In an increasingly unpredictable and uncertain world, ethical cosmetics brand Lush understands the power of sharing positivity for the better, and how all feedback can be constructive to pave a way to a stronger future for the business.
Providing good customer experience (CX) is tough enough, but combining that with a focus on fair-trade practices, sustainability credentials and cruelty-free cosmetics makes it even tougher.
Founded in Dorset (UK) in 1995, the Lush brand is known for its ethical and socially responsible business practices. So it is unsurprising that these values are reflected within its customer care department.
“It goes hand-in-hand,” said Naomi Rankin, Customer Care Manager, Lush. “Customers are attracted to us by our ethics and values, and we really do care about people, the environment and animals, so we won’t compromise on how we treat our customers, staff or suppliers, just to make things cheaper, easier, or quicker.”
Lush chose Zendesk to achieve a laser-focused approach to customer feedback, putting the customer – and sustainability – front of mind.
The result? A 369% ROI upon its implementation of Zendesk, recovering its initial investment in the software in less than one year. Additionally, Lush was able to improve CX productivity, accounting for US$434,000 in annual cost savings from avoided headcount.
Upgrading CX with AI agent
“We’ve always resisted too much automation because we never wanted to replace personal interactions,” said Rankin. But the team was swimming in repeat requests. Once they saw the substantial effort an AI agent for email would save them — giving agents more time to engage in meaningful conversations with customers — the support team soon became AI enthusiasts.
Lush went ‘live’ in just days with a custom AI agent, affectionately named Marvin, that was able to resolve their most repetitive queries: sales and discounts, donations, order dissatisfaction, and discontinued products.
With Marvin taking care of common customer questions, the team reached a 60% first contact resolution (FCR) rate — giving human agents more time to work on complex cases that require their skills. What’s more, Marvin can request customer information upfront and add tags and labels to incoming tickets, giving agents the context they need to solve issues faster.
These efficiency gains save Lush roughly 5 minutes per ticket and 360 agent hours each month — savings that free up their support team to dedicate more energy to meaningful customer interactions.
Understanding customer sentiment around the globe is a 24/7 endeavor. Rankin said: “Our founders are still very involved in the business and they make these amazing products and want everyone in the world to have them. But what might work in Dorset might not have the same cultural relevance in Japan or Eastern Europe. Zendesk enables us to quickly spot when a product, or perhaps a joke on our website, didn’t quite land right outside of the UK.”
Identifying these cultural nuances is also necessary through customer care channels and Zendesk enables Lush to customize its service accordingly. “Our founders want us to report back and tell them how our customers are feeling. With Zendesk we can do that,” she added.
Zendesk’s analytics tools allow the company to gather detailed data from various regions, aiding in identifying global trends and issues.
Customer service agents are used to dealing with issues, complaints and negativity – it’s part of the job description – but Lush’s customer care team goes the extra mile to make sure the positive comments they receive are shared around the business.
Every time a customer praises a member of staff, a store or a particular experience, the customer care team feeds that back to the relevant manager, sometimes gifting random acts of kindness as a reward. Because CX can be a tough environment, it was also important that they let the customer know this praise has been passed on, to express appreciation when customers take the time to share positive experiences.
