Dynamism and self-service: How Specialized Brazil incorporates conversational tours into its sales strategy

Specialized is internationally recognized for the sale of bicycles and cycling components. Therefore, on this occasion, Aivo recognizes its strategy in Brazil for its work in developing personalized and decisive conversational tours for sales.

Genivaldo Peres Biano, Head of Operations CS Brazil, spoke with Karine Mendonça, Customer Service Coordinator at Specialized Brazil, to learn how their conversational AI platform works and how they were able to optimize their sales and customer service strategy.

Automated customer service support

What was the main focus for the customer experience in the online sales strategy this year? How did you see the bot and this opportunity to implement a differentiated flow?

The main reason we chose Aivo was because we wanted to go beyond a WhatsApp service or a chat. Then, because they offer a very complete tool, that was the difference.

I remember when in one of the first meetings we had you said "Ah, the bot is a baby that you will have to take care of, educate so that it grows and develops".

So we started thinking: first point, assistance. And then, we structured the tool for that, to be able to provide human assistance. Until then, there was a lot of human assistance. Also, we had as a goal, which is one of the things you told us, that 70% of the calls would be made by the bot and the rest by a human service.

We started from there to be able to structure the tool with the content we had for the service. Those assistances had a super high volume but they were very recurrent and the bot could solve them, so we worked to automate them.

And then, in the second step, we realized that the tool could go further. Some of the queries we had, for example, were "ah! I want to know what is the best product for me, how do I find the ideal product". Until then, we were doing this service through humans. And we started to realize that we could put it to the bot to answer several questions and come to a pre-conclusion, and from there yes, a human service would come in, being that the consumer would already be more filtered. This information provided the profile of the consumer so that we could offer even better assistance. Then, when it reached the human service, it would already have information on where this consumer usually travels, and what he is looking for so that we can provide a more dedicated service.

On what channels is the bot available to the user or to the merchant, if any?

Today it is on our website. The website also has WhatsApp, a number, that the person clicks on and goes directly to WhatsApp. 

Related article: How to integrate WhatsApp into your Marketing strategy.

Something we also did, which was great, was when we did a campaign on Instagram, Facebook, with a "click here" that leads directly to WhatsApp. We already linked this service to the intent of that campaign. We can already know "ah, the person logged in, logged into Instagram, inquired about this product, and made this purchase." So, we can track whether it's reverting to sales or not. We did a cool job, which was to put the WhatsApp number in a QR code, and when there is an event, the person goes to the QR code, it already directs them directly to WhatsApp. 

Did you notice that the consumer has adopted some other channel and do you also notice that this channel has helped you more in these strategies? How do you see the user journey at the moment?

Yes. I think Brazilians like WhatsApp a lot. Our company is global and people outside think more about email. We even had a campaign here, recently, that we did in 4 countries around the world and communication in general by email. 

And then, we talked to the marketing people, they said "no, let's do this communication through WhatsApp" because that's the way we communicate here, that people like. 

And it turned out great. Because we activated the email campaign, it didn't work because people had to sign up. The adherence was low. And then when we started using WhatsApp, we got a lot more feedback, and we managed to close the number of participants we wanted. WhatsApp I think is what they use the most. 

We also noticed that people access the web in the chat, and then we get back in contact with that person through WhatsApp. We give them the number as well and say, "Look, whenever you want to talk to us, it can be here via WhatsApp." Because then the number is already saved. We have a lot of recurring contacts. 

The value of measuring performance

How does or has our platform helped them to generate this demand and lead a customer to a possible purchase?

What I think is the great differential of the platform is that we have the follow-up of what we have been doing.

Before, we used to lose it, because we did a lot of telephone service. We couldn't measure how many assistances we made if the person was satisfied or not. Then there were no records.

Today we have more control over how many people we assist, and what the level of satisfaction is. And we have all the history with the client when we need it. Through the history, it is possible to create a different flow in this conversation.

Today we can assist several people at the same time and we certainly tripled the number of assists we do today in view of what we did last year.

What are the next steps for the bot? 

We want to make even more use of this activation tool, of messages through WhatsApp. One job we have been doing is that we look at the profile of people who saw certain products on our website. So, for example, when you are going to enter a new model of bicycle, we look at who recently accessed that product on our site. And then, via WhatsApp, we send a message to this cyclist saying "Look! The product you wanted has arrived in our stock." From there, you have the option to talk to the automated assistance and to a human.

Related article: Engage: How to send proactive discounts via WhatsApp

We want to work even more on that part of triggers, both on our website, and on leads, but mainly with marketing campaigns. Doing a lot of work together, simultaneously. 

Since we installed the tool, we have set as a goal, which is from 1 to 5, to be at least at 4.5. There is no month that we close below 4.8. So the feedback we get from consumers is also very positive.

If you could at that time leave one piece of advice or any suggestions for companies for 2023, what would you leave?

I think the tool is worth investing in. I know sometimes we are worried about "ah, how are we going to reduce costs and not have additional expenses." 

But no, it's understanding that the tool will really help in growing the business. 

Do you want to achieve these results?

If you haven't already, you can check out the full list of featured customers in Aivo Awards and discover the story behind their conversational bots.

And, if you want to implement our technology into your customer service strategy, don't hesitate to schedule a call with one of our representatives.

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