Lush is known for its ethical stance, handmade products, and personalized customer service. But how does a company so deeply rooted in human connection navigate the world of AI? Naomi Rankin, Lush’s Global Customer Care Manager, shares how the brand is thoughtfully integrating AI to elevate customer experience without losing its personal touch.
Naomi oversees a diverse team across 21 countries, and under her leadership, Lush has found a way to use AI that supports rather than replaces human agents. “We’ve always put the human first, the customer first, the environment first,” Naomi said. “We don’t want to lose that and suddenly automate everything.”
One of the first steps Lush took was automating responses to repetitive inquiries, like the frequent questions about Black Friday sales. This freed up human agents to focus on more complex customer needs. “We wanted to use AI as a tool to help our team do the parts of their job they enjoy, rather than the monotonous tasks,” Naomi explained.
The results have been impressive. “Marvin,” the AI tool Lush affectionately named, was able to handle 57% of incoming customer inquiries in the first week of a Black Friday experiment. “It’s saved us time and resources, allowing our team to focus on what really matters—providing personalized, meaningful support to our customers,” Naomi noted. By handling simpler tasks, Marvin has not only improved efficiency but also allowed Lush to reduce the need for seasonal temporary staff, resulting in significant cost savings.
Want to hear more about how Lush is balancing innovation with its core values? Tune in to our conversation with Naomi Rankin as she shares the challenges they’ve faced and the surprising ways AI is helping them better serve their customers—all while staying true to what makes Lush, well, Lush.
Have a question for a Zendesk expert, interested in being a guest, or want to suggest a topic for a future episode? Drop us a line at cwzpodcast@zendesk.com—we’d love to hear from you.
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