How does the Barbecue Expert ensure premium customer service?
Esprit Barbecue is a French company founded in 2010 by two young people from Lille. The company started its activity with a 300 m2 store in Bondues, north of Lille. Its specialty is in the sale of barbecues, planchas, and braziers. Two years later, the brand tripled its sales area and launched its e-commerce site to become the reference in its market.
As a pioneer in internet barbecue sales, the company touts itself as an expert in its market. It places a lot of importance on the quality of its products and its service. Indeed, the brand puts humans at the heart of its business by offering premium customer service and an impeccable experience. It is one of the best-rated brands on Avis-vérifiés in France!
Over the years, Esprit Barbecue's product line has extended from the traditional barbecue to the tasty plancha, including the brazier or smoker. It now offers over 3000 products on its website, to the delight of barbecue enthusiasts and professionals. Ordering from Esprit Barbecue means giving yourself a better chance of winning the French barbecue championship.
A business marked by strong seasonality
Esprit Barbecue's activity is naturally seasonal as it specializes in outdoor cooking. Spring and summer are unsurprisingly the favorite seasons of the French for barbecues, which reflects in the brand’s sales and activities. As proof, the number of unique visitors on the brand's e-commerce website is five times higher during summer.
This seasonal spike in activity is accompanied by a significant flow of requests to customer service representatives, who must provide quick and relevant answers via email, phone, or live chat. To improve the management of this time-consuming system for support agents, the company required a simple and easy-to-use solution with 24/7 availability.
A hybrid approach for better customer service
Despite an initial reluctance to use chatbots, Esprit Barbecue eventually tested Botmind. After extensive research, the company chose Botmind, whose hybrid approach keeps humans at the center of the customer experience. They were also delighted by its "fair and consistent" pricing compared to competing offers.
Integrating the hybrid agent on the e-commerce site was simple. It automated frequent and time-consuming questions swiftly. The customer support representatives were able to handle the high value-added requests from the hybrid agent in the form of complete tickets. Thanks to this approach of blending human and artificial intelligence, the company can leverage the best of both worlds in the chat channel. It also allows the company to improve the average response time while maintaining high-quality responses for all types of questions: frequent and time-consuming, or complex, and with high added value.
Quick impact and a great customer experience
Esprit Barbecue quickly noticed the transformative impact of the hybrid chatbot on both customer experience and the efficiency of their customer service team. Within just a few days, the volume of frequent and time-consuming inquiries significantly decreased. This change allowed advisors to redirect their focus towards more complex and high-value issues, enhancing overall service quality. For instance, in April 2021 alone, Botmind's hybrid chatbot saved Esprit Barbecue's teams over 38 hours of work, demonstrating its effectiveness in streamlining operations.
Customers now benefit from a smooth and hassle-free experience. With Botmind, they can easily access comprehensive information related to order tracking, delivery options, payment methods, and more—all in real-time. The virtual agent reports that order tracking and delivery details are among the most frequently accessed features by visitors. This allows customers to quickly check the status of their deliveries, explore various shipping options, understand timelines, and assess costs across different countries.
Customer advice: an essential issue for experts
Beyond enhancing after-sales support, the hybrid chatbot plays a crucial role during the pre-sales phase by offering guidance and advice to visitors. Through the use of triggers—small notification bubbles displayed by the virtual agent—it effectively captures customer attention and engages them within the sales funnel. Much like an in-store salesperson, it pre-qualifies customer needs and provides tailored product recommendations to help them make informed purchasing decisions, whether they are interested in a barbecue or a plancha (or both 😁).
This advisory capability is critical for Esprit Barbecue as it strives to differentiate itself from traditional retailers through its expertise and premium service offerings. Samuel, who oversees the e-commerce site, highlights that "What's great about Botmind is that we can do so much with it. Beyond addressing frequent questions, we can set up guides, triggers, product paths, and more." The company now successfully re-engages visitors who reach the Shopping Cart page, assisting them in completing their orders—making this one of the most popular triggers among site visitors.
By leveraging these advanced features, Esprit Barbecue not only enhances customer engagement but also boosts conversion rates by ensuring that customers receive expert guidance tailored to their specific needs.
Keeping humans at the heart of customer support
By utilizing Botmind's solution, Esprit Barbecue effectively automates customer service while keeping human interaction central to its operations. The virtual agent provides continuous assistance to website visitors while advisors focus on complex requests that add high value. This ensures every customer receives expert guidance tailored to their needs.
At Botmind, we are proud to support Esprit Barbecue in automating its customer service while maintaining personal touches that enhance the overall shopping experience. We appreciate their warm hospitality and enthusiasm (Victor, our CTO, is already preparing for his next barbecue championship with his new grill 😎).
Key insights
- 🔥 Seasonal peaks managed effectively with automated solutions.
- 🤖 Hybrid chatbot reduces routine inquiries significantly.
- 🕒 Over 38 hours saved in April 2021 for customer support teams.
- 📈 Enhanced pre-sales engagement through triggers and product paths.
- 👥 Human-centric approach maintains personalized customer interactions.