How Mailchimp Transformed their QA Program with MaestroQA

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QA leads often get a bad reputation on CX teams - they’re always pointing out flaws opportunities for improvement and aren’t really “part of the team” - they usually don’t take calls and aren’t in the trenches with the rest of the CX team.

That sometimes means that their feedback and insights aren’t as welcome and implemented as they should be - which is a big loss for the entire team.

So when Mailchimp tried to onboard a new QA program, they encountered some resistance from the wider CX team. They were worried about the fairness and accuracy of the grading system, and if they were going to be scrutinized for every mistake they made. However, through several strategic initiatives, QA leadership turned that sentiment around and implemented a growth mindset on their team.

We spoke with Anna Dang, Quality Control Manager, and Nicole Wong, Quality Control Specialist, about how they transformed QA’s reputation on their team. 

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The challenge: QA data wasn’t trusted or used to its fullest potential, meaning missed opportunities to improve CX

While some of the more tenured agents have had prior experience with QA, newer agents didn’t have the same exposure. They felt like it was being put in place to micro-manage the support team (and to scrutinize their mistakes). 

Because of the negative perception surrounding QA, managers did not include QA data in their coaching sessions, missing out on an opportunity to turn their coaching process into a data-driven one that drives positive business impact. And, because agents weren’t receptive to the QA-based feedback, they missed an opportunity to grow and improve in their role and provide a better customer experience. 

On top of that, the QA team was still taking time and resources to grade tickets, so their work was going to waste. It was a huge missed opportunity for the team in terms of time, energy, and knowledge sharing.

Enter MaestroQA.

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The solution: Use the QA program (and Mailchimp software!) to deliver value to the team + build trust

The first thing the Mailchimp team did was implement MaestroQA to put more structure around coaching. This made the grading process less open to subjectivity and immediately more trustworthy. 

Anna and team didn’t stop there. They next focused on integrating themselves with the wider team, attending all CX team meetings and taking charge of onboarding agents from day one.

Doing this positioned them as trusted sources of CX knowledge and helped the agents build familiarity and trust with the QA program, which was also implemented into onboarding processes.

There was a final, really Mailchimp-esque touch: a Quality newsletter!

The Quality newsletter is put together by the QA team, and sent to the entire CX department monthly. 

It provides a forum for Anna to share information and opportunities for improvement in a fun, on-brand way. In particular, the newsletters always feature a QA Tip of the Month that was informed by trends in the QA data. The QA team also uses the opportunity to announce the award recipient for that month’s top agent and team. All in all, the newsletter has helped to boost team morale and encouraged positive behavior. 

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The positive impact: A highly engaged CX team that enjoys receiving (and benefits from!) QA insights

The Mailchimp team successfully took QA from a dreaded part of the job to something the team gets excited about. The Monthly QA newsletters have an average open rate of over 80% (numbers that most marketers can only dream about!) - and Anna often notices an immediate improvement in QA scores the next week in the areas highlighted by the QA Tip of the Month.

The team is also 100% basing coaching sessions on QA data - which means the team is able to track trends and improvements over time and see their hard work pay off. This has built further trust on the team, and helped Mailchimp continually deliver CX support that lives up to the Mailchimp brand.