People

10 Customer-Centric Ideas We Heard at Adanola

Collage of photos from the Adanola site visit

Published On: 28th Oct 2026 08:00

We recently visited Adanola’s HQ in Manchester, UK, to see what Sandrea Morgan, Kirstyn Eaton, and the team have been doing behind the scenes to drive a truly customer-centric mindset and put continuous improvement at the heart of everything they do.

1. Show Your Team What a 2-Minute Wait Really Feels Like for a Customer

When trying to focus your team on driving down wait times, it can really help for them to experience what that wait feels like to a customer.

“We wanted to show our people what it would feel like to wait 2 minutes and 15 seconds for someone to answer a chat – which was our average wait time back then – because 2 minutes doesn’t look like much on paper, but it feels like a lifetime sat in silence.

To help emphasize this, we all physically sat in a room together – in silence – for 2 minutes and 15 seconds to experience just how long it feels.

This really helped to kick-start our journey to bringing our chat wait times down to 47 seconds, as everyone could see what a difference that would make to our customers.” – Kirstyn Eaton, Head of Customer Experience

Adanola Fact File
Call Volumes
Annual Emails	85,000
Other Channels	52,000 Across social & chat
Contact Centre Size
Number of Seats	19
Number of Full-Time Agents	10
Technology
CRM	Dixa
WFM	Assembled
Any other tech	Digital Genius

2. Invest Time in Upskilling Your Team on Data

Don’t just assume everyone has the same access to and enthusiasm for data.

Instead, make a point of investing time in upskilling all of your senior advisors on data, so they are well equipped to actively monitor the numbers, as well as provide more valuable updates to the frontline across the day.

These firm foundations also form the basis for continuous learning and deep dives, as the Adanola team now also have weekly sessions drilling into data to see what opportunities there are for improvement.

3. Do an Exercise on “What Great Looks Like” at Every Level in the Team

Don’t just assume everyone knows what great looks like either. Instead, invest time in doing an exercise on what great really looks like in every role.

For example, talking through the different job descriptions and responsibilities – and holding each other to account on what’s expected day-to-day. This approach really helps to create transparency and make sure everyone is pulling in the same direction.

4. Think About the Quality of Your Internal Conversations Too

Too many internal conversations and feedback sessions miss the mark – not because of poor intentions, but rather because the foundational skills just aren’t there to underpin consistently effective communication.

It’s such a lost opportunity! And all the more so in an environment where so much emphasis is placed on having great customer conversations! So why not bring some of that thinking and energy into your internal conversations too?

This is where some external support can make all the difference. For example, Adanola brought in an external trainer specifically to give everyone a framework for empowering, change-making conversations, with practical strategies for moving beyond a simple “well done” to more targeted and empowering feedback.

5. Invest Time in Deeper Problem-Solving Conversations – Not Just Quick Fixes

When tackling operational challenges head on, try to avoid fixing one part of the problem in isolation and expecting the rest to fall into place!

Instead, make time for deeper conversations to explore the different elements that need to change at the same time, to make sure that change programmes and initiatives are as effective as possible.

For example, Adanola recently introduced a CSAT Sandwich framework to better support frontline advisors in their customer conversations – but this approach also relied on overhauling QA scorecards at the same time, so advisors were being scored against the new framework.

6. Gift Your Advisors Commercial Knowledge

Gift your advisors some commercial knowledge so they better understand how the customers they win or lose impact the bottom line.

This can help them to feel more connected to the wider business, as well as see the bigger picture in the value of giving out a generous discount code to apologize to a loyal customer.

You can even take this one step further by lending one of your advisors to the eCommerce team:

This approach not only allows advisors to upskill and widen their career aspirations but often bridges the gap between departments to allow insights to be shared that ultimately benefit the end customer (and even save money!).

7. “Never Let a Shift Go Silent” on a Teams Chat

Working from home can quickly become an isolating experience – especially during peak times when everyone is too busy with external customers to check in internally.

That’s why the Adanola team have a rule to “never let the shift go silent” and make sure the Teams chat is always kept active to help people feel connected – whether that’s dropping in a service level stat, a quick “well done”, or even putting in a fun poll.

8. Play Kahoot on the App to Bring Home and Office Workers Together

Bring your home and office workers together with an app-based game everyone can log into – no matter where they are working from.

For example, Kahoot allows everyone to scan a QR code and get stuck into competitive games with leadership boards, quizzes, and more – allowing everyone to take part all in one (virtual) place so no one feels left out.

9. Break Up a Formal Meeting With a Fun Question for a Mental Break

Long meetings can be draining, so it can help to break them up.

A quick and effective way to do this is to add in a fun, random question such as “what is your favourite flavour of crisps?” to take a mental break from the formal agenda and reset – before carrying on.

10. Run an Assessment Day – Not Just Another Interview

Could your recruitment process be better if you introduced a more in-depth assessment day – rather than just an interview?

“We introduced assessment days as we really wanted to find good people that also bring good energy with them, so we wanted to put people in an environment where we could see what they could bring to the team.

For candidates, we’ve found it’s also far more engaging than an interview, as they learn more about the organization they might be joining.” – Sandrea Morgan, former Head of Customer Experience

A typical Adanola Assessment Day looks like this:

Take Part in a Team-Building Activity – Such as working together to plan a customer-facing event, as this helps to showcase their customer-first mindset and understanding of the brand, as well as how they work together in a team.
Have Coffee With the Current Team – Next they go through to the cafe and sit with some current advisors to chat to them. This helps leaders gather additional opinions on who might be the best fit for the team.
Complete a Formal Interview

The added bonus of this approach is that it’s far nicer for successful candidates when they start the role because they recognize people from the assessment days in their new cohort.

(Note, they’ve found that keeping groups small with an aim of having a 25–50% hiring rate out of each group is the most effective approach.)

With huge thanks to the Adanola team for making us feel so welcome on our visit and sharing so many fantastic ideas.

For more best practices and fun tips from other contact centres, read these articles next:

Author
Megan Jones

Megan Jones, Editor, Call Centre Helper

Megan interviews inspiring people across the contact centre industry to capture these amazing voices and turn them into best practice articles – covering all elements of what it takes to deliver truly outstanding employee and customer experiences.

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