www.gladly.com Open in urlscan Pro
35.185.35.166 Public Scan

Back to summary

Submitted URL:
https://sales.gladly.com/api/mailings/click/PMRGSZBCHIZDKOJVHE4SYITVOJWCEORCNB2HI4DTHIXS6Z3PFZTWYYLEFZWHSLZUNQRCYITPOJTSE...
Effective URL:
https://www.gladly.com/podcast/ulta-beauty/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ulta-podcast&utm_source=gladly-xdrs&utm_conte...
Submission: On December 20 via api (December 20th 2022, 4:32:18 am UTC) from US — Scanned from DE

Form analysis
5 forms found in the DOM

<form class="mktoForm mktoHasWidth mktoLayoutLeft" data-formid="1074" data-forminstance="363189133" data-formlocation="bottom" id="" __bizdiag="196351806" __biza="WJ__" novalidate="novalidate"
  style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); width: 3201px;">
  <style type="text/css">
    .mktoForm .mktoButtonWrap.mktoSimple .mktoButton {
      color: #fff;
      border: 1px solid #75ae4c;
      padding: 0.4em 1em;
      font-size: 1em;
      background-color: #99c47c;
      background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, from(#99c47c), to(#75ae4c));
      background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, #99c47c, #75ae4c);
      background-image: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #99c47c, #75ae4c);
      background-image: linear-gradient(to bottom, #99c47c, #75ae4c);
    }

    .mktoForm .mktoButtonWrap.mktoSimple .mktoButton:hover {
      border: 1px solid #447f19;
    }

    .mktoForm .mktoButtonWrap.mktoSimple .mktoButton:focus {
      outline: none;
      border: 1px solid #447f19;
    }

    .mktoForm .mktoButtonWrap.mktoSimple .mktoButton:active {
      background-color: #75ae4c;
      background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, from(#75ae4c), to(#99c47c));
      background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, #75ae4c, #99c47c);
      background-image: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #75ae4c, #99c47c);
      background-image: linear-gradient(to bottom, #75ae4c, #99c47c);
    }

    .mktoForm .mktoButtonWrap.mktoSimple button.mktoButton {
      background: #FF6600;
    }
  </style>
  <div class="mktoFormRow">
    <div class="mktoFieldDescriptor mktoFormCol" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
      <div class="mktoOffset" style="width: 10px;"></div>
      <div class="mktoFieldWrap mktoRequiredField"><label for="Email" id="LblEmail" class="mktoLabel mktoHasWidth" style="width: 10px;">
          <div class="mktoAsterix">*</div>
        </label>
        <div class="mktoGutter mktoHasWidth" style="width: 10px;"></div><input id="Email" name="Email" placeholder="Work Email*" maxlength="255" aria-labelledby="LblEmail InstructEmail" type="email"
          class="mktoField mktoEmailField mktoHasWidth mktoRequired" aria-required="true" style="width: 170px;"><span id="InstructEmail" tabindex="-1" class="mktoInstruction"></span>
        <div class="mktoClear"></div>
      </div>
      <div class="mktoClear"></div>
    </div>
    <div class="mktoFormCol" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
      <div class="mktoOffset mktoHasWidth" style="width: 10px;"></div>
      <div class="mktoFieldWrap">
        <div class="mktoHtmlText mktoHasWidth" style="width: 170px;">
          <p>By completing this form, I agree to receive marketing and other communications from Gladly Software, Inc.</p>
          <p><a href="https://www.gladly.com/privacy-policy/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Privacy Policy</a>&nbsp; |&nbsp; <a href="https://www.gladly.com/terms-of-service/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Terms of Use</a></p>
        </div>
        <div class="mktoClear"></div>
      </div>
      <div class="mktoClear"></div>
    </div>
    <div class="mktoClear"></div>
  </div>
  <div class="mktoFormRow"><input type="hidden" name="UTM_Source__c" class="mktoField mktoFieldDescriptor mktoFormCol" value="gladly-xdrs" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
    <div class="mktoClear"></div>
  </div>
  <div class="mktoFormRow"><input type="hidden" name="UTM_Medium__c" class="mktoField mktoFieldDescriptor mktoFormCol" value="email" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
    <div class="mktoClear"></div>
  </div>
  <div class="mktoFormRow"><input type="hidden" name="UTM_Campaign__c" class="mktoField mktoFieldDescriptor mktoFormCol" value="ulta-podcast" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
    <div class="mktoClear"></div>
  </div>
  <div class="mktoFormRow"><input type="hidden" name="UTM_Content__c" class="mktoField mktoFieldDescriptor mktoFormCol" value="" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
    <div class="mktoClear"></div>
  </div>
  <div class="mktoFormRow"><input type="hidden" name="UTM_Term__c" class="mktoField mktoFieldDescriptor mktoFormCol" value="" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
    <div class="mktoClear"></div>
  </div>
  <div class="mktoButtonRow"><span class="mktoButtonWrap mktoSimple" style="margin-left: 120px;"><button type="submit" class="mktoButton">JOIN OUR COMMUNITY</button></span></div><input type="hidden" name="formid" class="mktoField mktoFieldDescriptor"
    value="1074"><input type="hidden" name="munchkinId" class="mktoField mktoFieldDescriptor" value="665-VXG-269">
</form>

