DSW Saves $1.5M in Support Costs with Virtual Agents

DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse is one of North America’s largest designers, producers, and retailers of designer and name-brand shoes and fashion accessories, with over 500 locations in the United States alone. Dedicated to providing quality products and effective customer service, DSW partnered with Capacity to create automated, personalized experiences that meet rising demand.

Problem

After expanding in the eCommerce space, DSW gained an influx of customers. For DSW’s support teams, new growth meant two things: long hold times and frustrated customers. Offering support became more expensive as AHT lengthened and agents became overwhelmed.

To keep up with demand, DSW had to either invest millions in a second call center—or find an alternative. Unwilling to sacrifice customer experience for cost savings, they sought a partner that would push their organization towards a digital transformation.

Solution

Together, DSW and Capacity developed an AI virtual agent that could identify callers and determine their intent, then automate key interactions in their post-purchase customer journey.

When customers call, DSW’s AI virtual agent authenticates and greets them with full personalization and context awareness, and even uses recent order history to guess why the customer might have called. Then, the IVA analyzes the caller’s intent to determine how best to assist.

DSW’s virtual agent can independently assist customers with their accounts, orders, and customer rewards. If a customer needs to cancel parts of their order, update a shipping address, or check their rewards balance, DSW’s virtual agent can help within moments. 

If the customer needs more specialized assistance, DSW’s virtual agent seamlessly routes to the next best available agent for 1:1 tier-2 support.

Plus, depending on customer demand levels throughout the year, the IVA is easy to scale up or down to optimize the experience.

Results

Scaling a contact center from 50 agents to 500 in under 8 years is no small feat. But by working with Capacity, DSW was able to significantly reduce the need for agent intervention, boost CSAT scores, and save millions in support costs.

With Capacity’s virtual agents, DSW:

• Saved $1.5M in annual support costs
• Reduced average handle time by 19%
• Improved CSAT by 30%

Plus, the virtual agent successfully authenticated callers 85% of the time. 

By using Capacity’s AI virtual agents to strengthen self-service, DSW enhanced customer experiences and boosted loyalty while scaling their organization at the same time. It’s a win-win!

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