Success Stories: Juanita Jo

Juanita Jo was born as a brand of handbags with a wide variety of models and colors. Over the years, it expanded its range of products and became an icon, positioning itself in Argentina and setting trends in the Latin American market. Currently, they have 14 own stores, and multi-brand stores where their products are sold, but there is another rapidly growing sales channel: the online. In their e-commerce, it is possible to find the same models as in their physical stores, in addition to the “Opportunities” section with discounted items from previous seasons. Another added value of their online store is the customer service they offer, which is similar to the one of a physical store.

In an interview with Noemí Lebersztein, Marketing Communication Manager of Juanita Jo, she explained that before implementing Oct8ne, they used another chat tool that was much more basic. Help requests were not received in real-time, but were responded via emails by a single agent.

When it came to professionalizing their online sales department, they decided to improve processes and look for a provider that could offer added value to their customer service. “The previous chat was very basic, it didn’t have a lot of functionalities,” says Noemi. Furthermore, she explains that one of the main reasons they chose Oct8ne was its native integration with Prestashop, the platform they used to create their e-commerce. This integration allows them to enjoy numerous benefits to make interactions with potential customers a smooth conversation that often turns into sales. One notable feature is the integration with the online catalog, which enables the sharing of real-time product images and videos. Another decisive factor was the customer support provided by Oct8ne, as their Customer Success team offers 24/7 service available via chat, email, phone, and video call to quickly resolve any doubts or issues that may arise. “Nowadays, if a provider doesn’t have customer support, we don’t choose them,” says Noemi.

First and foremost, they increased the number of human agents providing support to their customers. What used to be email-based help requests are now transformed into fluent conversations where images and videos from the integrated catalog are shared. “Our agents share product photos, highlight details with annotations, and make suggestions. People take the time to do it; they are not rushed. They like it” says Noemi. The number of products shown per session through the coviewer is approximately three, but it varies depending on the customer’s query. For example, suppose a customer wants to buy backpacks. In that case, the agents are likely to send many more images than if they requested “large black backpacks,” as in the latter case, they are sent products that fit those specific characteristics.

The chatbot is another significant change that Juanita Jo implemented with Oct8ne since they did not have an active one on their e-commerce platform before. The main goal of their bot is to quickly respond to all the questions potential customers have, leaving more complex queries to human agents. In other words, it acts as a filter. How did they build it? Essentially, they obtained the entire history of customer questions from different communication channels and, considering the frequently asked questions, easily configured them using Oct8ne’s Drag & Drop module system. Another benefit of the bot, according to Noemi, is the ability to adapt it to different events. For Hotsale, an important e-commerce event in Argentina, they adapted all their frequently asked questions in just one hour, providing immediate answers to a large number of people who were connected and had doubts about payment methods, delivery times, etc. “Additionally, the chatbot reduces people’s anxiety because it provides immediate answers. People can self-manage their doubts and solve them quickly. It also reduces the number of people who need to be connected with an agent, optimizing resources” adds Noemi.

Like with other clients, the synergy between both modalities works very well for Juanita Jo. On the one hand, customers are satisfied with the attention provided by the chatbot, which can instantly answer all their questions. In case a solution is not found, they are transferred to a human agent who can provide more detailed assistance. Juanita Jo highlights the difference in tone between the chatbot and live chat interactions. They believe it is crucial for the customer to understand from the first second whether they are talking to a robot or a person. “The person speaks like a person. Agents are trained not to speak like the bot. They make gestures, talk, ask, listen” says Noemi.

In a three-month period, Juanita Jo received 21,584 help requests, of which 21,559 – representing 99% of the total – were attended by the bot, acting as a filter. Only 2,041 requests were transferred to human agents, who provided personalized attention to potential customers. 71.3% of the received queries were initiated thanks to a trigger that activates when customers start browsing the e-commerce platform. The rest of the conversations were started manually by potential customers.