CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORY
Crocus + Alhena AI: A Powerful Partnership Delivering Support Excellence
The Company
Crocus
Industry
Online Gardening Retailer
The Goals
Crocus struggled with seasonal surges in inquiries, driving up staffing costs and slowing response times. Managing complex plant care queries while maintaining quality service became increasingly difficult.
The Results
- Impact: 86% Deflection Rates
- CSAT: 84% from under 80% pre-Alhena
- Effectiveness: Ticket reopen rate at 3.7% only
About Crocus
Crocus is a leading online gardening retailer, well-known in the UK for its wide range of plants, gardening supplies, and horticultural expertise.
With over 20 years in operation, the company has grown by 10–12% year-over-year, serving customers who rely on expert plant care tips and product recommendations. However, seasonal demand shifts—surging in spring and summer and slowing in the off-season—pose ongoing challenges for both operations and customer service.
The Challenge
- Seasonal Spikes & Staffing Costs
During peak months, customer inquiries can triple, forcing Crocus to grow its support team from 8–10 agents to 25–30 seasonal hires. This rapid expansion is costly and time-consuming, with new staff needing quick onboarding to manage the flood of queries. - Specialized Knowledge & Inconsistent Volume
Many questions require detailed horticultural knowledge, leading agents to reference catalogs or guides. When volumes rise, response quality drops, and wait times increase. Crocus needed a way to manage routine queries swiftly while ensuring expert attention for complex ones. - Maintaining Quality Under Pressure
Crocus prides itself on expert, high-touch service. But as surges in demand created pressure, maintaining speed and accuracy—especially for plant care issues—became challenging. Leadership sought a solution that would uphold service quality without inflating costs or overloading staff.
The Search for a Solution
Crocus knew automation could help, but many generic AI tools couldn't address detailed plant care inquiries or integrate with their Freshdesk system. By late 2023, they sought a solution that could:
- Parse complex questions (e.g., “Are my roses dead or dormant?”)
- Seamlessly integrate with Freshdesk for ticket deflection and AI-powered replies
- Scale cost-effectively without extensive internal development
After testing several options, including Freshdesk's Freddy AI, Crocus recognized the need for a partner with advanced AI and customer experience expertise—something far beyond the capabilities of basic chatbots.
Why Alhena AI?
- Handles Nuanced Inquiries: Trained on Crocus's plant care content, product data, and policies, Alhena AI answers complex gardening questions with precision.
- Seamless Freshdesk Integration: The solution integrates effortlessly into Crocus's workflow, automatically pulling ticket details and knowledge base content.
- Strong Partnership: Alhena's team collaborates closely with Crocus, continuously adapting the solution based on real-time feedback to meet their unique needs.
“We wanted something that really benefited our business, and Alhena AI was the right fit, especially when we saw the potential to integrate it into our existing systems.”
Ben O'Donnell
Head of Customer Service at Crocus
How Crocus Gradually Implemented Alhena
“We're treating Alhena like an agent. It's been a great experience because customers sometimes don't even realize they're interacting with AI.”
Ben O'Donnell
Head of Customer Service at Crocus
Early Impact of Alhena AI
Even in its initial phase, Alhena AI delivered clear value:
AI resolved common incoming tickets, providing customers with immediate answers on planting, watering, and basic order info—no agent needed.
- Alhena's Effectiveness: Alhena's deflection rate is at 86% and it is the first responder in 95.59% of resolved tickets suggesting that the AI is effectively deflecting tickets and freeing up human agents to focus on more complex issues. Moreover, only 3.7% of tickets handled by Alhena AI are reopened which speaks to the efficiency of the AI.
- Faster Agents Responses: For the remaining tickets, AI suggested replies and reference materials, reducing Agents' response times and ensuring consistent, high-quality answers.
- Reduced Seasonal Strain: By automating repetitive inquiries, Crocus eased its peak season workload, needing fewer short-term hires and saving on onboarding costs.
- High Satisfaction: With timely, expert-level support, CSAT scores rose to 84%, up from under 80% pre-Alhena.
- Breakdown of Ticket Drivers: To continuously improve the customer service, Crocus team has been leveraging Alhena's analytics to get insights into the type of questions customers are asking.
“When you start trusting the AI more, you really see the results. We're now challenging it with tougher queries and it's handling them well.”
Ben O'Donnell
Head of Customer Service at Crocus
Looking Ahead - what's next?
Inspired by early success, Crocus is expanding Alhenas role with bold new capabilities:
- Website chat: Bringing AI to live customer interactions on the Crocus website.
- Order Tracking Integrations: Enabling AI to automatically fetch tracking details, cutting agent workload.
- Review & Feedback Responses: Using AI to craft personalized replies to Trustpilot and social media reviews.
By continuing its partnership with Alhena, Crocus aims to further streamline customer service, reduce costs, and keep delivering a best-in-class gardening experience—no matter how busy the season gets.
“The goal is to have a virtual gardener that supports customers with plant care advice… Looking forward, we want to give Alhena more control over tracking and customer interactions—AI can gather critical information to speed up resolution time for our agents.”
Ben O'Donnell
Head of Customer Service at Crocus