Case Study
TechStyle Saves $1M in a Quarter in Headcount Costs with AI Virtual Agents
At-a-Glance
TechStyle Fashion Group, an innovative fashion e-commerce company, operates high-value brands like Fabletics, Savage X Fenty, JustFab, and ShoeDazzle. Its disruptive subscription model offers five million active members a personalized, on-trend style shopping experience defined by affordability, quality, and customer experience. However, being a subscription service with 5.5 million calls and 1.5 million chats annually creates unique challenges for the company that other fashion retailers do not face. To help with these challenges, they enlisted SmartAction to implement various solutions that have brought them significant ROI in the span of 3 months.
Success by the Numbers
Challenge
As a subscription service, TechStyle billed its members on a monthly basis and found itself vulnerable to volume spikes that came along with the billing cycle. Forecasting and staffing were an ongoing challenge due to these spikes; though they were relatively predictable, it was costly and difficult to ensure adequate staffing each month.
Solution
TechStyle built a strong partnership with SmartAction, whose cloud-based model seamlessly integrated with their existing systems to help them automate many of the conversations their agents had previously been handling.
TechStyle chose SmartAction because of their unique CX-based approach that combines best-in-class AI technology with all the services needed to build, operate, and continuously optimize virtual agent performance.
With the SmartAction conversational AI solution:
Customers are greeted with an intelligent front door instead of a lengthy phone tree menu. Customers are asked “How can I help you today?” with a personalized greeting of their name using ANI lookup. Open-ended intent capture allows the customer to use their own words, be understood, and have their words processed correctly to get them where they need to go, whether that’s remain in self-service with the virtual agent or be transferred to a live agent.
Common inquiries regarding order status, account management, and billing are contained through self-service, with agent failover if needed. For judgment-intensive interactions, the AI virtual agent handles up-front data gathering, then passes the information to a live agent with complete context.
Customers have the option to skip a month of their subscription service, cancel their membership, or request a courtesy refund to their account, all while remaining in self-service. The 24/7 access enables members to manage their account at their convenience, without having to hold for a live agent.
Results
By offloading repetitive call types to the AI virtual agent, TechStyle reduced the volume of calls to their live agents by 18.5%. In addition to reducing call volume, TechStyle decreased average handle time by 45 seconds and improved containment rates, consequently saving $1M in headcount costs in one quarter.
Because SmartAction automates the top drivers of inbound call volume, TechStyle agents can focus on high value engagements that require empathy, upselling, or fashion advice. It has also helped increase containment without sacrificing member satisfaction scores.
