Mabel

Siena AI raises $4.7M to make AI-powered customer support more human

Written by
Siena team
November 16, 2023
5
min read
A smiling person sits near text bubbles: 'First response time -98%,' 'BFCM Sales $17M,' and 'Ticket conversion rate +10%.'

Artificial Intelligence has always promised convenience. But in customer service it has historically left shoppers begging to skip over the AI and "talk to a human."

That’s because scripted AI-powered customer support flows are reason for the frustrating interactions we've all come to dread, like getting asked for the third time in a row: "Did you mean billing issue?”.

Customer service used to be filled with these tiny tragedies–not anymore. 

Enter Siena.

Meet the world's first empathic AI customer service platform

A year ago, my co-founder Lisa Popovici and I started Siena with a simple question: 

How can we create an AI-powered customer support solution that understands context, responds with empathy, and solves complex problems?

The vision was to make customer service more human. We’d need to create an autonomous AI that felt more like a human than a machine. But bringing this idea to life meant reimagining how AI interacts with end-users and AI Specialists (the people that manage the AI system).

Today, I’m proud to share that Siena has raised $4.7M from an incredible group of investors  – including Sierra Ventures, Parri Passu Ventures, SpaceStation Investments, Village Global, The Council, OpenSky Ventures and SuperAngel.Fund – to help bring this vision to life. 

Six months after launching, Siena is already as effective, if not better, than some of our customers’ #1 human agent.

Siena already resolves 80% of conversations with a 4.81 Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT score)

Designed as an embedded agent within your help desk, Siena was built on three pillars:

  • Human-like empathy – A customer service agent that not only gets the job done but also gets you. Siena was the first AI customer service platform that introduced AI Personas that allows you to create AI Personas that speak your brand’s unique voice and style. With AI Personas that go beyond just "Friendly" or "Professional", you can have an AI that’s entertaining and witty on Instagram, and another AI that keeps it professional in emails. We're changing what "customer service" means–from its utilitarian roots, to a medium for connection. 
  • Gets the job done – For the first time, brands can give the AI goals like editing a subscription or sending a replacement–Siena autonomously takes all the required steps to achieve them. This can involve multiple actions, like pulling data from connected systems like Shopify, asking clarifying questions, and making updates in the system. Ever used Apple Pay and then realized you got the shipping address wrong? Traditional customer support often falls short here, resulting in stress and lost revenue. Siena corrects these issues instantly, saving companies money while making customer service feel magical.
  • Human reasoning – Traditional systems rely on branching tree logic. Siena’s CORE (Cognitive Reasoning-Based Engine) uses reasoning-based decision making to handle the complex reality of customer service. Think of it like a super-agent that weighs multiple factors in real-time to find a solution. Whether it's handling a complex refund request or a multi-step retention plan for subscription brands, Siena finds the optimal path to resolution. This unlocks a new world where AI can intelligently perform radically more complex tasks which previously were far out of reach for an AI system.

Today, Siena AI autonomously handles up to 80% of all customer interactions across 100+ languages and all channels (including email, text, social DMs and comments) with an alignment score of 99.7%, creating a new standard where businesses can rely on AI to hold meaningful conversations with customers and offer them real solutions – as effectively as a human agent.

So far, we’ve excelled at this. Siena currently scores a 4.81 out of 5 on the CSAT scale based on 50,000+ customer satisfaction surveys sent by our customers. 

Even better, Siena offers this superior customer experience at scale – unlocking business growth for mid-market to enterprise e-commerce businesses. By answering pre-sale questions like “How can I apply my coupon code?”, “How can I place an order?” or “What product is best for my kids?” brands convert shoppers who browse online faster and without missing out on any sales opportunities. Some other metrics that are being heavily impacted are generated revenue, ticket automation rate, first response and resolution time. For example:

  • $46,340 in additional revenue generated by Siena over a 90-day period for Kitsch 
  • 79% of support tickets automated for Simple Modern
  • 60% drop in first response time and 45% drop in resolution time for Everyday Dose

Making the world’s first autonomous CX platform even more human

Siena is already transforming the everyday lives of customer service teams and consumers alike by handling conversations so naturally people think they are interacting with a human. But it’s just the beginning. Our recent funding enables us to continue pushing the boundaries by making empathic AI the very backbone of modern CX.

We've got an incredibly exciting roadmap ahead with new AI products that expand Siena’s capabilities beyond just automation. We’re announcing more soon so follow Siena on LinkedIn to be the first to hear about what’s coming next.

Soon, we’ll launch Siena AI Academy, a learning hub to get teams up to speed on how to integrate AI seamlessly into their customer service workflows.The curriculum is focused on courses like ‘Building an AI Agent 101’, 'Emotional Intelligence in AI', and 'The CX Metrics that Matter’. Think of Siena AI Academy like a playbook for the future of CX.

Massive thanks to my co-founder, Lisa, our incredible team, all our investors, and our early adopters – we wouldn’t be where we are today without you. 

If you want to see Siena in action, book a demo – we’d love to show you around the future of customer experience, today. 

More to come!

Andrei Negrau

Co-founder + CEO of Siena

PS – Want to join Siena’s team? We’re currently looking for talented people who want to break boundaries and reshape the CX industry. If that’s you, check out our open positions.

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