<form class="mktoForm mktoHasWidth mktoLayoutLeft" data-formid="1464" data-forminstance="1768071620" data-formlocation="footer" id="" __bizdiag="196355619" __biza="WJ__" novalidate="novalidate"
  style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); width: 3201px;">
  <style type="text/css">
    .mktoForm .mktoButtonWrap.mktoSimple .mktoButton {
      color: #fff;
      border: 1px solid #75ae4c;
      padding: 0.4em 1em;
      font-size: 1em;
      background-color: #99c47c;
      background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, from(#99c47c), to(#75ae4c));
      background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, #99c47c, #75ae4c);
      background-image: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #99c47c, #75ae4c);
      background-image: linear-gradient(to bottom, #99c47c, #75ae4c);
    }

    .mktoForm .mktoButtonWrap.mktoSimple .mktoButton:hover {
      border: 1px solid #447f19;
    }

    .mktoForm .mktoButtonWrap.mktoSimple .mktoButton:focus {
      outline: none;
      border: 1px solid #447f19;
    }

    .mktoForm .mktoButtonWrap.mktoSimple .mktoButton:active {
      background-color: #75ae4c;
      background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, from(#75ae4c), to(#99c47c));
      background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, #75ae4c, #99c47c);
      background-image: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #75ae4c, #99c47c);
      background-image: linear-gradient(to bottom, #75ae4c, #99c47c);
    }

    .mktoForm .mktoButtonWrap.mktoSimple button.mktoButton {
      background: #FF6600;
    }
  </style>
  <div class="mktoFormRow">
    <div class="mktoFieldDescriptor mktoFormCol" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
      <div class="mktoOffset" style="width: 10px;"></div>
      <div class="mktoFieldWrap mktoRequiredField"><label for="Email" id="LblEmail" class="mktoLabel mktoHasWidth" style="width: 10px;">
          <div class="mktoAsterix">*</div>
        </label>
        <div class="mktoGutter mktoHasWidth" style="width: 10px;"></div><input id="Email" name="Email" placeholder="Work Email*" maxlength="255" aria-labelledby="LblEmail InstructEmail" type="email"
          class="mktoField mktoEmailField mktoHasWidth mktoRequired" aria-required="true" style="width: 170px;"><span id="InstructEmail" tabindex="-1" class="mktoInstruction"></span>
        <div class="mktoClear"></div>
      </div>
      <div class="mktoClear"></div>
    </div>
    <div class="mktoFormCol" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
      <div class="mktoOffset mktoHasWidth" style="width: 10px;"></div>
      <div class="mktoFieldWrap">
        <div class="mktoHtmlText mktoHasWidth" style="width: 170px;">
          <p>By completing this form, I agree to receive marketing and other communications from Gladly Software, Inc.</p>
          <p><a href="https://www.gladly.com/privacy-policy/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Privacy Policy</a>&nbsp; |&nbsp; <a href="https://www.gladly.com/terms-of-service/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Terms of Use</a></p>
        </div>
        <div class="mktoClear"></div>
      </div>
      <div class="mktoClear"></div>
    </div>
    <div class="mktoClear"></div>
  </div>
  <div class="mktoFormRow"><input type="hidden" name="UTM_Source__c" class="mktoField mktoFieldDescriptor mktoFormCol" value="gladly-xdrs" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
    <div class="mktoClear"></div>
  </div>
  <div class="mktoFormRow"><input type="hidden" name="UTM_Medium__c" class="mktoField mktoFieldDescriptor mktoFormCol" value="email" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
    <div class="mktoClear"></div>
  </div>
  <div class="mktoFormRow"><input type="hidden" name="UTM_Campaign__c" class="mktoField mktoFieldDescriptor mktoFormCol" value="ulta-podcast" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
    <div class="mktoClear"></div>
  </div>
  <div class="mktoFormRow"><input type="hidden" name="UTM_Content__c" class="mktoField mktoFieldDescriptor mktoFormCol" value="" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
    <div class="mktoClear"></div>
  </div>
  <div class="mktoFormRow"><input type="hidden" name="UTM_Term__c" class="mktoField mktoFieldDescriptor mktoFormCol" value="" style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
    <div class="mktoClear"></div>
  </div>
  <div class="mktoButtonRow"><span class="mktoButtonWrap mktoSimple" style="margin-left: 120px;"><button type="submit" class="mktoButton">JOIN OUR COMMUNITY</button></span></div><input type="hidden" name="formid" class="mktoField mktoFieldDescriptor"
    value="1464"><input type="hidden" name="munchkinId" class="mktoField mktoFieldDescriptor" value="665-VXG-269">
</form>

