At RocketLinks, our Support team ensures the satisfaction of our clients and publishers in all their netlinking projects. What are their expectations? What are the key issues and challenges? Jamila, Lead Client Support, sheds light on all these questions!
Hi Jamila, can you tell us more about your role at RocketLinks?
I am Lead Client Support, I manage the Support team. My mission is to answer customers' questions and to accompany them when there are new deals or errors in the publications. I also take care of the disagreements, although there are very few of them. It can mean contacting a publisher when they remove a link charged to the client or negotiating to keep a link when the site's owner changes. In short, it's about management and support.
In parallel, I monitor the life stages of a deal. When one is created on the platform, I take care of its follow-up. For example, if it expires and there has not been any feedback from the advertiser or publisher, I contact the stakeholders again to finalize it. So our team is involved in generating revenue because we make sure that the deal is converted, and if it is not, we try to understand why.
We recently started to collaborate with all departments, especially with the media trading one. The aim is to work with each: media project, prospecting, pricing analysis... Thus, we are a support for the customers and also the internal teams.
What path did you follow to reach this pivotal position of Customer Lead Support?
I first started an LEA degree which I did not finish. While still in this course, I worked in parallel in customer relations. At first, I was introverted, and as time passed, I opened up. I then worked full-time in this industry because I was passionate about it. I learned everything by myself.
I persisted and evolved in companies where I was encouraged to improve. It was very instructive and rewarding. I gradually acquired new skills, discovered new tools, and began to manage the customer relations teams.
How do you transform customer relations, generally perceived as a cost center, into a complete profit center?
When it comes to transforming the deal, it is essential to do a regular follow-up. You have to check that it is not expired or canceled because it happens. A customer may cancel one because they did not see that they could make a counter-offer on the site, so we contact them to inform them and ask them if they want us to recreate one. Ultimately, this leads to profits.
Also, we generate revenue thanks to this new media trading and auto order role, which consists in proposing site selections to advertisers. The sooner we do it, the sooner we make a profit. The same applies to prospecting and pricing analysis: the faster we prospect sites, the quicker they are registered on our platform. The idea is to target the actions we, as the Support team, can do by contacting customers or publishers. It is how we can quickly capitalize on deals.
What are the clients' and publishers' key satisfaction factors or criteria in netlinking projects?
On the client side, the real challenge is to find the perfect site. From a global perspective, response time is essential for both publishers and clients. We, therefore, strive to create fluidity in the interactions and collaborations to avoid frustrations on either side. The quality of the articles, the feedback transmission, and the services' fast payment are also significant satisfaction criteria.
Besides that, the reactivity in our answers is essential. When I finish my day, I ensure everything has been dealt with. It is a habit that I want to institute in my team because all these little things make the customer feel supported and guarantee their satisfaction.
Are there any issues or questions frequently on the client side?
The main issues are related to deleted articles: the editor has removed it, the site no longer exists, or it has been resold… When a site owner changes, the pricing terms previously in effect are not anymore. You have to negotiate with the media again and ensure the impact on the client side is as minimal as possible.
Another problem is emerging with artificial intelligence. Advertisers complain about articles written with ChatGPT. It is still difficult to prove that a content was written with this technology's help. As everything still needs to be clarified on this subject, it is complex for us to take a stance for the publisher or the customer. We try to be neutral and satisfy both parties.
To end on a less related note, what do you do in your free time? :)
I love sports! Even though I no longer practice it, I used to love basketball. Traveling is also important to me. I like to visit new places and recharge my batteries in the countryside, where I am from. Still, my main focus is on my family.
