Accelarating case resolution
Reece Group
Australia's largest plumbing and bathroom supplies business
My role
As Principal UX Designer, my role was to:
Lead the solution after years of stalled complaints
Validate a scalable hypothesis
Align stakeholders
Design and run a pilot that could be expanded if successful
Team
The team I worked with:
Customer Success
Stakeholders
Internal stakeholders:
Customer Care
Merchandising
Operations
The challenge
For over five years, Reece’s Customer Care team struggled with a major pain point: spare parts for warranty service cases were shipped exclusively from the Melbourne distribution centre. For customers in Perth or New Zealand, this often meant waiting weeks for spare parts.
Meanwhile, Customer Care agents had no visibility into where parcels were once dispatched. When frustrated customers called, agents couldn’t provide updates - leading to poor customer experiences and high agent frustration.
Business problem: Service delays and inefficient distribution processes created unnecessary costs and customer dissatisfaction.
Customer problem: Customers couldn’t get clear timelines for their repairs, eroding trust and brand experience.
My process
Research & blueprinting
I interviewed stakeholders to deeply understand the existing distribution process, and mapped the current workflow.
Pilot with maX app
2 branches (WA + QLD), Customer Care ordering locally using Reece's existing ecommerce platform.
Stakeholder engagement
Merchandising team championed the rollout, then Logistics and Finance joined in.
End-to-end process mapping
I created a service blueprint showing:
How customers were impacted by delays
The manual effort required by Customer Care, service agents, warehouse staff, and branch staff
Where the biggest inefficiencies and visibility gaps existed
The hypothesis
I overlaid the ordering and tracking process in maX and found it aligned perfectly with the pain points.
If Customer Care agents could use Reece’s existing customer ecommerce platform (maX) to order and track spare parts, the same way customers could, then:
Parts could be shipped from local branches instead of the Melbourne DC
Agents could track orders and keep customers informed
No new development would be required - just process alignment
－ Customer Care Team Lead
The pilot
To validate the hypothesis, I designed a 2-month pilot where Customer Care used maX to order parts from two branches (in WA and QLD).
Stakeholder alignment: I reassured Merchandising that the new process required no extra effort. I engaged Operations and Digital Products to support the trial.
Branch engagement: I worked directly with branch leaders to secure buy-in.
Momentum building: The Merchandising manager became a champion, engaging Logistics and Finance to clear operational hurdles and prepare for scaling.
Results & impact
The pilot was a success, measured through three key metrics:
Time to resolution: Faster delivery by shipping from the nearest branch rather than from Melbourne, meant average case duration dropped from 7.9 to 1.6 business days!
Agent confidence: Customer Care agents could now track parts and keep customers informed, increasing their confidence rating from 1.5 to 4.5/5.
Number of touches: Fewer staff needing to coordinate - from 5.5 before to 2.5 staff now.
This initiative transformed a 5-year organisational pain point into a scalable, low-cost solution by repurposing existing technology. It shortened resolution times, empowered agents, and improved customer transparency.
Just as importantly, it showed how UX leadership can deliver business-critical operational outcomes - creating trust across teams and setting the stage for more customer- and employee-centered service design.
