platform makes it easy for us to centralize data while staying on top of traffic trends,” Jenna explains. “It also enables us to scale efficiently and identify historical sales patterns, such as Melanoma Monday and Black Friday.”

To evaluate overall customer service performance, Jenna tracks ticket volume, monitors support channels, and measures CSAT through customer surveys. While positive reviews are the goal, she recognizes the value of feedback that highlights opportunities for improvement. “That’s where you find friction points and problems that need to be addressed.” Beyond the reporting offered through Gorgias, the Customer Service Team reviews each week as a department to see what’s gone well, where we have opportunities for improvement and defining at least one WOW moment that we’ve created for our customers.

Looking Ahead: Jenna’s main CX Goals for UV Skinz‍

As a customer-focused company, UV Skinz is continually looking for strategies to elevate its customer experience. Presently, Jenna is focused on reducing friction surrounding shipping, particularly returns and exchanges. “We want it to be as easy as possible to order our items and return and exchange for a different size if needed,” she explains, noting that it’s important to cater to both customers who prefer automated options and those who want ‘white glove’ service.

The company also plans to build a ‘voice of the customer’ dashboard based on metrics, to use internally. Jenna elaborates, “using AI, we’ll be able to spot trending comments, customer feedback, and website user performance.” She finishes, “the next few years will be focused on strategically analyzing how we can leverage AI tools to free up our agents from repetitive tasks so they can best-serve our customers personally while also creating new and exciting surprise and delight programs.”

When Customers Aren’t Reaching Out: Reflection Leads to Action‍

Jenna sees slower periods as an opportunity for her and her team to review processes, strategies, and product information to make sure everything is up to standard. She continues, “This is also a time for proactive communication when we can reach out to customers we haven’t heard from in a while and with Surprise and Delight. Fulfillment statistics, self-service tools and help center performance on the website, and industry competition are also examined to drive growth, innovation, and brand visibility.

Topics of Interest

Jenna’s Views on AI and the Future of CX‍

While AI’s presence in customer experience will continue to grow, Jenna emphasizes that it will never replace human touch. As customer expectations evolve alongside automation, self-service, and curated product experiences, E-Commerce companies must adapt by anticipating market trends and customer needs and delivering proactive CX. Jenna explains, “Customers will expect us to use insights from their previous purchases to understand their preferences, anticipate potential product issues, and provide answers before the question is even asked.”

Jenna’s Advice to CX Leaders‍

“It’s important to stay close to the customer and to stay curious,” says Jenna. She emphasizes that a willingness to dig beneath the surface of CX performance, asking questions and identifying patterns and trends, is critical. She also advises leaders “to partner with different departments to make sure that customer experience stays at the forefront of any initiative the company has. Make sure the customer is always heard.”