In this article, we introduce the challenges that SOCIE World Co., Ltd. resolved by implementing “BOTCHAN EFO,” as well as behind-the-scenes insights into the introduction process.
As a long-established total beauty company, SOCIE World has continued to provide services while placing great importance on its brand worldview. We will take a deep dive from multiple angles into how the scenario design—carefully crafted so as not to compromise SOCIE’s unique worldview—and the responsiveness of the customer success team have delivered tangible results.

Keigo Matsumoto, BOTCHAN EFO Customer Success Leader, wevnal Inc. (hereafter, “—”)
To begin, could you please introduce your company’s business and yourself?

Kaori Morikawa, Assistant Manager, Advertising & Customer Acquisition Section, Marketing Strategy Department, Socie World Co., Ltd. (hereinafter, “Ms. Morikawa”)Socie World Co., Ltd. is a leading company in total beauty, pursuing the concept that “Beauty shapes the future.”
We operate beauty salons including esthetic salons, as well as hair and eye beauty salons.
In particular, our esthetic salons are located in well-known department stores and luxury hotels in Japan, and we are expanding our business not only domestically but also overseas.

Among these, I am primarily responsible for promoting and attracting customers for our esthetic business.
To ensure that esthetic treatments at Socie are as smooth as possible, I work every day on introducing communication tools, leveraging various advertising media to convey our company’s strengths, and encouraging as many customers as possible to visit us.

— So you oversee a wide range of areas, from advertising media to tools and related matters.
Could you tell us about the challenges you were facing before implementing BOTCHAN?

Ms. Morikawa
Yes, the advertising LP was achieving a high number of page views, but we were facing the issue that the reservation rate (CVR) was lower than expected.
We also had a challenge in that the reservation form felt very clerical, which disrupted SOCIE’s brand world. As one of the measures to address these issues, we were looking for an interactive communication tool instead of the conventional instant reservation form. At that time, our advertising agency introduced us to your BOTCHAN EFO.

— Thank you very much.
I would like to ask for your candid impressions of BOTCHAN’s proposal after having received it.

Ms. Morikawa
At first, tools from other companies were also among our candidates, but they felt rather templated, and we felt it would be difficult to convey Socie’s unique worldview. In contrast, we found your tool attractive both in terms of its high degree of freedom in scenario design and its cost.

The reason we are so particular is that Socie World has a 64-year history as of this year. Over many years of providing beauty services, we have placed great importance on “omotenashi,” or wholehearted hospitality. Even for a single reservation experience, we want to respond to customers smoothly and courteously. We therefore believed that, through your tool, which allows for flexible scenario design, customers would be able to experience and appreciate our brand’s worldview.

Ms. Kaori Morikawa, Assistant Manager, Advertising & Customer Acquisition Section, Marketing Strategy Department, Socie World Co., Ltd.

— We are very pleased that you find our highly flexible scenario design—one of our company’s key strengths—so appealing!
We would appreciate it if you could share the story behind how you came to implement our solution.

Ms. Morikawa
Yes. When we were considering introducing a chatbot, our biggest concern was whether it would be possible to implement it without compromising our brand’s worldview. Our company has cherished the “Socie” brand for many years. To be honest, at first I felt it would be difficult for you to fully understand our brand, but as we continued our discussions, you were able to grasp our intentions and help us shape the final result, and I am grateful to you, Mr. Matsumoto. We believe that our aspirations will have a positive impact on our customers.

— Thank you very much!
How has it been since you actually implemented it? Has the CVR improved compared to before implementation?

Ms. Morikawa
At first, we expected it would take about three months before we would see any effect.
However, when we ran an A/B test with and without the bot, the CVR improved by 170% in about a week. The numbers were so strong that we even suspected there might be some kind of mistake (laughs).
We now use BOTCHAN for all of our web advertisements.
We had also been running trial operations for direct mail (DM) at several stores, and because the results were positive, we have decided to roll it out to our other locations as well.

— Really? I’m glad to hear that DMs are delivering results as well.
At the beginning, I imagine it was quite a challenge to convey to us the worldview of your brand, which you value so highly. How have you found our CS team’s support and response speed?

Ms. Morikawa
That’s right. As I mentioned earlier, at first it was difficult to get your company to fully understand the “Socie World brand worldview,” but with each meeting your understanding deepened, and I believe we were able to achieve a very satisfying outcome.
We felt the bot’s response speed was slower than expected, and there was an issue that seemed solvable only through API integration. However, by implementing updates through a different approach—such as visual proposals and improvements to BOTCHAN—the response speed issue we were concerned about was resolved. Thanks to those efforts and the support from your CS team, I believe we were able to achieve the CVR improvement this time.

I also feel that the response speed has been extremely fast. There was detailed back-and-forth communication, and as a result the implementation ended up being slightly delayed from the original schedule, but I believe we were able to create a very good chatbot in the end, and I think it is precisely because we took the time to build it properly that we achieved such good results.

— Thank you very much!
What does BOTCHAN represent for your company?

Ms. Morikawa
We have implemented a variety of initiatives, but I believe it is no exaggeration to say that this initiative is one of the best success stories among them. I am also personally pleased that I was able to gain such a positive success experience. In addition, because we have been communicating so closely, you are less like a mere tool provider and more like a partner company to us.

— I’m glad to hear you say that!
Please tell us what you expect from BOTCHAN and Customer Support going forward.

Ms. Morikawa
Ultimately, it still comes down to further improving CVR. We can increase ad LP page views through various initiatives, but it is difficult to drive them through to conversions (completed reservations), so I believe it is important to keep trying new measures.
I also believe we can achieve further updates by exchanging ideas between our two companies, so we would appreciate it if you could continue to share your opinions and propose initiatives that are well suited to our company.

— Likewise, I very much look forward to working with you.
Lastly, could you share a brief message for companies facing similar challenges to yours?

Ms. Morikawa
I believe many companies, like ours, are facing challenges with users dropping off from forms. BOTCHAN is attractive in that it uses a performance-based fee structure, and because the implementation hurdle is low, it is an easy tool to get started with.
In particular, for companies like ours that place importance on maintaining a consistent brand worldview, the high degree of freedom in scenario design is very appealing. I would encourage you to try it out first and see how it works for you.

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

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

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