In this article, Art Nature Inc. and wevnal discuss the challenges they resolved and the behind-the-scenes story of implementing “BOTCHAN EFO.”
We will take a deep dive from various perspectives into how “BOTCHAN” helped address the high abandonment rate caused by the large number of input form fields, what kind of impact it has had, and what role it now plays for customers.

Keigo Matsumoto, Customer Success, wevnal Inc. (hereafter, “—”)
To begin, could you briefly introduce your company’s business?

Mr. N.R, Manager, Advertising & Public Relations Department, Art Nature Co., Ltd. (hereafter, Mr. N)
Yes. Our company was founded in 1965 as a wig shop for men. In 1967 we became Art Nature Co., Ltd., and today we handle wigs for both men and women, as well as hair enhancement services for both male and female customers. We aim to be the company to which customers can entrust everything related to “keeping hair and scalp healthy.”
As a group, including our men’s and women’s brands and our subsidiary stores, we currently operate 423 locations nationwide (*). Under our motto, “What we want to increase is smiles,” in addition to our core products—wigs and hair enhancement—we develop and provide a wide range of products such as shampoos and conditioners, gray-hair blending powder, and hand cream created in response to feedback from frontline staff.
(* As of the end of September 2023)

Corporate website: https://corp.artnature.co.jp/ja/index.html

— Thank you. What kind of work are you involved in within that organization, Ms./Mr. N?

Mr./Ms. N
I am in charge of advertising and promotion for our women’s business.
There are a great many people who struggle with their hair and hairstyle; I believe only a very small handful feel things are exactly the way they want. My job is to plan how to communicate the appeal of our products to those who feel, “I wish my hair could be just a little more like this,” and to encourage them to take action.

— Thank you. I’d like to hear your candid impressions of our proposal for “BOTCHAN EFO” and what you honestly thought of it.

Mr. N
When I first just heard the word “chatbot,” I had certain preconceptions.
But once I listened to your proposal, I realized it was completely different from those preconceptions, and I felt it was a product that can be implemented with very flexible thinking as an EFO tool. Personally, I really like the idea of changing your approach by shifting your mindset. You can’t come up with that kind of idea unless you really think things through over and over again, can you? I imagine there were many twists and turns in the process of getting there, but I found myself simply and genuinely interested, thinking, “This sounds fascinating.”

— I’m genuinely delighted to hear you say that, especially given that you used to feel you weren’t very good at it. What kinds of challenges were you facing at that time?

Mr./Ms. N
Many of our products become necessary as people get older, so our customer base tends to be in the higher age range. Even before, many customers felt it was easier to contact us by phone, but the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the shift to digital channels. That said, we faced a challenge in that the dropout rate was high due to reasons such as customers being uncomfortable with data entry or finding it difficult to understand. We were concerned that if people who visited our website with an interest in our products found it hard to fill in the forms, they would feel we were being unhelpful, which could in turn damage the company’s image.

— Thank you. Have you implemented any measures to address that issue?

Mr./Ms. N
Yes, we made a point of running the PDCA cycle on the application form. We regularly reviewed it to reduce the number of fields and simplify the input process. That said, there are items that are absolutely necessary and cannot be removed, which was an obstacle and made it difficult to implement major changes. This was a source of concern.

— I see. So that’s where you thought our “BOTCHAN EFO” might be able to provide a solution.

Mr./Ms. N
Yes. Just changing the UI can make the same number of items look much easier to handle. Because it’s a one-question-at-a-time format, you suddenly find you’ve finished entering everything almost without noticing.
What it really comes down to is that you can improve the customer experience without changing the internal mechanisms or the volume and quality of information we ask customers to provide. I remember saying to my manager, who was in the meeting with me right after the proposal, “I want to do this!”

— That’s great to hear. I’d like to ask if you could share any background or story leading up to the implementation.

Mr./Ms. N
I was eager to get started as early as the next day, but because this involved handling personal information, it took our company a little time to prepare. Since it was a sensitive area, our legal team also conducted a thorough review. That said, I really wanted to move quickly, so I repeatedly went in person to check on the status and coordinated internally to ensure things could progress as fast as possible.
Conversely, everything outside of those internal procedures moved extremely quickly.
Thanks to that, we were able to launch in about a month after internal approval was granted, which we truly appreciated.

