Yixiao He
Six years building cross-border customer operations for Shenzhen-headquartered consumer technology brands. Currently leading North America customer support at Aputure.
Read the case study ↓
75% → 89%
45 → 11 hrs
YoY Growth
Same Headcount
I run North America customer operations at Aputure, a global lighting brand. Before that, four years at Insta360.
My work sits at the intersection of customer experience, cross-border operations, and U.S.–Shenzhen team coordination — solving the problems consumer brands hit when their products, supply chains, and customers live on different continents.
Find the root cause behind a customer-facing problem. Partner across functions to fix the system, not just the ticket. Build infrastructure where process alone will not solve it.
Turning around North America support at Aputure
The starting point
North America customer support was not owned by a CX professional. The function lived under our repair manager as a secondary responsibility. There was no dedicated CSAT measurement, no formal SLA tracking, and no structured escalation path between U.S. customers, Shenzhen HQ, and 3PL partners. Tickets accumulated; resolution time stretched; customer trust thinned.
I joined in June 2024 as the first CX-native owner of North America support. The mandate was simple to state and difficult to execute: professionalize the function from the ground up.
The 13-month arc
The numbers
| Metric | Pre (May ’23 – Apr ’24) | Post (May ’24 – May ’26) | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| CSAT | 75% | 89% | +14 pp |
| First Response Time | 45.5 hrs | 11.2 hrs | −75% |
| Requester Wait Time | 137.6 hrs | 23.5 hrs | −83% |
| Solved Tickets (Total) | 3,071 | 10,080 | 3.3× |
| Monthly Ticket Volume | ~256 / mo | ~420 / mo | +64% |
| Reopen Rate | 26.0% | 25.3% | flat |
What I built
Parts & Accessory Supply Network Rebuild
Identified that the #1 customer pain — long replacement waits — was a supply chain problem, not a service problem. Inventoried all common SKUs and accessories, then redistributed across the network: ~90% positioned at 3PL, ~10% at the local office-adjacent warehouse, and low-volume items air-shipped from China with prepaid customs duty. Parts became directly purchasable on the Shopify storefront or same-day fulfillable from local warehouse, removing the root cause of replacement-driven tickets.
Replacement ticket inflow · reduced at sourceIn-House Repair Center + Routing Logic
Diagnosed that the third-party repair cycle (issue PO → wait for parts → start repair) was creating backlog because partners refused to pre-stock. Partnered with Shenzhen HQ to stand up an in-house repair center alongside our existing third-party partners, then designed a multi-path routing logic segmenting each case by warranty status (in-warranty vs out-of-warranty) and product type to direct repairs to the fastest path. In-house inventory managed directly on Shopify; self-issued shipping labels for tighter workflow control.
Repair turnaround · 30d → 14dEscalation Routing Redesign
End-to-end redesign of how complex cases flow between U.S. support, Shenzhen HQ, 3PL providers, and repair partners. Tighter status communication closed the gap customers felt during cross-border waits.
Cross-border processZendesk → HubSpot Migration
Led the migration covering ticket category architecture, SLA logic, routing rules, and cross-team ownership across Support, Sales Ops, Repair, and HQ. Standardized note and escalation templates to reduce handoff friction.
CRM & SLA architectureNotion + Claude Knowledge Base
Consolidated scattered repair notes, escalation history, and product information into a keyword-searchable system. Combined with AI-assisted triage and note summarization, cut documentation time per ticket by ~40% and brought new hires to live ticket handling within two weeks.
New-hire ramp · 2 weeksProduct & SKU Collaboration
Partnered with product and e-commerce teams on accessory SKU strategy driven by ticket data analysis. Proposed new listings to address root causes behind recurring replacement requests, shifting CX from reactive resolution to proactive product input.
CX → Product inputWhat I'd build with another quarter
- Reopen rate hovers at ~25% — flat year-over-year. Still investigating whether the root cause is incomplete first-touch resolution or product-side recurring defects.
- AI documentation savings are estimated from a representative sample, not measured continuously. A feedback loop from agent corrections back into the knowledge base is the next priority.
- Shopify storefront listings, e-commerce inventory thresholds, and SKU launches sit with our e-commerce team. I operate Shopify directly for warranty processing, in-house repair inventory, and self-printed shipping labels. My contribution to product strategy is ticket-data-driven input, not storefront ownership.
- Quarterly business reviews with our largest dealer accounts have not yet been formalized. Next on the roadmap.
Before Aputure: four years at Insta360
Team Lead, Customer Experience Operations · July 2020 – June 2024. Los Angeles, supporting U.S. customers for a Shenzhen-headquartered global action camera brand.
Team Leadership
Led a U.S. customer support team of five-plus agents. Improved customer satisfaction and retention by 15% through coaching, performance standards, and structured QA review.
CSAT & retention · +15%Revenue Impact
Generated $350K in personal sales in a single year alongside support responsibilities by combining consultative product recommendations with proactive customer engagement.
Personal sales · $350KHigh-Volume Resolution
Owned 12,000+ customer interactions across phone, email, and chat. Resolved high-stakes escalations and protected brand reputation under pressure.
Touchpoints · 12,000+U.S. ↔ Shenzhen Bridge
Partnered daily with the Customer Satisfaction team in Shenzhen to align U.S. customer feedback with e-commerce strategy across Insta360.com and Amazon. Designed new-hire onboarding programs improving ramp speed and consistency.
Cross-regional alignmentHow I work
I am most useful at the seam between three things that usually don't talk to each other: U.S. customers, APAC operations teams, and the cross-border supply chain that connects them. Six years of running customer operations for Shenzhen-headquartered consumer brands has taught me that the hard part is rarely the customer-facing message. It is the operational and cultural translation behind it.
I work bilingually in English and Mandarin Chinese, with advanced Cantonese listening. I am at home moving between a Texas customer on the phone, a Shenzhen engineer on WeCom, and a 3PL partner in Long Beach — often within the same hour.
My toolkit: Zendesk · Zendesk Explore · HubSpot · Intercom · Shopify · Slack · WeCom · DingTalk (钉钉) · Lark (飞书) · Google Workspace. I also build with Notion + Claude for knowledge architecture and AI-assisted support workflows.
I hold a B.A. in Communication from California State University, Long Beach, and an A.A. in Communication from Santa Monica College.