Customer Service & Order Support Specialist

ABOUT SULLIVAN
SULLIVAN is a growing direct-to-consumer women's fashion brand based in the United States. We create timeless, high-quality wardrobe essentials for professional women in their 30s. We sell primarily through our Shopify website, with additional sales from trunk shows and select wholesale partnerships.
We're looking for a warm, detail-oriented customer service specialist to be the voice of our brand - helping customers before, during, and after their purchase.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

Pre-Purchase Customer Support (30%)

Answer customer questions via email (primary channel)
Respond to DMs on Instagram and other social platforms
Help customers with:
Sizing questions and fit guidance
Product details (fabric, care instructions, styling)
Shipping and delivery questions
Returns policy clarification
Product recommendations based on their needs
Respond to inquiries within 4 business hours (goal: same day)

Post-Purchase Customer Support (35%)

Handle order status inquiries
Provide shipping updates and tracking information
Resolve delivery issues (delayed, lost, damaged packages)
Process returns and exchanges
Handle refund requests
Address product issues (defects, wrong item, quality concerns)
Turn unhappy customers into loyal ones through excellent service

Customer Feedback Recording & Reporting (10%)

Log all customer feedback, questions, and complaints in our tracking system
Categorize feedback by type (sizing, product quality, shipping, website, etc.)
Identify patterns and recurring issues
Generate bi-weekly reportssummarizing:
Volume of inquiries by category
Common questions or concerns
Product-specific feedback (sizing issues, quality concerns, etc.)
Shipping/fulfillment issues
Positive feedback and customer wins
Recommended actions based on patterns
Flag urgent or critical feedback immediately (don't wait for the report)
This feedback directly informs our product, website, and operations decisions

Order Management (25%)

Review and verify new orders in Shopify
Flag potential fraud or suspicious orders
Process special requests (gift notes, special instructions)
Coordinate with fulfillment (Barrett 3PL) on order issues
Handle order modifications and cancellations
Ensure order accuracy before fulfillment
Track and resolve order issues end-to-end

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR
Required Skills & Experience
3+ years of customer service experience in e-commerce (required - this is a customer-facing role representing our brand)
Shopify experience - comfortable navigating orders, customers, and basic admin
Excellent written English - warm, professional, and on-brand communication
Ability to follow brand voice guidelines - we'll provide scripts and tone guidelines, and you'll need to adapt them naturally to each situation
Problem-solving mindset - ability to resolve issues independently
Empathy and patience - our customers deserve to feel heard and valued
Detail-oriented - accuracy matters in order management and feedback tracking
Reliable and responsive - able to maintain quick response times
Comfortable with technology - can learn new tools quickly
Reporting skills - ability to synthesize feedback into clear, actionable bi-weekly reports
Our Customer Service Style (IMPORTANT)
We provide brand voice guidelines and scripts. You won't be guessing how to communicate - we'll give you:
Tone and voice guidelines that reflect our brand
Script templates for common scenarios (sizing questions, shipping inquiries, returns, etc.)
Examples of how we talk to customers
Your job is to:
Follow these guidelines consistently
Adapt the scripts naturally to each unique situation (not robotic copy-paste)
Sound like a real person who genuinely cares, while staying on-brand
Know when to escalate unusual situations
Our tone is:
Warm and friendly, but professional
Helpful and solution-oriented
Patient and understanding
Confident but humble
Never robotic, scripted-sounding, or corporate
We do NOT want:
Generic, templated responses that feel copy-pasted
Cold or formal language ("Dear Valued Customer...")
Responses that don't actually address the customer's concern
Over-promising or making commitments we can't keep
Nice to Have
Experience with fashion or apparel brands
Familiarity with Gorgias, Zendesk, or similar helpdesk tools
Experience with Klaviyo (for customer lookup)
Knowledge of clothing/fashion terminology
Experience handling returns and exchanges

TYPICAL INQUIRIES YOU'LL HANDLE
Pre-Purchase:
"What size should I get? I'm usually a 6 in other brands."
"Is this fabric see-through?"

Post-Purchase:
"Where's my order? It's been a week."
"The button fell off after one wear."
"Can I cancel my order?"

Order Management:
Alerting the Team if an order comes in thats supposed to be fulfilled by us in-house instead of the 3PL fulfillment center
Catching address errors
Handling duplicate orders
Processing refunds in Shopify
Coordinating with fulfillment on issues (future once we’re all set up)

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

After Your First Week:
You understand our products, policies, and brand voice guidelines
You've reviewed our scripts and tone guidelines
You've handled your first customer inquiries with guidance
You're comfortable navigating Shopify orders
You understand our feedback tracking system

After Your First Month:
You're handling most inquiries independently
Response time is consistently under 4 hours
Customers are responding positively to your communication
You're catching and resolving order issues before they escalate
You've delivered your first bi-weekly feedback reports
Your communication sounds natural and on-brand (not robotic)

Ongoing:
Customers feel taken care of and valued
Issues are resolved quickly and professionally
Bi-weekly reports are delivered on time with actionable insights
You proactively flag patterns (e.g., "We're getting a lot of sizing questions on this style")
You contribute ideas to improve the customer experience
Minimal escalations to the founder needed

HOW TO APPLY
Please submit:

Your resume/CV highlighting customer service experience (3+ years in e-commerce required)

Brief answers to these questions:
Describe your experience with e-commerce customer service. What brands or types of products?
How do you handle an angry or frustrated customer? Give a specific example.
Have you ever had to follow brand voice guidelines or scripts? How did you make them sound natural?
Describe your experience with tracking and reporting customer feedback. What tools did you use? What insights did you surface?

Writing sample:
Write a sample response to this customer inquiry (in your own natural style - we'll train you on our specific brand voice):
"Hi, I ordered a blazer last week and it still hasn't shipped. This is really frustrating - I needed it for an event this weekend. What's going on??"

Your availability:
Hours per week you're available

Your timezone
What hours can you overlap with US Eastern Time (9am-6pm ET)?

Thank you for taking the time to read our application! We look forward to hearing from you!
-The SULLIVAN Team