What If Customer Service
Felt Like the Ritz?
Not faster ticket resolution. Not better deflection rates. Real hospitality—where every customer is known, remembered, and treated like they matter. Because they do.
Tickets Are Transactional by Design
The entire support industry is built around a broken premise: that customer conversations are problems to solve, not relationships to build.
Support is measured wrong
Time to first response. Tickets closed per hour. Average handle time. These metrics optimize for speed, not for customers who feel heard and valued.
Support teams aren't recognized
When a support rep goes above and beyond—spending extra time, following up, truly caring—nobody knows. There's no metric for 'made a customer's day.'
AI makes it worse
Most AI in customer service is designed to deflect more tickets, not build better relationships. It makes the experience more transactional, not less.
Loyal customers get treated worst
Like cable companies and cell providers, most businesses treat new customers better than loyal ones. The person who's been with you for years gets the same canned response as someone who just signed up.
The Ritz Carlton Model
At the Ritz, every employee is empowered to spend up to $2,000 to solve a guest's problem—no manager approval needed. Why? Because they understand that a relationship is worth more than a transaction.
Know Every Guest
The Ritz tracks preferences across properties. When you check in, they know you prefer a firm pillow and a corner room. Your customer service should work the same way.
Empower the Team
Great service doesn't come from scripts and escalation paths. It comes from trusting your people to do the right thing—and giving them the context to do it well.
Create Advocates
A resolved ticket is forgotten. A memorable experience creates a customer who tells everyone they know. That's the difference between transaction and relationship.
Know Who Your Customers Really Are
Every conversation should happen in context. Know who's reaching out, their history with you, and how much they matter to your business.
Recognize Your Champions
Some customers are your biggest fans—they refer friends, leave reviews, and stick with you through growing pains. Know who they are and treat them accordingly.
See the Full Story
Every email, every chat, every feedback submission—in one place. When Sarah reaches out about billing, know that she's been a customer for 3 years and has referred 5 friends.
Reward Loyalty
Don't be like your cable company. When a loyal customer has an issue, they should feel valued—not like they're starting from scratch with every conversation.
Personalize at Scale
AI should help you remember context, not replace human connection. Use technology to know more about your customers so you can serve them better.
AI That Builds Relationships
Most AI makes customer service more robotic. We're building AI that helps humans be more human.
AI handles routine, humans handle relationships
Let AI draft responses, triage conversations, and surface insights. But keep humans in the loop for what matters—building trust, showing empathy, going above and beyond.
Context travels with every conversation
Your team shouldn't have to ask 'Can you explain the issue again?' AI should pull up everything relevant—past conversations, customer health, purchase history—automatically.
Celebrate going above and beyond
When a support rep turns a frustrated customer into a fan, that should be visible. Not just ticket closed—relationship strengthened.
Close the loop, always
When you fix a bug, tell the people who reported it. When you ship a feature, tell the people who requested it. Transform support conversations into customer loyalty.
Insights for everyone
Product managers need to see what customers struggle with. Engineers need to see bugs in context. Everyone who builds the product should hear from customers.
Steepworks
merrily is part of Steepworks—a platform of AI-native tools for small teams. We believe the best software feels like having a great colleague, not operating a machine.
We're a small team ourselves. We use merrily to talk to our customers. We know the difference between a tool that helps you close more tickets and one that helps you build real relationships with the people who chose your product.
Ready to Treat Customers Like Guests?
$49/month platform fee. Pay per outcome after that. Unlimited team members. Cancel anytime.