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Award-Winning Toy Manufacturer, Zuru, Deploys WotNot Chatbots To Enhance Brand Experience

Yolanda Michel Rojas

Brand Marketing Manager

Zuru Toys

ZURU is an award-winning company devoted to redefining playtime. One of the largest toy manufacturing companies in the world, ZURU distributes to all major retailers in over 120 countries. It consists of multiple, top-notch brands such as Bunch O Balloons™, X-Shot™, Rainbocorns™, Robo Alive™, Smashers™, 5 Surprise™ and Pets Alive™. It has partnered with big names in entertainment like Disney, Nickelodeon, and Universal Studios.

Industry

Manufacturing

Employees

1001-5000

Location

Shenzhen, China

www.zurutoys.com

The Challenge

Zuru Toys is one of the world’s largest toy manufacturers, with nearly 15 distinct brands of toys under its belt. Each of the brands consisted of a range of toys like miniature toy figurines, mystery capsules, robotic toys, dart blasters, bug launchers, smash balls, cake splats, and a number of other engaging toys and collectibles for children and pre-adolescent youth.

The customer support department of Zuru Toys pointed out that due to multiple sub-brands under Zuru, each containing a wide range of products in turn, misconceptions about their products had become common. New distributors and retailers were often confused or misinformed about the functions of the various toy products that were manufactured.

These misconceptions, especially noticeable in at least 9 out of 15 sub-brands of Zuru Toys, were evident from the phone calls and emails sent by the distributors, or through social media channels.

Even end customers on eCommerce websites like Amazon and eBay would ask questions that would indicate a lack of basic awareness about these products.

They realized that they need a solution that could educate people about their brands and products. To maintain brand quality and experience and to avoid possible conflicts with distributors and/or retailers, Zuru Toys decided to implement a sophisticated, educative chatbot that could act as the virtual assistant for them. 

The Solution

They needed a smart chatbot that could significantly improve the brand experience of Zuru Toys. Its main objective would be to answer people’s queries and assist the direct visitors who browse through the web pages of Zuru Toys.

Executives at Zuru Toys reached out to the product team at WotNot as they found that WotNot checked all the boxes.

WotNot’s product team personally built two chatbots for Zuru Toys - 

  • One was a brand experience chatbot that was built and deployed exclusively on Zuru Toys’ website 

  • Another was a Facebook Messenger chatbot that targeted towards brand experience, mostly for all queries and visitors coming in from social media

The Objective

The goal behind this move was simply to educate people about the brand. was to enhance brand education and experience. Whenever a visitor would land on the website or related pages of the company, say for example its Facebook page, the bot will immediately ask them if they need any help knowing about the various products and brands of Zuru Toys. If the visitor replies ‘Yes’, then, through a series of simple buttons and options, the bot would walk the visitor through the various sub-brands and products.

The team also created an image-heavy chatbot, rather than relying on a text-heavy one. This would ensure that visitors don't lose interest, and actively participate in the conversation to retain facts better. Throughout the flow of the conversation, the bot helps them focus on the brand they are interested in. 

The Impact

WotNot’s intervention within Zuru Toys’ online pages significantly enhanced clarity and general awareness of the brand for its stakeholders. Clients, distributors, and buyers no longer harbored misconceptions about Zuru’s toys, their uniqueness, or about their build or function. 

  • Over 2K inquiries about Zuru toys were made through the chatbot, 11% of which accounted for general product inquiries. 

  • In terms of productivity, 400+ product issues were reported via the chatbot which helped them resolve those issues much faster; faster than what would have been possible with general modes like calling or email 

  • The chatbot helped them get new leads, as more than 60 new sales inquiries were made through the chatbot

Here are some additional statistics that portray how WotNot has created a positive change in the returns on marketing spends of Zuru Toys:

  • On a daily basis, the chatbot is handling 1500-2000 conversations automatically, without any human support.

  • At the ‘Resume’ & ‘About Us’ pages, the most popular website sections, the bot could showcase open positions, give users the option to upload their resume and ultimately, send it ahead to the HR team. 

  • It is providing end users the option to add their input - add their comments or requests in order to identify and get more data on user behaviors/expectations. This data can be further used to modify the conversation flow.

One of the chatbot’s most impressive advantages for the folks at Zuru Toys was being able to talk to users, provide them support and answered FAQs in their preferred languages.

These advantages really reflected the globally-inclusive brand experience that Zuru Toys were hoping to bring to the table.