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National Furniture Retailer Reduces Escalations to Human Agents by 33%

National Furniture Retailer Case Study

A well-known furniture brand faced a significant challenge in enhancing their customer experience (CX) to stand out in a competitive market. By partnering with Quiq, they implemented a custom AI Agent to transform customer interactions across multiple platforms and create more seamless journeys. This strategic move resulted in a 33% reduction in support-related escalations to human agents.

On the other end of the spectrum, the implementation of Proactive AI and a Product Recommendation engine led to the largest sales day in the company’s history through increased chat sales, showcasing the power of AI in improving efficiency and driving revenue.

Let’s dive into the furniture retailer’s challenges, how Quiq solved them using next-generation AI, the results, and what’s next for this household name in furniture and home goods.

The challenges: CX friction and missed sales opportunities

A leading name in the furniture and home goods industry, this company has long been known for its commitment to quality and affordability. Operating in a sector often the first to signal economic shifts, the company recognized the need to differentiate itself through exceptional customer experience.

Before adopting Quiq’s solution, the company struggled with several CX challenges that impeded their ability to capitalize on customer interactions. To start, their original chatbot used basic natural language understanding (NLU), and failed to deliver seamless and satisfactory customer journeys.

Customers experienced friction, leading to escalations, redundant conversations. The team clearly needed a robust system that could streamline operations, reduce costs, and enhance customer engagement.

So, the furniture retailer sought a solution that could not only address these inefficiencies, but also support their sales organization by effectively capturing and routing leads.

The solution: Quiq’s next-gen AI

With a focus on enhancing every touch point of the customer journey, the furniture company’s CX team embarked on a mission to elevate their service offerings, making CX a primary differentiator. Their pursuit led them to Quiq, a trusted technology partner poised to bring their vision to life through advanced AI and automation capabilities.

Quiq partnered with the team to develop a custom AI Agent, leveraging the natural language capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs) to help classify sales vs. support inquiries and route them accordingly. This innovative solution enables the company to offer a more sophisticated and engaging customer experience.

The AI Agent was designed to retrieve accurate information from various systems—including the company’s CRM, product catalog, and FAQ knowledge base—ensuring customers received timely, relevant, and accurate responses.

By integrating this AI Agent into webchat, SMS, and Apple Messages for Business, the company successfully created a seamless, consistent, and faster service experience.

The AI Agent also facilitated proactive customer engagement by using a new Product Recommendation engine. This feature not only guided customers through their purchase journey, but also contributed to a significant shift in sales performance.

The results are nothing short of incredible

The implementation of the custom AI Agent by Quiq has already delivered remarkable results. One of the most significant achievements was a 33% reduction in escalations to human agents. This reduction translated to substantial operational cost savings and allowed human agents to focus on complex or high-value interactions, enhancing overall service quality.

Moreover, the introduction of Proactive AI and the Product Recommendation engine led to unprecedented sales success. The furniture retailer experienced its largest sales day for Chat Sales in the company’s history, with an impressive 10% of total daily sales attributed to this channel for the first time.

This outcome underscored the potential of AI-powered solutions in driving business growth, optimizing efficiency, and elevating customer satisfaction.

Results recap:

  • 33% reduction in escalations to human agents.
  • 10% of total daily sales attributed to chat (largest for the channel in company history).
  • Tighter, smoother CX with Proactive AI and Product Recommendations woven into customer interactions.

What’s next?

The partnership between this furniture brand and Quiq exemplifies the transformative power of AI in redefining customer experience and achieving business success. By addressing challenges with a robust AI Agent, the company not only elevated its CX offerings, but also significantly boosted its sales performance. This case study highlights the critical role of AI in modern business operations and its impact on a company’s competitive edge.

Looking ahead, the company and Quiq are committed to continuing their collaboration to explore further AI enhancements and innovations. The team plans to implement Agent Assist, followed by Voice and Email AI to further bolster seamless customer experiences across channels. This ongoing partnership promises to keep the furniture retailer at the forefront of CX excellence and business growth.

Author

  • Mike Zinne

    Mike Zinne is the Chief Experience Officer at Quiq, leading Client Services, Customer Support, Customer Success, Solution Consulting, and Professional Services. He lives by a simple business mantra: to make customer relationships more meaningful, personal, and productive. Before Quiq, Mike was the Chief Customer Officer at Outreach, the VP of Customer Experience at Zendesk, and the VP of Sales Consulting at Oracle where he led a team of more than 120. Mike has a proven track record of building and deploying world-class customer success teams. He has successfully managed global customer success organizations and thrives on delivering simple approaches to customer experiences. While his passion is customer delight, Mike has experience in a wide range of executive roles and is an asset in managing profitability and growth in SaaS organizations. Outside of work, he enjoys the great outdoors. Mike is an avid skier and loves summer water sports. You can also find him chasing around his two young children or hiking in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

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