<form class="mktoForm mktoHasWidth mktoLayoutLeft" data-formid="1074" data-forminstance="363189133" data-formlocation="bottom" __bizdiag="-551159910" __biza="WJ__" novalidate="novalidate"
  style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); visibility: hidden; position: absolute; top: -500px; left: -1000px; width: 1600px;"></form>

<form class="mktoForm mktoHasWidth mktoLayoutLeft" data-formid="1464" data-forminstance="1768071620" data-formlocation="footer" __bizdiag="-551159910" __biza="WJ__" novalidate="novalidate"
  style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); visibility: hidden; position: absolute; top: -500px; left: -1000px; width: 1600px;"></form>

<form novalidate="novalidate" class="mktoForm mktoHasWidth mktoLayoutLeft" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); visibility: hidden; position: absolute; top: -500px; left: -1000px; width: 1600px;"
  __bizdiag="-551159910" __biza="WJ__"></form>

Text Content

X


The ultimate CX event is back. Save the date for Gladly Connect Live 2023.
Save your spot
Gladly
Get Started
Toggle Menu
 * Why Gladly
   
   
   ONLY GLADLY MAKES CUSTOMER SERVICE RADICALLY PERSONAL
   
   What Makes Us Unique
   
   DRIVE REVENUE
   
   Drive revenue from your contact center
   
   DRIVE EFFICIENCY
   
   Boost productivity across every channel
   
   DECREASE COSTS
   
   Consolidate your technology stack

 * Product
   
   
   THE FIRST ALL-IN-ONE CUSTOMER SERVICE PLATFORM
   
   Product Tour Channels
   
   A SINGLE, LIFELONG CONVERSATION ACROSS ALL CHANNELS
   
   See All Channels Capabilities
   
   ALL THE CAPABILITIES YOU NEED TO DELIVER RADICALLY PERSONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE
   
   See All Capabilities
 * Customers
 * Pricing
 * Resources
   
   
   STAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LATEST FROM GLADLY
   
   REPORTS & GUIDES
   
   Insights & discoveries
   
   WEBINARS
   
   Insights from experts at Gladly
   
   BLOG
   
   Ideas for modern customer service
   
   PODCAST
   
   Hear radically personal stories
   
   EVENTS
   
   Connect with and learn from your peers in customer service
   
   CX MATURITY ASSESSMENT
   
   Benchmark your CX in 5 minutes

Book A Demo
 * Why Gladly
   Why Gladly?
   
   
   ONLY GLADLY MAKES CUSTOMER SERVICE RADICALLY PERSONAL
   
   See What Makes Us Unique
   
   DRIVE REVENUE
   
   Drive revenue from your contact center
   
   Learn more
   
   DRIVE EFFICIENCY
   
   Boost productivity across every channel
   
   Learn more
   
   DECREASE COSTS
   
   Consolidate your technology stack
   
   Learn more
 * Product
   Product
   
   
   THE FIRST ALL-IN-ONE CUSTOMER SERVICE PLATFORM
   
   Product Tour
   Channels
   
   Voice Natively built-in voice support
   
   IVR Natively built and customizable IVR
   
   Self Service Natively built-in self-service
   
   Chat Natively built-in chat support
   See All
   Capabilities
   
   Customer Details All customer details in one view
   
   Conversation Timeline Single conversation across channels
   
   People Match® The right hero at the right time
   
   Integrations Build a world that works for you
   See All
 * Customers
 * Pricing
 * Resources
   Resources
   
   
   STAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LATEST FROM GLADLY
   
   REPORTS & GUIDES
   
   Insights and discoveries for customer service visionaries
   
   Learn more
   
   WEBINARS
   
   Get insights from experts at Gladly and beyond
   
   Learn more
   
   BLOG
   
   Ideas and advice for modern customer service
   
   Learn more
   
   PODCAST
   
   Hear radically personal stories from customer service leaders
   
   Learn more
   
   EVENTS
   
   Connect with and learn from your peers in customer service
   
   Learn more
   
   CX MATURITY ASSESSMENT
   
   Benchmark your CX in 5 minutes
   
   Learn more
 * 
 * Get Started

< Radically Personal Podcast


HOW ULTA TRANSFORMS THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY WITH A GUEST-CENTRIC APPROACH

Share

 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 

Featuring Adam Seede ,

Director of Guest Services at Ulta


IN THIS GLADLY PODCAST EPISODE, HEAR FROM DIRECTOR OF GUEST SERVICES AT ULTA
BEAUTY, ADAM SEEDE, AS HE EXPLAINS HOW ULTA BEAUTY WEATHERED RETAIL CLOSURES
DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC, TURNED GUEST SERVICES INTO A REVENUE DRIVER, AND
CONTINUES TO REMAIN CUSTOMER-FOCUSED DURING AN ACCELERATED SHIFT TO DIGITAL.

