In this article, we share the challenges Kirin Holdings Company, Limited resolved and the behind-the-scenes story of its success by implementing “BOTCHAN Payment” in Kirin Kyowa Hakko Bio’s mail-order business.
Although a chatbot had already been introduced initially, we will reveal the full picture, including the background to adopting “BOTCHAN,” the results of A/B testing, and the six months of development that succeeded through close communication with the CS team.

Hideyuki Tajima, CS Manager, wevnal Inc. (hereafter, “Tajima”)
To begin, could you please introduce your company’s business and yourself?

Kirin Holdings Company, Limited, Health Science Division, Marketing Group, Sales Channel Manager, Principal Staff Member, Mr. Hisato Suenaga (hereafter, “Mr. Suenaga”)
Since 2013, our company has been promoting CSV (Creating Shared Value) management and working to solve social issues through our business activities. By leveraging our strengths in fermentation and biotechnology, we provide science-based products and services that draw out people’s natural abilities and help lead to happier lives. We aim to deliver the “smiles” and “joy” that lie beyond good health to people all around the world.

Within that, I am primarily responsible for the “Kirin Kyowa Hakko Bio Online Shop” business in the health science field.
Specifically, we sell health supplements such as “Ornithine” and “iMUSE.” Every day, we work on delivering services and products that customers find more convenient and satisfying, including the introduction of new services and improvements to UI/UX.

Kirin Holdings Company, Limited Kirin Kyowa Hakko Bio Online Store: https://kirin-kyowahakko-bio.kirin.co.jp/

Kirin Holdings Company, Limited, Health Science Division, Marketing Group, Sales Channel Representative, Mr. Ken Shiratori (hereafter, “Mr. Shiratori”)
Like Suenaga, I also belong to the D2C Channel Team in the Health Science Division. However, my product domain differs from Suenaga’s, and within the company I am responsible for what we call the “immunity domain,” including plasma lactic acid bacteria and other foods with functional claims related to immune function.
I oversee areas such as new customer acquisition and CRM, and I am also in charge of operations related to systems and tools.

Left: Mr. Hisato Suenaga, Manager in Charge of Sales Channels, Marketing Group, Health Science Division, Kirin Holdings Company, Limited
Right: Mr. Ken Shiratori, Sales Channel Representative, Marketing Group, Health Science Division, Kirin Holdings Company, Limited

— Thank you. So you oversee everything seamlessly from the initial customer acquisition through to the final stage, including new customer acquisition. I’d like to ask about the challenges you were facing before implementing “BOTCHAN.”

Mr. Suenaga
That’s right. In general, I believe the online purchase flow is an area where customers are likely to feel confused. Even when I buy from other companies’ sites, I sometimes have questions or think, “It would be better if this worked like that…,” so I imagine there are people who actually end up abandoning their purchase. Improving that kind of UI/UX helps resolve customer dissatisfaction and directly contributes to our business as well, so I had been thinking about whether there might be any measures we could take to make improvements.

— At first, I believe you had implemented another company’s tool. In that context, what was your honest impression when you received our proposal?

Mr. Suenaga
First, the biggest factor was that, by introducing “BOTCHAN,” I had a strong sense that it would directly lead to improvements in UI/UX.
Another factor was that an agency we do business with told us, “BOTCHAN is really good,” so that third-party endorsement also gave us a push.
Finally, in terms of the costs you proposed and the implementation workload, we felt it would be easy to get started because there would be relatively little work required on our side and your company would handle most of it.
It was not just one single reason; we made our decision based on an overall assessment.

— Thank you very much. I imagine it took some time on the systems side and other aspects to implement this. I would appreciate it if you could also share any stories or experiences from the period leading up to the implementation.

Mr. Suenaga
When it came to implementation, there was a prerequisite on our company’s system side that we had to clear, and that became one of the main hurdles. Moving forward with the tool implementation while also clearing that requirement was the most challenging part. In addition, there were aspects of our internal systems that I myself did not fully understand, so through this development I was able to learn, “So this is how it actually works.”
It took about six months, from May to October, and I was very grateful to have your support throughout that period.

— Thank you very much. I imagine that during the six‑month development period there were moments when you felt implementation would be difficult. However, I believe that the close communication between our two companies enabled us to resolve the issues and move forward with implementation. How was the support from our CS team in that regard?

Mr. Suenaga
Yes, that’s right. From our side, we saw it as a given that we would communicate the status of the system, and I feel that your company properly understood that information and translated it into a concrete form. So while we were cooperating with each other, my impression is that you were the ones leading the way.

To be honest, at first I was worried about whether it would really be possible, but as the system started to come together, I began to understand, thinking, “I see, so this is how it works,” and it all made sense to me afterwards.

