How BEL USA Cut Phone Call Volume by 40% and Drove 800,000+ Live Engagements Using Freshchat
The Challenge
BEL USA — a US-based promotional products distributor and ecommerce retailer — was managing 800–1,000 inbound phone calls per day. The volume had overwhelmed the support team: performance visibility was poor, there was no prioritisation mechanism for incoming tickets, and agents were handling duplicate queries simultaneously without a shared system to identify and route them. Email-based management through Outlook provided no way to track agent performance, identify repeat contacts, or build proactive outreach campaigns. The firm had no visibility into which customers were on its site, what they were looking at, or when they might benefit from a proactive engagement — customer interactions were entirely reactive, initiated only when customers chose to call or email. Multiple ecommerce properties needed separate management without a unified customer identity across them.
The Solution
BEL USA implemented Freshchat's live chat platform, integrating it with their existing Freshdesk ticketing system to create a unified omnichannel support environment. Triggered campaign capabilities allowed the team to proactively engage customers based on browsing behaviour — reaching visitors before they called or abandoned. IntelliAssign routed incoming conversations to the most appropriate agent group based on content and priority. The Topics feature segmented inbound queries by type, directing them to specialist agent groups. CoBrowsing enabled assisted troubleshooting for complex or visually-dependent issues. Site ID functionality managed separate customer identities across multiple ecommerce properties within a single platform.
The Outcome
Phone call volume — previously running at 800–1,000 per day — fell by 40% as live chat absorbed the lower-complexity query types that had previously driven customers to call. Over 800,000 first-time real-time engagements were driven through the platform, reaching customers who had previously interacted only through slower channels. Triggered campaigns reached more than 3.1 million site visitors with a 28% response rate — converting passive browsing into active support and sales interactions. Average response time reached 1 minute 4 seconds, with average resolution completing in 11 minutes. The reduction in phone volume allowed the support team to handle a higher total query load without proportional staffing increases, and customer satisfaction scores improved as faster digital channels replaced phone queuing as the primary interaction mode.
Strategic Takeaway
BEL USA's case illustrates the channel economics of high-volume B2C support: phone calls are the most expensive support interaction per resolution, and customers who call are often doing so because they've found no faster alternative. Live chat with proactive triggered campaigns intercepts the same query at a lower cost channel — and at an earlier point in the customer journey, before frustration has built through a hold queue. The 40% phone volume reduction is the clearest signal of channel shift; the 28% campaign response rate suggests that proactive outreach at the moment of browsing intent is more effective than waiting for the customer to initiate contact. For ecommerce businesses with high inbound phone ratios, Freshchat's value is primarily as a deflection and redirection tool, not as a replacement for all human interaction.
- Phone call volume is a proxy for friction in lower-cost channels: every customer who calls could have been served faster through chat — the 40% reduction reflects queries migrating to a channel the customer would have preferred if it had been easier to find.
- Triggered campaign response rates at 28% indicate that proactive outreach based on browsing behaviour converts at higher rates than inbound-only engagement models — reaching customers at the moment of intent outperforms waiting for them to ask.
- Omnichannel integration between chat and ticketing systems eliminates the duplicate handling problem: without a shared record, agents answer the same question twice from customers who called after not getting an email response — a unified platform prevents the query from splitting across channels.
See how Freshchat can help your business address similar challenges.
Affiliate link — we may earn a commission at no cost to you.