Ulta Beauty has redefined beauty shopping for nearly three decades with the
promise, “all things beauty, all in one place.” Tune in as Adam reveals the
visionary grit of this retail powerhouse.

“WE HAVE TO MOVE FROM BEING TRANSACTIONAL TO BEING PURPOSEFUL—BUILDING A
RELATIONSHIP AND NOT JUST THINKING ABOUT GUEST SERVICES AS A POST-TRANSACTION
TEAM THAT HELPS ANSWER TRACKING QUESTIONS.”

Adam Seede

Director of Guest Services, Ulta

Joseph: Welcome to Radically Personal.

I’m Joseph Ansanelli, CEO of Gladly. We’re on a mission to help companies
reinvent customer service and deliver on the promise of Radically Personal
customer experiences.

On today’s episode, we’re joined ...



Joseph: Welcome to Radically Personal.

I’m Joseph Ansanelli, CEO of Gladly. We’re on a mission to help companies
reinvent customer service and deliver on the promise of Radically Personal
customer experiences.

On today’s episode, we’re joined by Adam Seede. Adam is the director of guest
services at Ulta Beauty. Adam shares the mindset shift that today makes guest
services so successful.

Adam: You know we have to move from being transactional to being purposeful,
building a relationship, not just thinking about guest services as a
post-transaction team that helps answer, “where is my order!”

Joseph: Adam also tells how COVID 19 forced Ulta Beauty to search for new
solutions to the challenges they face, including how to scale and staff their
guest experience team.

Adam: I had the opportunity to bring on two hundred helpers from our field.
These were folks in our stores that their store was shut down due to the
Pandemic, and I was able to bring them in on Gladly to answer emails.

Joseph: And we’ll hear some insights on Ulta Beauty’s accelerated pivot to
digital retail.

Adam: Not only did we have to accelerate our omnichannel experiences, but we had
to really challenge ourselves to remain grounded in the human connection.

Joseph: This is Radically Personal.

Hey everyone, and welcome to Radically Personal. I am super excited to welcome
my friend Adam Seede, the director of guest services at Ulta Beauty, to share
his story, the story of Ulta Beauty, and how Ulta is delivering a Radically
Personal guest services experience. Adam, welcome!

Adam: Thank you, Joseph; great to talk with you.

Joseph: Why don’t we start Adam, maybe, with a little introduction and
background for our listeners? Maybe a little about who you are and your
background?

Adam: I’ve been in customer care since I was a kid, technically, in high school.
Served at APAC customer care out of Deerfield, Illinois, for about 13 years.
Really cut my teeth in service and sales and ran operations, and centers, and
client accounts, and really had a great experience. It really took me into a
field that I had never thought I would enjoy as much, and I’ve been there ever
since. And then, I transitioned to Nordstrom—responsible for customer care, and
spent 13 years at Nordstrom, and of course, an incredible company, incredible
leadership, and quite the experience that I’ve gained personally and
professionally at Nordstrom, and it gave me the opportunity to transition to
Ulta Beauty. And I’ve been at Ulta now for four years as of this weekend.

Joseph: Happy anniversary!

Adam: Thank you very much.

I would say Ulta really is a technology company in many ways in the beauty
industry—really bringing technology and solutions to our guests in the world of
beauty. And it’s been an incredibly fun ride here.

Joseph: That’s awesome! I mean, those are some—you have worked with some really
amazing brands that just have this incredible legacy and heritage of delivering
great customer experiences and service. What role does guest services play?

Adam: We partner with all of our departments such as supply chain, of course,
and merchandising, marketing, IT.

We really work in the center and need to know a lot about a lot, so guest
services is part of the strategic planning process as well as the execution and
operational processes. As a guest services department, we feel as though we are
in the middle.

Joseph: What led you to rethinking the customer experience, the guest
experience, and how did that lead you to choosing Gladly as your partner?

Adam: The journey broadened as soon as we really thought about ways to be more
emotional. At Ulta we have 34-million ultimate rewards members today, and 95
percent of our sales come from our members. It gives us the opportunity to
better know the guest. So I think the challenge that I’ve always had is, how do
you use that information, that data, those insights in the guest services world?
So, I think that was the impetus of how can we do better?

Joseph: So I didn’t actually know some of those stats, so, 34 million members in
the ultimate program, and ninety-five percent of your revenue comes from
those—from the members—is that what you just said?

Adam: That’s right.

Joseph That’s incredible. It really changes the way you think about the business
because you really think of it as a membership, not as an individual
transaction. Service used to be this back-office issue resolution function.
You’re thinking about it as a front office revenue generator.

Adam: You know we have to move from being transactional to being
purposeful—building a relationship and not just thinking about guest services as
a post-transaction team that helps answer tracking questions. You know, where is
my order? Those are the transactional inquiries that everybody has to answer
well and quickly. But we have a real advantage at Ulta that we have these
members, and they give us great information, which is their purchase history. We
use that same information when we’re talking to a guest. We want to recognize
the guest, and their loyalty, and also their preferences.

