When you fall asleep at night and put your head on your pillow, you are probably 1000 miles away from imagining all the technology that swarms under your ears… And yet : there is so much to know about pillows, quilts and other evening treats ! Since 1870, the French manufacturer Castex has been offering essential accessories for your nights (comforters, linens, bolsters…) at an unrivalled price-quality ratio.
The family business faced a very classic e-commerce problem: the technical specifications of its products are vast and very specific, which leads – on the one hand – to the incomprehension of some Internet users and – on the other hand – to the flooding of the latter on online media. You see us coming, there is a very simple system to put in place to remedy this latent waste of time : the chatbot ! The automated conversational tool provides clear information and automates more than 80% of the most common questions, saving customer service teams a lot of time, allowing them to focus on higher value-added topics.
Castex’s marketing department came to us to configure their tool to meet these needs. Six months later, it was time to take stock of the situation and get feedback from them. Béatrice Nalpas-Cala, Director of Marketing and Communication, agreed to answer our questions !
Introduce yourself and your company
Castex is a French family business specializing in feathers and down for 5 generations, Manufacture Castex makes top-of-the-range natural comforters, quilts, pillows and bolsters from new goose and duck down certified as “Origine France Garantie”. As part of the circular economy, with Oeko-Tex® 100 and EPV (Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant) certification, Castex has converted all of its 90% down ranges into organic cotton fabric, with recycled and recyclable packaging. Pure Player, it distributes its products to individuals on its online store, but also to the factory store in Dax as well as to selected marketplaces and distributors or resellers in custom work. Turnover 5,6 M€ – Staff 18 persons
What were your issues before launching your chatbot?
The technical nature of the products (loft, heat index, need for advice, after-sales service, etc.) meant that the customer service department was increasingly solicited for recurring questions, which Castex answered by telephone, e-mail and live chat, despite the parallel optimization of the content of the product sheets and the purchasing guide. With the growing traffic and the launch of a new website in 2021, we decided to improve the user experience and the productivity of our teams by integrating a chatbot
How did you come to the conclusion that a chatbot would meet these needs?
Castex had already been using chat for years to optimize conversion and support customers. Nevertheless, after 6pm (office closing time) or on weekends, Castex users found themselves alone in front of our e-commerce site and had to ask their questions while waiting for an answer on Monday morning.
The chatbot, by its immediate and permanent reactivity, met the objective of continuous service and optimization of the transformation in live 24/24.
Why did you choose the Botnation solution?
After a careful benchmark, we quickly included Botnation AI in our shortlist and compared 3 proposals. We chose Botnation AI for its simplicity of use, its artificial intelligence that allows us to adjust the chatbot, its studied pricing and the fact that it is a French company.
How did you imagine the chatbot? What was the design process?
We have the knowledge of our business but we wanted to avoid any risk of error on the method to create the chatbot Castex. We therefore called on the Botnation AI teams to design and set up our chatbot, according to a process that was indicated to us to guide us on the layout of the information and the way to structure the process.
You have used Botnation’s studio for the configuration and turnkey delivery of your chatbot, describe this experience to us:
Upstream with the sales department and then with the technical department, the process was smooth and we were secure. The announced deadlines were respected and each recipe linked to each delivered batch allowed to advance, to validate each stage until the on-line publishing. The project was evolving on a “test and learn” basis while remaining within the defined scope.
Have you been able to measure the first results?
YES, very quickly, the customer service was relieved and found time to provide real advice to people to whom the chatbot had not provided an answer. Using artificial intelligence, we created additional questions/answers and enriched the bot. It is a true ally of the sale.
Would you have some advice for a company that also wants to launch a chatbot?
Before creating your chatbot, categorize the different possible question worlds and their answers. Simplify, and start by covering the 20/80.
Discover now the informative and very clear chatbot of Castex on their website!