Very's chatbot has become its largest customer service channel

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Jun 1, 2021

We know how important customer service is to any business, but getting it right online has to be even more of a focus. And very.co.uk looks to have mastered the art pretty well.

Very Assistant was launched last September, with the digital fashion group’s artificial intelligence-powered chatbot now becoming its largest customer service channel. 

Previously only available via the app, the chatbot now answers 268,000 customer queries a month and Very has seen inbound customer service contact reduce by 23% year-on-year. Not bad for a company that receives an average of 1.9m website visits every day with 82% of online sales completed on mobile devices.

Importantly, customer care director Mark Billingham said the service “has helped us as we’ve seen customer numbers grow over the last 12 months”.

Very Assistant, which uses artificial intelligence to recognise and understand natural language, aims to help customers with queries including tracking orders, changing account details, and reminding the customer of their next account payment date. 

Billingham added: “Our customers love the convenience of the chatbot. It’s always accessible, helpful for a wide range of service queries, and means many of our customers don’t need to contact us. 

“With more customer service questions being answered by our chatbot, our advisors are focusing on dealing with the more complex queries over the phone. This has helped us as we’ve seen customer numbers grow over the last 12 months"

He added: “Because the chatbot is powered by artificial intelligence, it learns and becomes more effective every time it interacts with our customers. It’s one of the ways we’re investing to improve the digital experience for our 4.5m customers”.