Mr. Shiratori
Since Suenaga handled all aspects of the implementation, I was simply watching the exchanges and honestly thinking, “That looks tough.” (laughs)
Every day, you would suggest, “Please try this method,” and Suenaga would coordinate internally on our side. However, due to our own requirements and constraints, there were many things we simply could not do…
I remember that, even after that, the back-and-forth with your company continued like a game of catch, and you carried out extremely detailed adjustments for us.

— It has been about six months since you implemented it, I believe. How would you assess the results so far?

Mr. Suenaga
When we first launched, the results were astonishing. In particular, the purchase rate for “Ornithine” increased significantly. However, when we renewed the design at the end of the year and a system error occurred in part of the setup, there were honestly some internal voices saying, “Wouldn’t our existing tool be better?”

At the start of the new year, we therefore ran an A/B test between BOTCHAN and the existing tool, and for a while the existing tool kept winning. At that point, your CS representative proposed, “Please let us run A/B tests within BOTCHAN.” When we implemented this, the new test variation delivered a purchase rate about 5 points higher, and even compared with the existing tool, BOTCHAN produced better results.

After that, we continued A/B testing and, once we had accumulated a sufficient volume of data and compared it, we found that BOTCHAN’s purchase rate had increased, with an improvement of approximately 111% overall.

Mr. Shiratori
Regarding iMUSE, after introducing Ornithine, we began implementation around November 2023.
The CVR was about the same level as Ornithine and increased to about 120–200% compared with the test! Since we saw similar results with both Ornithine and iMUSE, within our company we concluded, “This is really effective!”, and at the start of the new year we rolled out the approach horizontally to other iMUSE products as well.
You have also proposed additional test plans and shared the Ornithine case study, so we believe there is still plenty of room to further improve CVR. We would like to continue working with your company to keep verifying and optimizing our initiatives!

— Thank you very much!
We are very pleased that you are currently making extensive use of “BOTCHAN” across many of your company’s products and services. How are you finding our CS response speed, as well as our scenarios and creative work?

Mr. Suenaga
We have members in our company who can handle planning, but we do not have members who can produce creative materials. I believe there are many companies that provide tools, but as far as I know, there are no companies that simultaneously handle image production and scenario development.
This time, you not only created the images, but also supported us through creative improvement, proposals, and configuration. You have effectively covered the areas our company is not strong in, which has been extremely helpful.

Mr. Shiratori
First of all, my impression is that the response speed is extremely fast.
In terms of scenarios and creative work, since we do not have expertise in chatbots, we have been proceeding based on your company’s knowledge and best practices.
Going forward, we would like to continue reflecting our ideas while working together with you through the PDCA cycle to further improve the results.
Overall, including the creative aspects, we believe the quality is very high.

— Thank you very much. We are very pleased that you rate the quality so highly. We would appreciate it if you could once again share what kind of role “BOTCHAN” plays for your company and what you expect from it going forward.

Mr. Suenaga
Yes. Thanks to the flexibility of BOTCHAN, we are now able to roll out initiatives that previously would have required full-scale system development, and the range of what we can do has expanded. It has also significantly reduced the amount of work involved. As we continue to apply new ideas, I believe there will be even more opportunities to make use of it, so I see it as a very promising tool.

Mr. Shiratori
In our direct-to-consumer business, particularly in e-commerce, we consider the cart UI/UX to be an extremely important touchpoint. I also believe that many companies are currently introducing chatbots. We are working together with various agencies and vendors as well, and among them, we recognize your company as one of our key partner firms.

Looking ahead, as we have only just introduced “BOTCHAN,” we believe there is still considerable room for improvement. By further refining it and running the PDCA cycle, we expect to raise our CVR even more. In addition, as Matsunaga also mentioned, we have high expectations for your proposals regarding service expansion and new scenarios. We would like to continue receiving your proposals on an ongoing basis.

— Thank you very much. Finally, could you share a message for companies facing similar challenges to yours?

Mr. Shiratori
That’s right. I joined my current team four years ago, and even back then there were significant issues with the UI/UX of the purchase cart, and I felt it was quite complicated. Improving that area requires a substantial amount of effort from the business side, so I imagine there are companies that recognize its importance but keep postponing it.
In that context, I believe “BOTCHAN” can be introduced with minimal effort compared to in‑house development, so I would recommend at least starting by consulting with them and giving it a try.

Mr. Suenaga
When running an e-commerce business, I believe acquiring new customers and retaining them is a challenge that everyone faces. However, in recent years it has become extremely difficult to acquire new customers; before you know it, competitors have increased and the unit cost of web advertising has also risen.

That is precisely why we should not rely solely on front-end techniques such as ad creatives and how we use advertising, but also focus on improving the middle of the funnel to enhance the overall efficiency of the business. Among these, I feel that optimizing the purchase flow is particularly important. So for companies facing these challenges, I would first encourage you to try a tool like “BOTCHAN.”

— Thank you very much for your kind words.
Thank you for taking the time to meet with me today.

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.