CASE STUDY
A CRM for e-Commerce
Japan Crate uses EngageBay
Japan Crate: Boosting Customer Satisfaction with Automated Support Solutions
Overview
Japan Crate, a global eCommerce subscription service, delivers authentic Japanese candies and snacks to customers around the world. Known for providing a unique and immersive cultural experience, Japan Crate has established itself as a niche leader in Japanese treats, creating a memorable experience for its subscribers each month. However, as the company scaled, it faced a growing challenge in managing customer support. Declining customer satisfaction and increasing negative reviews on social media underscored the need for a robust support solution to keep pace with rising demand and ensure a seamless customer experience.
Challenge: Declining Customer Satisfaction and Increasing Negative Reviews
The rise in Japan Crate’s popularity brought along a significant challenge in customer support. With a substantial increase in orders and new subscriptions, the company faced mounting customer inquiries and an overload on its support channels. Response times began to slip, and customers were experiencing delays in getting answers to their queries, particularly regarding common order issues and subscription management.
This struggle led to a visible decline in customer satisfaction, as evidenced by a surge in negative reviews on social media and feedback forums. Many customers expressed frustration with long wait times and delayed responses, impacting the brand’s reputation. Japan Crate recognized that these challenges were not just support-related but also had the potential to affect their business’s growth and customer retention.
The company’s goal was clear: reduce response and resolution times, improve overall customer satisfaction, and restore its reputation as a reliable, customer-focused brand. To achieve this, Japan Crate knew they needed a scalable, efficient solution that could handle repetitive inquiries quickly while providing a seamless customer experience across different time zones and languages.
Solution: Integrating Gorgias and Siena AI for Efficient, Multilingual Support
Japan Crate turned to Gorgias, a leading eCommerce helpdesk solution, to streamline their support processes and handle the increased customer volume. Gorgias offered a comprehensive support system designed specifically for eCommerce businesses, providing tools to manage inquiries, automate repetitive tasks, and improve response times. Additionally, Gorgias could be integrated with other software solutions to create a cohesive support system capable of managing customer requests across multiple platforms.
To further enhance this setup, Japan Crate implemented Siena AI, a multilingual chatbot capable of handling queries in various languages—a critical feature for a global company like Japan Crate. Siena AI was integrated into the Gorgias helpdesk, creating an automated yet personalized support experience that aligned with Japan Crate’s needs. This combination allowed the company to handle common customer inquiries effectively, such as those regarding order statuses, subscription adjustments, and general FAQs, without requiring live agent involvement.
With Siena AI, Japan Crate was able to automate responses to 41% of their order-related and subscription FAQ inquiries, relieving a significant load from their customer support team. The bot was programmed to understand various customer requests, respond in a conversational and friendly manner, and escalate complex issues to live agents only when necessary. This blend of automation and live support created a seamless experience for customers, ensuring that routine questions were answered instantly while complex issues received the attention of a human agent.
The combined Gorgias and Siena AI solution enabled Japan Crate to:
- Automate a substantial portion of order-related and subscription inquiries.
- Offer consistent, multilingual support to meet the needs of their global customer base.
- Allocate live agents to more complex or unique cases, improving overall efficiency and satisfaction.
Results: Remarkable Reductions in Response and Resolution Times
Within just 30 days of implementing Gorgias and Siena AI, Japan Crate experienced significant improvements in their customer support metrics, which directly contributed to enhanced customer satisfaction.
- First Response Time Reduced by 98%
Before integrating Gorgias and Siena AI, Japan Crate’s first response time had become a pain point for customers, leading to frustration and negative feedback. The automated system drastically improved this metric by handling routine inquiries instantly, ensuring that customers received an immediate response to basic questions. As a result, Japan Crate’s first response time was reduced by an impressive 98%, allowing the company to meet customer expectations promptly and consistently. - Resolution Time Declined by 84%
Resolution time—the duration required to resolve customer inquiries—was another critical metric that saw vast improvement. By offloading repetitive queries to Siena AI and prioritizing more complex issues for human agents, Japan Crate reduced the average time taken to resolve customer inquiries by 84%. This swift handling of cases ensured that customers were no longer left waiting, improving the overall customer experience and helping to rebuild trust in the brand. - Automated 41% of Order-Related and Subscription FAQ Queries
By automating nearly half of all order-related and subscription queries, Japan Crate was able to focus their live support agents on cases that required human intervention, such as unique issues or escalations. This efficient allocation of resources allowed the support team to manage a larger volume of inquiries without compromising service quality. Moreover, it gave Japan Crate the scalability needed to handle their growing customer base while maintaining high standards of support. - Enhanced Customer Satisfaction and Brand Reputation
As response and resolution times improved, so did customer satisfaction. The swift support experience and the ability to address inquiries immediately using Siena AI led to an increase in positive feedback and a decline in negative reviews. Customers who had previously been dissatisfied with response times now experienced a timely and helpful support experience, contributing to a renewed sense of trust in the brand. - Scalability for Future Growth
With the integration of Gorgias and Siena AI, Japan Crate positioned itself for future growth. The scalable support model, capable of adapting to fluctuations in demand, enabled the company to handle increased inquiry volumes during peak seasons or promotional events. This solution allowed Japan Crate to focus on expanding its offerings and customer base without the risk of overwhelming their support infrastructure.
Conclusion
By leveraging Gorgias and Siena AI, Japan Crate transformed its customer support experience, achieving remarkable reductions in response and resolution times and automating nearly half of its routine inquiries. The integration of these advanced support tools not only addressed the company’s immediate challenges but also equipped them to handle future growth with a scalable, efficient, and customer-centric support model. This case exemplifies how strategic automation and efficient support processes can not only improve operational metrics but also enhance customer loyalty and brand reputation in the competitive e-commerce landscape.