Joseph: You invested a lot in unlocking all that data about who a guest is to
match them with an associate to best help. How has that changed things?

Adam: We deliver a really great experience to each guest regardless, really, of
our membership tier. Although we love our Platinum and Diamond guests, of
course, so I would say it’s really a matter of recognizing them acknowledging
that loyalty.

Ulta has been around since 1990 and we have some very loyal tenured guests, and
so we want to recognize that, but more so, it’s understanding their preferences
and their favorite brands. It gives us the ability to acknowledge that and
suggest new brands—suggest new products of their favorite brand, and I think
that’s where it gets fun. We can become more helpful to the guest versus
transactional.

I got my first TUMI bag 25 years ago. I remember it was this rite of passage. I
was working as a young kid as a product manager at Apple and I was starting to
travel and I bought my first rollaboard, and it was the cheapest one that I
could get at the time. I didn’t have a lot of money. I would always walk past
the TUMI store and see the red logo and be like, “One day.”

Joseph: It is so much about that feeling of showing that you know who they are
that delivers on that engagement and retention, which is super powerful. That’s
the way you compete against an Amazon. I mean, you’re in a category that people
could argue, well it’s just something that Amazon can easily do, and I think
they do, but I don’t think they do super well because they don’t deliver on that
level of engagement.

Adam: This Pandemic has really challenged all of us retailers to be more
creative and put forth solutions. And I think at Ulta Beauty, we have associates
as our secret weapon, and we have an amazing in-store experience. And I think it
puts that ownership on guest services, if I speak about my team, to deliver the
same experience as our guests expect from us in-store. And so we need to create
that environment where guests can come in, and explore, and test and try, and
really be themselves when they come into one of our stores. And how do we give
that same experience digitally or with guest services as well?

Joseph: You know, voice has been such—and still is—a really important way that
your guests will connect, but you’ve obviously gone through a bunch of
transition with your guests in terms of where they want to talk with you and,
you know, the rise of messaging as a place to meet your guests. Can you share
any experiences for folks who are sort of thinking about that?

Adam: We read articles, and we go to conferences and hear that voice is going
away, and people aren’t going to call, but it’s certainly not the case. We love
to talk with our guests. Our guests love talking with us, and I would say half
of our volume remains on the phone. However, that is changing, to your point,
and, you know, in addition to email, we see live chat on the rise. We have live
chat going, of course, proactive chat on top of live chat, and then text, which
we launched in July, which has been great.

It’s a trickle because we’re testing it, and that’s currently on our phone menu,
but we see an adoption there as well. And we need to be very relevant to our
guests. Our guests are very diverse, and we need to be where our guests are and
really harness technology and make communication convenient and on the guest’s
terms.

Joseph: You know it’s about choice. It’s about meeting people wherever they are.
Is there any learnings from the first few months of using SMS that you would
share with folks?

Adam: It’s not as complicated as one would think, in terms of waiting for a
guest to respond back, and making sure it’s the same specialist, and figuring
some of those logistics out to make sure that the experience is a great
consistent one for the guest. And so, you know, our learnings were just, dip
your toe in and try it out, and your guests are excited to speak with you.
You’re excited to speak with a guest. It turns into—just the specialist is going
to be a great specialist and advisor for the guest. So what’s really neat about
it is the reaction from the guest in our customer satisfaction results—the nice
surprise that they get when they can select text as an option on the phone.

Joseph: Oh, interesting. So, you’ve actually gotten people to respond back in
your CSAT surveys specifically about that?

Adam: Yeah, “How cool? How cool is text? This is great! Ulta beauty texts now?”
If you were to size up the type of guest, perhaps, that may want to text versus
call, that is not who you’re marketing your text to currently—if you just offer
it in your phone menu. So you’re really surprising those guests that are calling
in and loving the choice. But to your earlier point, there are times when it’s
better to talk. So if you’re texting, it’s great to be able to say, “do you mind
if I call you? I think I can help you much more quickly.” And then the guest is
also pleased that we’re not locked into the current channel that we’re talking
to them in.

Joseph: Everyone is focused on this concept of Omnichannel, and I don’t think
Omnichannel is the point. I think the point is to be channel independent. It’s
about the guest, and you should meet them wherever they are, and it should just
be one continuous conversation with that guest independent of the channel. So
you can start an SMS—be on a phone call—send them an email, and even do them at
the same time. I mean, there’s no reason why you can’t be on the phone and text
them some links, for example, or some images.

Adam: Absolutely, and I think the definition of Omnichannel maybe puts you in a
corner too much. And I think you need to think broadly at how you communicate
with your guests and start collecting their preference as well.

Certainly, the Pandemic sparked a massive shift to digital, and I think, you
know, I think we learned that not only did we have to accelerate our Omnichannel
experiences, but we had to really challenge ourselves to remain grounded in the
human connection. So being hyper-relevant and having strong capabilities to
deliver.

