Visionworks Transforms Its Customer Experience Operations with Amelia

Visionworks of America (Visionworks) is a leading provider of eye care services in the United States. The company is well-known for its positioning at the intersection of healthcare and retail, delivering both eye care services and products to customers across America. The company has 700-plus retail locations in more than 40 states and employs approx. 8,000 people.

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Visionworks experienced strain within its customer service operations, much like other companies. Staffing shortages, in combination with spikes in overall call volume, contributed to a call abandonment rate of 95% for inbound calls. As a result, Visionworks faced below-par CSAT scores, and the company’s optometrists averaged one hour each day without any scheduled patient visits, creating a drag on overall efficiency.

Visionworks decided to invest in a Conversational AI solution to improve customer satisfaction, reduce costs and alleviate staffing challenges. The solution needed to handle high volumes of inbound calls, possess strong omnichannel capabilities, and reliably resolve customers’ requests end-to-end. If Conversational AI could deliver on those tasks, store employees would then solely focus on delivering excellent in-person customer experiences, and the need for heavily staffed call centers would be reduced.

The eye care company was drawn to Amelia’s accelerated time-to-market deployment, her flexible and complete omnichannel strengths, and her extensive experience supporting end-users through voice-based channels. Visionworks hired Amelia as its virtual specialist in September 2020, and since then Amelia’s role and impact at the company has grown exponentially.

Amelia now handles all inbound calls for two-thirds of Visionworks’ retail stores, totaling upwards of approx. 22,500 calls per day. She also schedules an average of 1,000 eye exams daily and often fully books appointment availability at many store locations several weeks out, therefore increasing store revenue and improving overall time management for optometrists and patients.

With Amelia, customer satisfaction has shown significant improvement. Customers now speak directly to Amelia for immediate assistance when booking, rescheduling, canceling, or confirming eye exam appointments; checking the status of contact lens, frame or lens orders, and requesting store information. If Amelia is unable to resolve customers’ questions or requests, she immediately transfers the request to a human customer service representative for assistance.

Going forward, Visionworks intends on expanding Amelia’s responsibilities to include making outbound calls, onboarding sublease stores, providing Spanish-language customer service, and supporting employees with both HR and IT requests. In addition, the company expects to further develop Amelia’s holistic understanding of the customers with which she interacts by leveraging a 360-degree patient view, enabling better patient outcomes.