Conversion Rate
About the company
HSE is a leading live commerce provider in Europe. Whether via one of the TV channels, the online store, the award-winning app or via social networks, customers decide when and where they shop. HSE provides the most entertaining form of shopping and inspires 1.3 million active customers who can explore curated products ranging from fashion, jewelry, beauty, and wellness to household and lifestyle.
The company reaches around 46 million households in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland via three TV channels (HSE, HSE Extra and HSE Trend).
Around 800 employees create an entertaining, customer-oriented shopping experience. Additionally, there are around 1800 external employees at logistics, call center, and tech development partners. HSE has received several awards for its outstanding service quality.
The bottom line
In just three months, HSE, Parloa, and the voice experts from MUUUH! managed to create a fully AI-controlled phonebot that processes telephone orders within a few minutes. This technology has been used by HSE since the beginning of 2022.
Customers decide when and where they shop at HSE, whether by phone, through the online store, or on social media. Up to 1,300 external customer advisors are supported by the AI-based phonebot EASY AI when they enter orders over the phone, which is capable of taking up to 600 calls simultaneously. EASY AI relieves the burden on service centers during busy periods and reduces the waiting time for customers on the order hotline. In addition to that, EASY AI takes over cross-selling activities by making individual product recommendations to customers and converting more sales.
“We at HSE had a strong vision for the project. Together with Parloa and MUUUH! we managed to bring it to life: a modern conversational AI that not only improves the customer experience, but also helps us achieve our business goals.”
Uwe Richter
Director Customer Service at HSE
What was the challenge?
Before working with Parloa, HSE was taking more than 2 million automated calls a year via a traditional hotline based on DTMF (Dual Tone Multi-Frequency).
However, this traditional technology meant that HSE customers spent a long time on the phone, resulting in an experience that didn’t keep up with the smartphone age.
“We wanted a long-term improvement for the automated ordering process for us and our customers. It was time for an innovative solution!” says Uwe Richter, Director Customer Service at HSE.
In addition to significantly improving the customer experience, HSE also had a clear commercial vision for the project: to build in cross-selling functionality for a phonebot.
- Up to 600 automated calls needed to be able to be handled at the same time while integrating 10 different APIs from core systems such as their CRM, merchandise management, and payment system.
- Customers needed to be able to decide for themselves whether to enter answers verbally or use the pre-existing keyboard shortcuts.
- The full HSE product catalog needed to be mapped in a natural voice dialog to the target group’s high demands.
What is the solution?
HSE considered the introduction of a conversational AI solution to be the perfect technological answer to address their challenges. They decided to implement a voice-based, automated ordering process that would allow customers to interact freely with a phonebot.
HSE compared several AI-driven solutions on competitive performance benchmarking. Parloa and MUUUH! came out on top for both technology and voice user interface design.
This partnership facilitated the implementation of an automated customer dialog. Using HSE’s Recommendation Engine, they were able to integrate the cross-sell functionality into the automated telephone ordering process.
Parloa’s intelligent phonebot went into operation just three months later.
»Which article number may I order for you?«
What are the results?
- Increased phonebot conversion rate to >70%
- Achieved a phonebot cross-sell rate of 10%
- AI-driven execution of up to 3 million calls per year, with up to 600 simultaneous calls
- Improved accessibility at peak times
- Improved customer experience
With Parloa’s Conversational AI platform and the voice experts from MUUUH!, HSE created a fully AI-controlled phonebot that completes order processes within minutes, reduces the workload for customer advisors, and shortens wait times for customers.
“With the Parloa platform, we can now accept a large number of orders automatically. From product entry to individual details like product variations (colors, sizes), to storing payment methods, everything is easier thanks to voice control. And all orders are stored in HSE’s linked CRM system,” says Uwe Richter.
Another game changer is the new cross-selling function, which allows AI to continuously query stock levels in order to immediately offer active users additional items related to the main product. “Definitely one of the highlights!” says Uwe Richter.
HSE’s EASY AI remains one of the most advanced, best-selling phonebots in Europe.
