Challenge: Help with support

Jeff Bergmann, founder of Eye Candy Pigments, faced the challenge of efficiently handling phone calls and emails from customers seeking information about specific colors, uses, and his wholesale program.

Initially, Jeff wanted to provide quick, helpful responses to customers without having them wait for an email reply or spend time on a phone call, especially for a relatively low-priced product.

"The last thing you want to do is send out emails for a $15 product. Those questions should be answered while they're shopping." — Jeff Bergmann

Solution: Use a chatbot to deflect FAQs

Jeff considered implementing a chatbot for about a year and decided it was time. He said, “It was between Rep and another company, and I did trials for both. Rep had two functionalities that others didn't have at the time."

1. The ability to create custom FAQ's or upload blogs to train the AI.
2. View conversations which can help fix site and knowledge base issues.

Rep’s advanced AI pulled information from the website's catalog, collections, product descriptions, and tags to offer answers to shoppers.

Other benefits from Rep included:

1. Automated responses to common questions: The chatbot handles a wide range of customer queries, from product details to wholesale program inquiries, providing quick and accurate answers.
2. Seamless integration with Shopify: Eye Candy Pigments uses Shopify, which plays an important role in the AI’s training. Rep analyzes product descriptions and tags to provide relevant information to customers. This would lead to…
3. Improved store UX through conversation analysis: Jeff improved his product descriptions and tags by regularly reviewing chatbot conversations, ensuring that the AI concierge provided increasingly accurate and helpful responses over time.

"When I went through the conversations, I saw responses mentioning the wrong colors. I read them every day for like a month just to see how the AI responded, and what shoppers were looking for — or new products they’re looking for." - Jeff Bergmann

Results: Reduced support inquiries and more sales

Rep yielded some good results on its own. However, the combination of AI and humans unlocked Rep’s true potential. Specifically, Jeff’s conversation analysis which led to improving his Shopify tagging structure

1. 50% reduction in support queries: Rep successfully handled many customer questions, reducing support emails and phone calls by approximately 50%.
   
   "Rep reduced support tickets by probably 50%. Whether it's information about a product or someone wanting to become a wholesaler in my wholesale program.”

"They'll ask the chatbot, ‘How can I become a wholesaler?’ and I don't have to sit there and go back and forth in emails explaining what it's about. The bot just sends them to a form." —Jeff Bergmann

2. Increased conversion rates: According to Jeff, overall conversion rates increased, though he didn’t have exact figures.
   
   "The conversion rates went up, and I'm receiving fewer calls and emails, obviously." - Jeff Bergmann
   
   
3. Better customer engagement: Customers spent more time on the website because they quickly found the information they needed through Rep, reducing frustration and increasing the likelihood of a purchase.

“Rep keeps shoppers on the site longer and not as frustrated. The length of time they're on my website has increased because they're not giving up.”

Eye Candy Pigments was able to automate its customer support system, provide shoppers with a better shopping experience, and reduce Jeff’s workload. The increased sales were a direct result of everything else.

"Customers like it. I mean, I haven't had complaints. You know, they're using it more than I thought they would. It surpassed my expectations on the usage. I'm spending this much to use a service like Rep. Is the juice worth a squeeze, per se, and it seems like it is." - Jeff Bergmann, Owner of Eye Candy Pigments

Learn more about Eye Candy Pigments at eyecandypigments.com