Valvoline Decreases AHT by 20 Seconds with SMS Virtual Agents.

Operating for over 150 years, Valvoline is a leading global supplier of premium branded lubricants and automotive services. With around 1,400 quick-lube locations, Valvoline is the second-largest retail brand by store count in the U.S. and ranks third in the DIY market for passenger car motor oil.

Problem

Valvoline’s contact centers were struggling to manage their coupon program efficiently using only email. Designed to help customers save money through personalized offers based on their service needs and automobile type, their coupon program is a key driver of customer value, brand loyalty, and direct revenue.

With email, Valvoline’s agents could only opt customers in for coupons using an integrated page pop-up on their CCaaS platform. Send rates were low at only 17%, redemption rates hovered at a mere 8% and customers were experiencing long hold times. 

“We were emailing all our discounts to customers. Getting email addresses over the phone left a lot of room for agent error and bounce back, which hurt our redemption rate.” 

– Joseph Patrick, Technology Manager of Customer Support at Valvoline  

The inefficiencies and error rates were too great to ignore. So, they turned to Capacity.

Solution

Valvoline already used the NICE CXone platform to streamline its IVR and track its customer experience metrics. Analysis of this data revealed clear trends in customer preferences, with frequent phrases like “Can you text it to me?” and “Text me my coupon”. These insights made it clear that there was a demand for SMS over email. 

With a massive volume of over 4.5 million estimated customer interactions annually, it was important that Valvoline’s solution would integrate right into their existing technology, ideally connecting with the contact center platform they already used. 

Working closely with the Valvoline team, we integrated with their CXone system and enabled business texting across all contact center locations. To streamline the coupon program, we implemented MMS, allowing agents to send picture coupons directly to customers via text. 

Using existing customer data, Valvoline could now create tailored and location-specific coupons that agents could deliver to customers’ phones in seconds.

Results

With Capacity’s SMS solution in place, Valvoline has managed to improve customer engagement and operational efficiency. As a result, Valvoline has seen a:

• 20-second decrease in Average Handle Time (AHT) accompanied by a 10-second decrease in holding queue time
• 76% increase in coupon send rate
• 8% increase in coupon redemption rate

Valvoline’s customers clearly prefer SMS over email, and within just weeks of implementation, the company saw measurable gains in both efficiency and revenue.

“At the end of the day, it’s about making each contact center interaction better. It’s clear that the text option for discount coupons meets our customer’s preference for SMS. Overall, business texting has improved agent efficiency and service level, further enhancing our customer experience.”

– Joseph Patrick, Technology Manager of Customer Support at Valvoline

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