I would say that the guests expect in-store and online experiences to be
seamless and connected. I think that’s a given.

Safety and convenience are more important than ever, and I think, you know, one
of the things that we learned—that we really expanded on—was our Glam Lab and
our Skin Analysis as well.

Joseph: What are those?

Adam: It’s our means to allow virtual try-ons of our product. So Glam Lab—it’s
really neat—so Glam Lab we’ve had on average about 20 million shade try-ons a
quarter. It’s a big number.

Joseph: Virtually.

Adam: Virtually via our app, and it’s incredible to see the adoption rate in the
usage and now the dependency on it. So, I think bringing that to market and
really expanding it was huge during the Pandemic. It’s certainly one that, of
course, we’re continuing, but it just goes to show that that human connection is
absolutely necessary. It’s more important than ever during a time when much
interaction was taken away. It’s part of the reason, I think, our guests crave
our in-store experience, especially when you think about how meaningful and
personal beauty is to them.

Joseph: I didn’t know those numbers. I mean, that’s just such a huge new way to
engage. That’s crazy, that number. I’m just thinking about it. That’s
incredible. That’s awesome.

Adam: If you love the data point, I think you know our Foundation Shade Matcher
is another capability, and 60 percent of our users get matched, which is really
neat. Matching foundation virtually is very difficult, and so it’s another
service that we provide. I think it looks like you have used it. I know we’re
looking at each other right now, and you are spot on so…

Joseph: Yeah. [laughs] People can’t see as we’re on video looking at each other.
He’s staring at my bald head.

You know messaging—obviously, you’re getting some really good adoption. People
are excited to text and SMS. You shared once a little about how you started to
use proactive chat to help drive revenue.

Adam: Sure! Proactive chat in checkout has been a great capability for us. And
we found that engaging with the guests that may be struggling in
checkout—perhaps time spent on page, or struggling with a promotion code entry.
We would engage with a proactive chat.

We found through measuring the results that our conversion rate had doubled with
those engagements over proactive chat versus not reaching out to the guests.

Joseph: So they’re in the—they’ve got an item—they’re in the checkout page. You
have some rules. We don’t have to get into your secret sauce on that. That says,
“hey is there some way I can help you in this moment?” And you’re finding that
when you engage you’ve doubled the conversion for people checking out,
basically?

Adam: That’s right.

Joseph: That’s huge—that’s got to have a huge impact on the bottom line like—I
should say top line. That’s such a great example. Much more of a front office,
I’m helping you through this pre-sales process versus the post-sales process.

Adam: It’s been fantastic. The results have been significant. That’s a great
example of being where your guests need you to be when they need you.

Joseph: Let’s shift gears a little bit. Let’s talk a little bit about people and
culture. What’s changed in the recruiting and enablement of the team—both with
Covid, but also with thinking of Gladly as the product platform you use. Like
you shared some stories about, like, you can recruit different people today, for
example.

Adam: We look for individuals that want to engage with people. They are creative
in their thought and have an opinion, and they want to do what’s right, and they
really match our company values, and they love what they do. And so we’re
looking for people that really fit the mold of our values at the same time we
empower them. So, our training is making choices to serve the guest in the right
way. And that means it’s not very scripted, and you know there are lots of
resources to make the best decision for the guest at that time. The hiring
profile has always been tough, especially during the Holiday ramp season in
retail. Or you’re trying to look for a candidate that is service-oriented, and
can communicate with people really well, and loves doing so. At the same time,
they have this technical savvy about them, and so you know you have this sort of
dichotomy a bit. It’s rather difficult to find somebody that’s very
tech-savvy—that can work a dozen screens at one time while trying to deliver a
really great guest experience. So the transition to Gladly is—you know, what you
and I have always talked about— the simplicity and ease of Gladly, and really
I’ve always been looking for an intuitive platform that, quite frankly, trains
itself. And I always compare it to the iphone.

You get your iphone, and it’s a supercomputer, and it has a threefold pamphlet,
and it’s maybe an inch tall, and it tells you basically enjoy the product.
Gladly’s really enabled that for us.

I got to tell you a story. During the Pandemic, when, you know, we shut down
stores, and we along with most others were in high queues, I had the opportunity
to bring on 200 helpers from our field, and these were folks in our stores that
their store was shut down due to the Pandemic. And I found a way to tap their
skill set. They were obviously great with our guests. They’re associates of Ulta
Beauty, and I was able to bring them in on Gladly to answer emails, and it
worked out amazingly.

Joseph: So these are store associates or managers who had never worked
necessarily on the guest services team? They were in-person retail associates?

Adam: That’s right. They were front-and-center, on their feet all day, in our
stores across the country. So, creating a virtual training and introducing the
platform—introducing Gladly and training them up to speak with our guests over
email was amazing for us, and it was amazing for them. The win we got out of
that was such a partnership with our field team that they could appreciate the
inquiries that guests come in with. Some of them are from experiences within
their stores, so they could hear that firsthand, and help solve that problem,
and really represent their store, and take full ownership of the experience, and
make it a great one. So, it was incredible from a relationship standpoint, from
an operational standpoint, and it helped our guests—who you know, at that point
in time, we were trying to serve our guests as effectively as possible.

