Lenovo reduces inbound call center costs by 35% while increasing customer satisfaction with Bird

Headquartered in China and operating worldwide, Lenovo is a multinational technology company specializing in consumer electronics and hardware design and manufacturing. Lenovo is the largest personal computer vendor by unit sales globally, with $70 billion in revenue. 

The problem: 

Competition is intense in the consumer electronics and hardware industry, which is why Lenovo wanted to offer a top-tier customer support experience that could be a competitive differentiator for them as well as satisfy the needs of their tech-savy customers. This meant offering customers the ability to engage through preferred messaging platforms, like WhatsApp, for real-time assistance and resolution to their inquiries. While Lenovo successfully rolled out a new messaging-first customer experience with assistance from a vendor, it didn’t offer the flexibility and customization they were hoping for in order to deliver a next-level customer experience.  

Lenovo wanted to create more complex, customized scenarios that the legacy vendor couldn’t deliver, such as being able to integrate with backend systems to pull customer repair status information to give updates. 

Lenovo received a personal recommendation from a reputable multinational conglomerate in the IT sector to consider Bird. After being introduced, Lenovo ultimately selected Bird to help achieve their vision.

The solution: 

The first step was to migrate Lenovo’s current WhatsApp channel without customer disruption or having to make changes to Lenovo’s website or existing documentation. Bird seamlessly managed the migration while keeping Lenovo’s WhatsApp number intact. This meant zero customer downtime on Lenovo’s WhatsApp channel. 

Once the WhatsApp migration was complete, Lenovo wanted to focus on three key customer experiences: Interactive voice response (IVR) deflection, repair status updates, and issue troubleshooting via Lenovo’s virtual assistant. 

Interactive voice response (IVR)

Lenovo recognized that they could gain operational efficiencies and improve customer experience by shifting more customer support volume from one-on-one calls to more asynchronous messaging apps, like WhatsApp. They introduced IVR deflection via WhatsApp to give customers the option to switch to a WhatsApp conversation if they didn’t want to wait on hold for an agent conversation. 

As a result of IVR deflection, customers were given the option to get their issues resolved quickly through either a chatbot or live agent. This improved the customer experience by reducing hold times and increasing customer issue throughput. Additionally, Lenovo customer service agents saw an increase in productivity as they were no longer handling a mix of easy resolution issues and complex resolution issues. Because of the IVR/WhatsApp deflection, they were able to focus on fewer, more complex issues without the distraction of simple, repetitive issues competing for their time.

Repair Status Updates

With any technical product, sometimes repairs are needed. Lenovo wanted to give customers using their repair service better visibility on the status of their repairs without the need to speak with a live agent. 

By integrating Bird’s Flows product with Lenovo’s repair tracking system, Lenovo created an interactive, 2-way messaging experience that allowed customers to request and receive repair updates in real-time via WhatsApp. This helps keep customers informed during a time when they are anxious to know updates and prevented call volumes from spiking in the support center. 

Issue Troubleshooting with Lenovo’s Virtual Assistant

Lenovo already had existing AI technology in the form of a virtual assistant, named “Lena” that was powered by IBM Watson. The company wanted to incorporate the AI capabilities from Lena into more customer support scenarios to empower more customers to self-serve common issues.

Lenovo again used Bird’s Flows product to integrate Lena with WhatsApp so that customers could chat about their issues on WhatsApp, get them “diagnosed” by Lena, and be offered solutions via troubleshooting videos. Lena also allowed customers to escalate their concerns to a live agent if it required a more hands-on approach to resolve the issue.

The result:

Using Bird products and WhatsApp as an important part of their multi-channel support strategy, Lenovo has seen impressive results.

450K customers on their WhatsApp Customer Support channel

Lenovo successfully served nearly half a million (450,000) customers on their WhatsApp Customer Support channel within the first eight months of partnering with Bird, far exceeding the team’s customer engagement expectations. This rapid adoption highlights the efficiency and convenience of the new support channel.

 67% of extremely satisfied customers

The initiative led to substantial cost savings and a remarkable boost in customer satisfaction. An impressive 67% of customers reported being “extremely satisfied” with their experience using Lenovo’s solutions on WhatsApp, showcasing the effectiveness of leveraging modern communication platforms to enhance customer support. This success highlights Lenovo’s commitment to innovative solutions that prioritize customer needs and streamline service delivery.

35% reduction in inbound call center costs

By implementing WhatsApp support, Lenovo reduced inbound call center costs by 35%. This shift from traditional phone support to WhatsApp not only cut costs but also allowed call center resources to focus on more complex issues, showcasing the efficiency of modern communication platforms.

Bird is thrilled with the results Lenovo has seen. “With Bird, businesses can talk with their customers on the channel that suits the customer best. They can deliver engaging experiences and customer support that exceeds expectations. Our products help businesses put their customers at the center of the conversation, delivering support that is timely and gets customers the information they need so they can get on with their day and not have to spend time on hold.” said a spokesperson from Bird.

Based on the success of this first set of customer service initiatives, Lenovo has planned several new initiatives with Bird, including expanding their customer support channels to include Messenger, and executing new customer support experiences, like product registration and automating warranty claims processing.

About Bird

Bird is an AI-first CRM for marketing, services, and payments.

Our mission is to create a world where communicating with a business is as easy as talking with a friend. We power communication between businesses and their customers — across any channel, always with the right context, and on every corner of the planet. If you’ve ever ordered takeaway, returned a package, contacted customer service, or requested a login code, it’s almost guaranteed your interactions have been powered by Bird’s technology.

Our platform, our applications and our APIs help businesses streamline conversations through their customers’ preferred channels — like WhatsApp, Email, SMS, Voice, WeChat, Messenger, Instagram - and build powerful and engaging experiences. Bird's out of the box functionality and omnichannel expertise tips the scales for knowledge workers and helps them be productive right away, with tools to build great marketing campaigns, customer service experiences, or automated business processes.

Headquartered in Amsterdam, Bird processes over 6.5 trillion interactions for 50,000+ customers, including Google, Facebook, and Uber.

About Lenovo

Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a US$70 billion revenue global technology powerhouse, ranked #171 in the Fortune Global 500, employing 75,000 people around the world, and serving millions of customers every day in 180 markets. Focused on a bold vision to deliver smarter technology for all, Lenovo has built on its success as the world’s largest PC company by further expanding into key growth areas including server, storage, mobile, solutions and services. This transformation together with Lenovo’s world-changing innovation is building a more inclusive, trustworthy, and sustainable digital society for everyone, everywhere. To find out more visit Lenovo, and read about the latest Lenovo news on StoryHub.