Even before the pandemic emerged in 2020, international fashion powerhouse Bestseller was experiencing a sharp increase in customer inquiries on its website and social media. With so many messages, Bestseller, which manages 20 brands (like Jack & Jones and ONLY), looked for a way to ensure requests could be received — and resolved — at any time, day or night.
Bestseller Canada focused on finding an automation solution in English and French, ideally built by a Canadian company. After choosing Heyday by Hootsuite, the partners launched a custom conversational AI in November 2020 on the Bestseller Canada e-commerce website and Facebook Messenger. Since then, Bestseller has enjoyed significant efficiency improvements, all while delivering world-class customer experiences (CX).
Bestseller identified an AI-powered chatbot as a solution to handling the growing number of customer service inquiries. Cynthia Lemire, Ecommerce Customer Care Team Leader, said Heyday was the only provider that fit.
“A lot of other companies were based in the US and they used Google Translate for French chats, which to me was a big no-no,” she said. “We saw that Heyday met our needs, and that they were located here in Canada, in Montreal — that really resonated with us.”
Heyday and Bestseller teamed up to build a conversational AI with several goals, including centralizing messaging in one platform while creating enjoyable CX.
The retailer also aimed to help customers through personalized product search and by automating responses to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), allowing customer-service staff to focus on higher- value inquiries. Heyday then got to work building BEST, the custom AI chatbot now on Facebook Messenger and the Bestseller e-commerce site.
Between November 2020 and February 2021, Bestseller’s conversational AI handled more than 38,000 customer conversations on Facebook Messenger, with a peak 90% automation rate. In January 2021 76% of Bestseller customers who interacted with the AI chatbot reported an “excellent” experience
Meanwhile during that same period: The average AI response time to a customer was 1 minute and 31 seconds, illustrating how effective conversational AI is at engaging with customers and resolving their inquiries.
Cynthia noted how simple it is to transfer a conversation from the AI to a human teammate when the situation calls for it. She also praised how easy Heyday is to use, and noted that the service provided by the Heyday customer success team is top-notch. “Whenever we have a question, we always get a quick response,” she said. “We never feel like we’re just a number with Heyday. We’re very well taken care of.”