Joseph: The fact that you did that crossover of the team like it’s—it’s
just—it’s—I love that story. That’s a great learning. You know the name of the
podcast is Radically Personal, and I ask everyone who comes and joins to tell
something that’s Radically Personal about you that most people don’t know. So
what’s Adam’s Radically Personal moment?

Adam: These are all legal moments?

Well, this is rather recent. To me, it’s radically personal that I went back to
finish my college degree, and that was this summer.

Joseph: This past summer?

Adam: Yeah, it was this summer. Yeah, I finished it, and you know it was really
important—first of all, it was a ton of fun.

I cannot believe—I’m a totally different person, of course, now than when I was
a young punk kid trying to, you know, make it through college and not sure
exactly how I was going to apply what I was learning and whatnot. I went in on
an engineering track, and, you know, certainly pivoted in my career. So—but the
most important job for me is being a father and a role model for my two sons.
So, I want to show them the value of hard work and, you know, taking a risk to
better yourself in an area you’re passionate about. So I feel like it was a
great thing for me to do personally. I had a ton of fun. I did really well,
maybe a little bit too well, according to some of my professors. You know,
they’re not used to having these types of conversations about one-hundredth of a
grade point average on a grade. So anyway, it was a lot of fun.

Joseph: That’s awesome. That’s great. Congrats on that.

That’s, that’s—you know that’s grit. You know? Like you just did something you
want to do, and you made it happen, and I can’t imagine how you managed to do
that while leading the team at Ulta, because I know how crazy it’s been the past
18 months. So double Kudos on that. That’s awesome.

What’s next? What’s next for Ulta? I mean—just Mary, who recently retired as
CEO. I mean, she just did an amazing job in her tenure there—I mean, she really
did. It’s hard to argue with the incredible results and the scale that she’s
built at that company. New CEO now. What’s next for Ulta overall? What’s next
for Ulta and guest services?

Adam: Well, I’d say overall, you know, Mary is such a fantastic leader and
developed such a following among all of us. And Dave Kimball, our CEO, is
certainly carrying the torch and running with it, and he’s amazing, I think you
know. All up for Ulta will continue to grow our innovative apps and champion
product discovery and trial. Our associates, I’m sure, will continue to serve as
experts and deliver on the guest’s needs, wants, and values and I think. You
know we’ll serve, as I mentioned before, our guests where they need us when they
need us, and I think that’s the key.

Joseph: Yeah, I think one of the things I always hear from our conversations is
that it’s one Ulta—whether it’s instore online with a guests experiences
team—like it’s just it’s one Ulta. And I think that, you know, it’s really hard
to deliver on that.

Adam: We are one company. We wear a guest hat and, you know, seeing the stores
appreciate the capabilities that we can serve their local guests with—Buy
online. Pick up in-store and curbside etc. It certainly allows them to continue
serving their guests and growing their business, and so I think it’s been
important that all of us have been in locked arms through this. And we’ve grown
from it.

Joseph: You know, people and teams and your team. They just do such an amazing
job, and I’m sort of curious like, what have been some of the—is there any,
like, secrets or secret weapons that you’ve had internally to help you get
through the challenging times with such grace and success these past couple
years?

Adam: It certainly has been a Choose Your Own Adventure, I think, the past
couple of years. And I would say—because you can’t look in a crystal ball—I’d
say by far, you know, my secret weapon is my team here at Ulta beauty. You know,
Ron, Matthew, Paula on the guest services team. They eat, sleep, and breathe
guest services, and they come to the table with creative thoughts and an opinion
and a voice, and they are excellent at working together to put it into play.

Joseph: Yeah, they’re great, and I think you know one of the things that

we try to do—and I think that we’ve done pretty well with you—is like, how do we
engage so like, we are part of the team—and we’ve always felt very welcomed.

I’m super proud of that partnership that we’ve been able to do. It’s not—It’s
not a vendor relationship. You know what I mean? It’s like, hey, we’re on this
journey together.

Adam: Likewise, we feel the same way, and that’s what I would think is your
secret weapon.

We have 1300 stores. We have, you know, over 30,000 associates in-store serving
guests. And we have guest services, of course, that are trying to deliver the
same experience as our in-store associates, and so I would ask you? How do you
envision Gladly evolving, or where do you expect to take Gladly to serve
retailers like ours—that are heavy brick and mortar, an online presence app and
really technology-forward, and with the experience as our overall
top-of-the-list value?

Joseph: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, and I think I’ve shared this with you. We started
the company, really, because we wanted to help companies like yours who are
trying to focus on lifetime value of your customers and that long-term
engagement. And we think the right way to do that is to deliver this idea of a
people-centered service approach—a relationship, not a workflow function.

