Case Study: Ipsy Reaches 97% Agent Adherence With Assembled

Ipsy, founded in 2011, has always been driven by a clear mission: empowering members to celebrate their unique beauty.

This commitment shines through in every interaction, including the care team’s approach to delivering personalized, standout support. But as Ipsy scaled, keeping that promise grew more challenging.

Challenges

To stay true to their mission and keep delivering exceptional service, the team knew they needed a modern workforce management (WFM) solution – one that could meet the demands of a growing organization while maintaining the high bar they’d set.

Anna Skidmore, VP of Customer Care, Ipsy, said, “Our mission centres around empowering individuality, and we needed a tool that could match our flexibility and high standards for support.”

As Ipsy’s support team grew to over 200 agents, managing operations with spreadsheets and manual processes quickly became unsustainable.

The team struggled with gaining real-time visibility into agent activity, accurately forecasting for high-volume days, and ensuring SLA adherence – all without the support of automation.

“It was so manual and painful. We were constantly reactive, and changes had to be made on the fly. There was no way to effectively forecast or communicate shifts ahead of time, and everything became last minute for both the team and the agents,” said Megan Machado, Workforce Management Lead at Ipsy.

Seasonal surges, like those during holiday sales, amplified these inefficiencies, underscoring the need for a scalable solution.

Metrics like shrinkage and agent adherence were tracked using rough estimates instead of reliable data, leaving the team with limited visibility into performance and missed opportunities for optimization.

Solution

The Ipsy team recognized the need for a platform that could not only solve their operational challenges but also align with their goals and cultural values.

Their search for the right solution kicked off with a comprehensive evaluation of the WFM landscape, narrowing down an initial list of eight potential vendors.

“When we started, we knew we had to take a thorough approach. We evaluated several tools, looking not just at feature sets but also at scalability, ease of use, and alignment with our workflows,” said Megan Machado.

In their quest for an optimal WFM solution, Ipsy’s team meticulously evaluated each platform’s capabilities. Key considerations included seamless integration with Zendesk, granular reporting, and flexibility to support both in-house and BPO operations.

Once the decision was made, Ipsy wasted no time. They signed with Assembled and went live in just eight weeks. With seamless integration and data populating quickly, the team needed only a week of training before the tool was fully operational.

Throughout the rollout, Assembled’s team provided hands-on support, working closely with Ipsy to configure the system to fit their workflows perfectly. This partnership ensured a smooth transition and set the stage for immediate impact.

Anna Skidmore said, “From the beginning, the partnership felt collaborative. Assembled’s team leaned in to understand our needs and helped us set up processes that worked for us.”

Results

The impact of adopting Assembled was immediate and measurable. Ipsy’s team quickly gained visibility into real-time agent states, scheduling data, and shrinkage metrics, allowing for more precise planning and decision-making.

Since implementing Assembled, the team has consistently achieved 94% forecast accuracy, transforming how they manage and optimize their operations.

“We could immediately see who was working, how many agents were available, and adjust dynamically to meet demand. This was critical during high-volume periods like the holidays. And event optimizations automatically stagger lunches and breaks, saving me hours of manual adjustments,” said Megan Machado.

Since adopting Assembled, Ipsy has achieved 100% SLA attainment during peak seasons, reduced first response times by 60%, and reached 97% agent adherence. These improvements have led to over $400,000 in annual savings, solidifying Assembled as a key driver of operational success.

Anna Skidmore said, “These numbers speak for themselves. We’ve been able to achieve levels of efficiency and performance that simply weren’t possible before.”

We only work with people we have a two-way relationship with, and Assembled has been an amazing partner, being there with us, holding hands through it all.

That is really critical and also why we signed a multi-year deal. I have the utmost trust and faith that should anything happen or the business needs change, they are going to be right there with us.”

For Ipsy, Assembled has been more than just a WFM solution – it’s been a catalyst for operational transformation.

With enhanced metrics, streamlined processes, and a trusted partnership, Ipsy’s care team is now better equipped than ever to deliver exceptional, personalized support that empowers their members and stays true to their mission.

This blog post has been re-published by kind permission of Assembled – View the Original Article

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About Assembled

Assembled is a Support Operations platform that helps companies maintain exceptional customer experiences, no matter what lies ahead. Leading brands use Assembled's workforce and vendor management capabilities to make optimal staffing decisions, gain visibility into performance and productivity, and unlock new ways to serve evolving customer needs.

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Author: Assembled
Reviewed by: Megan Jones