GlassesUSA.com sees CX success with voice of the customer data

GlassesUSA.com is a one-stop shop for a wide range of vision needs – prescription glasses, sunglasses, and contact lenses at up to 50% off retail. Consumers can choose from thousands of styles and brands from Ray Ban, Oakley, and more, try them online using the virtual mirror, and enjoy free shipping and a 100% money back guarantee. As more shoppers discover the advantages of buying prescription glasses online, they are looking for the greatest value and customer experience the internet has to offer.

In just 12 years, the company has become the largest online eyewear retailer with 130,000 daily website visitors and customers in more than 92 countries, GlassesUSA.com continues disrupting the traditional eyewear industry by making affordable glasses accessible to everyone and helping customers easily find their perfect pair from the comfort of their couch.

It’s a job that the team takes very seriously. “We also look at our customers as patients and treat them with the utmost respect because they use GlassesUSA.com to better their quality of life,” says Doron Pryluk, SVP of Customer Experience. The company relies on Zendesk Suite Enterprise to provide excellent customer support via phone, email, help center, and 24/7 live chat. Proving essential from day one, “the help center is one of our biggest sources of pride, and it was built exclusively using Zendesk,” notes Pryluk.

The right tech partners deliver on the vision

Seeking a solution to manage its email queues, GlassesUSA.com first implemented Zendesk in 2014 through CloudCom, a certified tech partner in Israel. “One of the most important parts of our implementation journey was the gap analysis, outlining our goals and how we plan to utilize Zendesk to provide the best possible customer experience,” Pryluk notes.

CloudCom supported the company’s CX transformation with assistance from Zendesk professional services. From communicating new features to hosting community meetups, “Zendesk does everything in their power to find solutions that make our jobs easier and make our teams more efficient,” offers Pryluk.

Voice of the Customer data drives better experiences

GlassesUSA.com has customer-facing groups around the world that count on Zendesk data and support, including customer care, production, shipping, contact verification, and telemarketing teams. The customer experience team collects and analyzes data from tens of thousands of customer interactions each month to share with teams across the company.

“We use Zendesk as a source of truth for our tickets, chats, and help center,” Pryluk explains. “That voice of the customer data provides a unique snapshot to every department, which allows us to give real-time feedback and helps our teams make decisions that improve customer experience.”

Custom automations save time and money

Prior to using Zendesk, the company relied on multiple systems and manual processes, which slowed down response time. Pryluk and his team jumped at the chance to create specific Zendesk automations to handle different use cases across email, live chat, and phone channels.

Adding custom fields and triggers helped streamline customer-facing workflows. For example, when a customer orders prescription glasses and selects ‘upload prescription later,’ it triggers a fully automated process in Zendesk and sends a customer notification: We cannot start producing your glasses until you provide a prescription.

Instead of spending hours trying to call customers, agents can now work smarter and faster. “We increased the number of fulfilled orders using Zendesk automation,” comments Pryluk. “It’s a triple bottom line for us because we increased conversions, which in turn drives revenue. Production happens faster and customers get their glasses sooner, so we save on labor costs.”

Ada AI agent empowers agents and boosts chat deflection

Once GlassesUSA.com linked the Ada AI agent with Zendesk ticketing, live chat, and help center, agents had all the information needed to instantly start personalized conversations with customers. That’s “a huge advantage,” says Pryluk. “At any moment, a customer can request a live agent and immediately be connected to our 24/7 live chat agents.”

The team added hundreds of AI agent flows based on voice of the customer data to ensure that top questions and concerns were being properly addressed.

GlassesUSA.com also found that around 70 percent of help center customers prefer using live chat versus phone. “With Ada’s AI agent, we’re using a channel that’s a customer’s first choice and enabling them to self-serve and get information faster by integrating with Zendesk,” Pryluk notes. “We’re providing a quick solution that increases customer satisfaction and fosters long-term loyalty. It’s a win for everyone.”

Robust API for a seamless customer experience

After finding success with Ada, the company saw even more improvements by integrating TalkDesk, an interactive voice response (IVR) system. Now, every phone call with a customer automatically creates a ticket in Zendesk with the call information and recording. Customers then choose to get an SMS and continue via AI agent, receive a followup email, or proceed to a URL.

“TalkDesk is one of the largest and most powerful integrations we have,” says Pryluk, “because it decreases the number of phone calls that our agents have to deal with and creates a better customer experience.”

The average cost of acquiring a new customer is five to seven times more than the cost of retaining an existing customer. For Pryluk, that creates an added incentive to focus on keeping customers happy. “Zendesk is directly contributing to enhancing our customer experience and satisfaction, which in turn improves retention, revenue, and word of mouth marketing.”

Strong data visibility supports 95% SLA achievement

Zendesk played a major role in helping GlassesUSA.com implement SLA policies for each team. With clear performance goals and access to robust data, the team hit a stellar 95 percent SLA rate.

“We’ve leveraged the existing Zendesk capabilities to their fullest and the impact was immediate,” Pryluk says. Deploying Zendesk macros and automations enabled smoother ticket handovers, while improving resolution time and agent productivity. “We’ve seen 60 percent SLA improvement, and we saw a decrease to almost zero missed chats with 24/7 access to live chat.”

Zendesk is “the heart of our tech stack”

Looking forward, the company’s CX roadmap will revolve around utilizing Zendesk to enhance the customer experience, while also boosting internal efficiency. One solution GlassesUSA.com recently deployed using Zendesk is customer cards, providing agents with 360-degree views so they can respond faster and more effectively.

Even better, GlassesUSA.com will be able to add new functionality as the needs of the business and its customers change. “Zendesk is definitely the heart of our tech stack and the only system that’s connected to everything else,” says Pryluk. “I don’t see us being able to scale and improve without using Zendesk.”

Pryluk finds peace of mind knowing that the company’s main solution is so flexible. “I’ve worked with a dozen customer service systems over the years and haven’t seen such robust customization capabilities and ease of integration,” adds Pryluk. “We didn’t need to invest in any R&D resources. With Zendesk, everything is plug and play. And that’s priceless.”