It’s just funny. I mean, the way people have delivered and focused on service
really is this result of applying the mentality and the lessons from a
production line to service. You know, if you think about a production line where
you sort of separate people’s knowledge and the actual things that they’re doing
on a production line—where you want to get it to be very process-oriented, and
they’ve sort of taken the people and their intelligence and their relationships
out of the conversation. And what we’re trying to do is figure out how to work
to bring that personal—bring people back to the center. It’s called customer
service. It’s not called case service.

You know, it’s about understanding your guests and meeting them wherever they
are. And so we continue to invest in that. How do we help you drive revenue,
improve CSAT, while doing it more efficiently? You know we support lots of
different ways to connect today. One of them we don’t yet do natively is, like,
video, for example, so we think that video is a way of engaging, and making that
part of the conversation in a very natural way is a really interesting
extension.

Associates participate in the conversation with guests. You know it might be
with proactive communications. It might be that they’re participating in guest
services. We really want to continue to invest in making it so that it really
truly is a single lifelong conversation between Ulta and your guests. Two big
things that we think a lot about is people and delivering more context about who
they are to make your team really be able to show that you know them. And also
just to meet your guests wherever they are, whether that’s digitally on voice,
on video, or ultimately in person as well, and we’re super excited about that
journey.

We can’t thank you and the whole team enough for the partnership and look
forward to many, many more years together.

Adam: Likewise great working with you and the team.

Joseph: Adam, thanks so much for letting us join you on your journey. We’re
proud to partner with you and the whole team at Ulta Beauty and proud of the
creativity and leadership you’ve shown in delivering a Radically Personal guest
experience.

Read the full transcript



WAYS TO LISTEN

ABOUT THE HOST

With a proven track record of building companies that don’t settle for the
status quo, Gladly CEO and co-founder Joseph Ansanelli is reinventing customer
service to put people back at the heart of it. Joseph is also a Partner at
Greylock, focused on investing in enterprise applications.



Listen to the previous episode

Listen to the next episode

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NEVER MISS AN EPISODE OF RADICALLY PERSONAL. RECEIVE NEW EPISODES IN YOUR INBOX.

*




By completing this form, I agree to receive marketing and other communications
from Gladly Software, Inc.

Privacy Policy  |  Terms of Use









JOIN OUR COMMUNITY

You're in. Keep an eye on your inbox for community insights and information on
how you can join the conversation.


RECOMMENDED FOR YOU

HOW THE YES BUILT THE BEST SHOPPING EXPERIENCE IN FASHION

Learn from the CEO of online fashion brand The Yes how their company is
leveraging AI to change how women shop for fashion.



HOW JOANN CREATES A “HAPPY PLACE” FOR SERVICE TEAMS AND CUSTOMERS

Gladly interviews craft retailer JOANN on how they reimagined their customer
experience to provide a “creative happy place” for curious makers.



ANDIE SWIMWEAR: BUILDING A BRAND THAT FEELS LIKE A FRIEND

Hear from Andie founder on how their customer service Fit Experts help customers
feel like they’re shopping for swimwear with a friend.



Product
 * Customer Support Platform
 * Pricing
 * Product Tour
 * Request Demo
 * Gladly vs. Zendesk
 * Gladly vs. Oracle
 * Gladly vs. Gorgias
 * Gladly vs. Kustomer
 * Gladly vs. Freshdesk
 * Gladly vs. Salesforce
 * Gladly vs. Genesys

Support
 * System Status
 * Support Docs
 * FAQs
 * API Reference
 * Implementation Guides
 * Security Agreement
 * Security, Privacy & Compliance

Learn
 * Reports and Handbooks
 * Blog
 * Webinars
 * Podcast
 * Events
 * CX Maturity Assessment

 * About Gladly
 * Careers
 * Contact

 * 
 * 
 * 

STAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LATEST FROM GLADLY.

*




By completing this form, I agree to receive marketing and other communications
from Gladly Software, Inc.

Privacy Policy  |  Terms of Use









JOIN OUR COMMUNITY

You're in.

Thank you for joining Gladly Connect — A CX Community. Keep an eye on your inbox
for community insights and information on how you can join the conversation.

© 2022 Gladly Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
 * Terms of Service
 * Privacy Policy
 * Acceptable Use Policy

Gladly.com uses cookies to improve your experience. For more information, please
review our Privacy Policy. ACCEPT REJECT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Close

PRIVACY OVERVIEW

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through
the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary
are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic
functionalities...
Necessary
Necessary
Always Enabled

Others
others

Advertisement
advertisement

Analytics
analytics

Functional
functional

Performance
performance

Save & Accept
Powered by








load font
Let's chat

www.gladly.com Open in urlscan Pro 35.185.35.166 Public Scan

Form analysis 5 forms found in the DOM

Text Content

www.gladly.com Open in urlscan Pro
35.185.35.166 Public Scan

Form analysis
5 forms found in the DOM