— Thank you very much. We started small, but we were able to deliver solid results from there, so I’m really glad. The fact that we’ve been able to keep things running without any drop in performance is truly thanks to your support, Mr./Ms. N.
Were you the one who selected the initial media and channels when we first launched the operation, Mr./Ms. N?

Mr./Ms. N
Yes, that’s right. We made detailed adjustments. First, as a prerequisite, we need a certain volume to be able to validate the effectiveness, so we chose areas where we could secure a minimum volume. At the same time, we also needed to hedge the risk in case things did not go well, so we selected them by balancing volume against risk.

— I see… I had assumed that selection must have been very difficult. Since you actually implemented it, how have the results been?

Mr./Ms. N
The results have exceeded our expectations, and our CVR has changed significantly. It has only been five months since implementation, but I feel we are now able to guide visitors to our website smoothly through to CV completion without diminishing their motivation to “do this.”
We are running a detailed PDCA cycle on user flows on a weekly basis.
Our usual approach is to compare the numbers for Media × Targeting × Creative × LP and narrow down to what works best. Now that form optimization has been added to this, the volume of submissions and reporting has simply doubled. I imagine the workload has been substantial, and I am grateful to the digital marketing team, who always respond quickly.
In A/B tests against our existing forms, BOTCHAN EFO has been winning in almost every case.

— Thank you very much. How do you feel about the CVR before and after implementation, the scenario design, and the support and responsiveness of our customer success team?

Mr. N
To be honest, when I saw the proposal materials with “CVR improved by 140%” written in bold, I assumed we wouldn’t be able to achieve that level of impact in our case. But after actually implementing it, there were media where the CVR improved by more than 140%, and I genuinely felt, “Sorry for doubting you!” (laughs)

As for the scenarios, we had you map the existing form’s content and order to BOTCHAN EFO as closely as possible. We set the first-step goal as building up results without changing the information we collect or the overall flow, and once the perception of “this is good” had spread throughout the company, we planned to move on to improving the content as the next step. Right now, we are in the phase of gradually refining things while consulting with your team.

We really appreciate that you proactively make suggestions even without us having to ask. It’s common for companies to make proposals before implementation, but it’s quite rare to receive regular proposals and ongoing support even after implementation, so this has been extremely helpful. For each small improvement, you carefully provide quantitative grounds for your decisions and proactively suggest enhancements, which we are very grateful for and which makes you feel highly trustworthy. There are, of course, areas we can’t see on our own, so having you point those out and propose improvements is very encouraging.

— I’m very glad to hear that. That is exactly the area where we place the highest importance, as it is where our company can truly provide value. Thank you very much.
What does “BOTCHAN” represent for your company at this point in time?

Mr./Ms. N
They are like an escalator that comfortably carries customers, once they have taken the first step, up to the next level.
For people who became interested in our products offline and then visited our website, or those who carefully considered their options after viewing the site, at the moment they finally decide to make a purchase, we ensure they feel no hesitation. It is an “escalator” in the sense that they do not have to struggle to climb on their own feet.

— I see! An escalator!
If I’ve truly become that kind of presence, I’m genuinely pleased.
Are there any points you’re looking forward to from “BOTCHAN” going forward?

Mr. N
Yes, that’s right. As I mentioned earlier, there are things you can only understand by looking at the numbers every day, and there is also a real difference between being able to immediately notice irregularities or not. I would very much like to continue receiving your support in that area.

Also, the concept behind “BOTCHAN EFO” is extremely interesting, so if you have any advice such as, “If you change the approach from a different angle than now, you can maximize the effect,” I would like you to keep sharing that with us. And I hope you will continue to develop more and more updated tools. We would very much like to be the ones to implement them at our company.

— Thank you very much. We would also appreciate any suggestions you may have on whether we could do something along these lines.
Finally, could we ask you to share a few words with other companies facing the same challenges?

Mr./Ms. N
As I mentioned earlier, we were initially somewhat skeptical ourselves, but we are seeing results.
For companies struggling with form abandonment or looking to increase responses, I believe it is definitely worth trying at least once.
Another major factor that made it easier to propose internally was the performance-based fee structure. It makes it easy to evaluate cost-effectiveness and, although this may not be the best way to put it, it feels like a product that is easy to adopt.

— Thank you very much for your kind words.
I look forward to continuing to work together with you to further improve results.
Thank you again for your continued support.

If you would like to confirm whether you can implement BOTCHAN in your own company, or if you would like advice tailored to your situation, please feel free to contact us with your questions or inquiries.

A specialist consultant will respond.