Enhancing customer experience and streamlining inquiry handling through the implementation of the ChatGPT-powered customer service automation solution “BOTCHAN AI”

The men’s skincare brand BULK HOMME has implemented “BOTCHAN AI” to enhance the customer experience and pursue more efficient business operations. Their ideal “target state” is one in which the respective strengths of people and AI are used in a hybrid way, enabling them to respond accurately at any time to customers’ concerns and questions. They believe that steadily building this capability will ultimately contribute to the growth of the business.
Here, we take a closer look at this initiative.

◼️About BULK HOMME Co.
BULK HOMME is a skincare brand for men that operates under the message of “updating men’s beauty worldwide and becoming No.1 in global market share.” It aims to give men around the world living in the modern age the confidence to evolve into the version of themselves they aspire to be. Every product is developed based on thorough research into “what men’s skin truly needs,” pursuing tangible, high-level results through carefully selected ingredients and formulations. From the luxurious, sensorial lather to the pleasant fragrance that appeals to all five senses, each product is designed to deliver surprise and delight.

In Japan, in addition to the official online store, products are sold on EC marketplaces such as Amazon, as well as in more than 10,000 drugstores, variety shops, hair salons, and other retail locations nationwide. Overseas, the brand has expanded into markets including mainland China and the United States, among other countries and regions, where it has earned strong recognition.

Table of Contents

◼️The vision BULK HOMME aims to achieve

━━ Mr. Morimoto, to begin with, could you tell us what led you to introduce “BOTCHAN AI”?

Certainly. What we had in mind was to create an environment where, whenever customers have concerns or questions about BULK HOMME, we can always provide a prompt and appropriate response. This is an initiative to increase customers’ ability to resolve issues on their own and thereby improve customer satisfaction. At the same time, while addressing that aspect, generating profit as a business was also an important objective.

Mr. Kanta Morimoto, BULK HOMME Co., Ltd.

━━ Could you tell us about the criteria BULK HOMME uses when selecting partners?

When it comes to specialized areas such as AI and chatbots, we basically work together with external partners.
We select partners based on criteria such as how well they can realize the customer experience we envision, their contribution to the business, and how easy it is to communicate with them. First, when we considered improving the customer experience, we determined that an AI chat system would be the optimal solution for building an environment where we can always respond quickly and appropriately to questions about BULK HOMME.

━━ I see. Among those, which points do you place particular emphasis on?

We placed particular emphasis on two points: being able to respond at the same level as a human, and being able to handle automated processing.
The reason is that most inquiries cannot be handled with fixed phrases, and customer support is only complete once the customer’s request has been reflected in the system.

It is true that a typical chatbot can provide 24/7 support. However, it is difficult to combine responses at a human-equivalent level with automated processing, and in the end it is often still necessary to involve human staff.
With this in mind, and looking ahead to future business growth, we wanted to build a foundation that would allow us to continue delivering value even as more customers use BULK HOMME. By combining an AI specialized for BULK HOMME with automated processing, we aimed to automate operations while reflecting BULK HOMME’s unique character and personality.
In practice, we are now able to meet customer needs quickly through automation—not only by providing accurate answers, but also by enabling customers to check and change their desired delivery dates and similar requests.

◼️From a partnership between two companies to a success story

━━ What kind of results have you seen after implementing “BOTCHAN AI”?

"BOTCHAN AI" Business Manager Tomoki Morikawa

First, we have been able to build a foundation that improves customers’ ability to resolve issues on their own, allowing customer center staff to focus on more specialized consultations. In addition, as the number of inquiries that can be handled by AI decreases, we are beginning to see improvements in cost optimization.

In addition, being able to communicate smoothly with wevnal through BOTCHAN AI has been a major advantage. The wevnal team quickly provided proposals that reflected a solid understanding of BULK HOMME’s business and took into account both profitability and the customer experience.

━━ Thank you very much. Could you share your thoughts on the partnership between BULK HOMME and wevnal?

The partnership between BULK HOMME and wevnal is extremely strong. The wevnal team has engaged with our business with sincerity, providing effective proposals and responding quickly. In particular, their expertise and technical capabilities have been highly valuable in approaches from the customer experience perspective and in implementing automated processes.
I feel that what sets them apart from other companies is that, rather than simple exchanges between individual representatives, we are supported in a structure of BULK HOMME ⇔ BOTCHAN AI team, with Mr. Enomoto, an AI engineer, taking the lead on the front line and proposing improvement measures.

As a result, communication went smoothly as well.
The wevnal team accurately understood our requirements and needs, and responded quickly and flexibly to proposals and adjustments. Consequently, the implementation process proceeded smoothly, and we were able to achieve the outcomes we had expected.

━━ Thank you very much for the kind words!!
In addition to “BOTCHAN AI,” you have also implemented “BOTCHAN Keeper,” which supports promoting ongoing user engagement. In the initial phase of introducing “BOTCHAN Keeper,” what kind of metrics did BULK HOMME set as KPIs?

The main KPI is the retention rate, and as sub-KPIs we set the number of customers requesting cancellation and the breakdown of cancellations by channel.

━━ After implementation, what changes did you see in terms of metrics?

After implementation, we saw significant improvements in both the main KPI and the sub-KPIs. In particular, the main KPI, the retention rate, improved by more than approximately 3.0 times.

━━ Threefold increase!! Have there been any positive changes beyond the numerical results? For example, reductions in personnel costs or a decrease in tasks.

The workload of the person in charge has decreased. In addition, we were able to improve both the speed and quality of the scenario PDCA cycle.

━━ Could you tell us about any memorable episodes with our customer success team or initiatives that you found particularly effective?

The most effective initiative was our renewal proposals that leveraged ongoing benefits. It was also extremely helpful that the wevnal team consistently brought us new ideas. Their attitude of engaging in constructive discussions about “how we can make it work” instead of saying “we can’t” is outstanding.

◼️ Prospects and Expectations for “BOTCHAN AI”

━━ Please tell us about any expectations or wishes you have for BOTCHAN AI going forward.

Let me see. Broadly speaking, there are three main points.

First, expanding the scope of accurate responses.
We expect that AI will be able to provide more comprehensive and appropriate answers to customer inquiries.

Second, recommendations that take context and situation into account.
We expect that AI will be able to understand the context and circumstances behind customer questions and make suitable recommendations.

Finally, third, we hope to broaden the scope of processes that can be automated.
By leveraging AI, we expect to be able to automate a greater range of operations.

━━ Thank you very much. Could you also tell me about your overall outlook and expectations, including for BOTCHAN? For example, are there any features you would like, improvements to the admin dashboard, or support arrangements you are looking for?

We would very much like to move forward together on making effective use of data. It would be extremely helpful to have functionality that can process and analyze the large volumes of data generated through AI-driven conversations.
Including AI and BOTCHAN, we expect to see expansion of data, mutual data utilization with other products, and ultimately the use of this data for MA (marketing automation).
wevnal is a trusted partner, and our collaboration with your team has been highly beneficial. We look forward to continuing to work together to address new challenges and needs in the future.

━━Thank you very much for your wonderful words. The entire wevnal team will continue to work hard to support the growth and success of BULK HOMME.

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