CIAK Auto: Improving CX with digital customer service

Challenge

CIAK Auto, the automotive spare parts distributor, wanted to provide the best customer experience supported by modern technology.

Most of their customers are auto mechanics in search of replacement parts. When customers are looking for a specific part, they’ll call or reach out through email for more assistance.

But sometimes customers don’t know which specific part they need. Since explaining this sort of thing over the phone is time-consuming for everyone involved, CIAK Auto decided the best thing would be to simply send a picture.

Another issue with providing help over the phone was waiting time. And CIAK Auto’s mechanic customers couldn’t work and wait on the phone. CIAK Auto wanted a channel that would help customers get more work done while waiting for a response.

This meant finding a solution that would reduce calls and waiting times, improve response times, and facilitate sending pictures on their customers’ preferred channels. They wanted to meet their customer wherever they are – on their web page, their favorite chat app, or Google search.

Solution

CIAK Auto started their digital transformation with the Conversations – cloud contact center solution.

Implementation and onboarding were completed within weeks, giving CIAK Auto fast access to WhatsApp, Viber, Live Chat, Google’s Business Messages, and Apple Messages for Business.

Most of CIAK Auto’s customer enquiries are pictures of damaged cars and parts, with requests for quotes. Furthermore, they are handling loyalty program questions and general questions about the business.

CIAK Auto has a Live Chat widget available on their website 24/7, while their contact page includes WhatsApp and Viber QR codes to engage with a human agent.

Customers can also choose to engage with a chatbot over Apple Messages for Business, built with Infobip’s Answers chatbot building platform. The chatbot gives customers topics to choose from in a category tree, and also offers agent takeover in case more detailed assistance is required.

Google’s Business Messages provides different options, with 77% of queries coming over chat, 19% over a phone number and 4% over maps – with a Google Ads entry point in the works.

CIAK Auto’s customer service agents handle all communication channels – from calls to digital channels. However, not every query is customer service-related – with marketing enquiries, such as giveaways-related, comprising a share of the inbound traffic. But thanks to Infobip’s Conversations capabilities, the team was able to set up a rule to automatically route all marketing enquiries to the CIAK Auto’s marketing team.

In addition to providing customer service, CIAK Auto extend their promotional outreach with an email newsletter and Viber campaigns with SMS failover. CIAK Auto sends out special offers to their customers once a month over Viber. Most often, customers will respond to these offers directly in Viber, with agent takeover. Customer service agents also handle loyalty program enquiries to help boost sales.

Result

Using Conversations helped CIAK Auto significantly improve customer experience. They were able to reduce waiting times over the phone, and provide faster, more detailed information to customers – who could work while they waited.

Media rich messaging capability proved that a picture really is worth a thousand words, with customer service agents able to provide accurate assistance far faster than ever before.

Over a six-month period, CIAK Auto improved all contact center metrics – even reducing average response times by 79% when using WhatsApp.

In addition, Google’s Business Messages were well adopted by customers and a part of the 90% traffic growth observed over Conversations for a six-month period.

CIAK Auto also saw incredible successes with their first Viber campaigns with SMS failover. Not only were open rates off the charts, but so were the response rates, conversions, and continued interactions. Agents would take over, finalize sales, and then continue communication with the customer over the same chat thread months in advance.

Email newsletter campaigns also saw high open rates with a 33% click-to-open rate.