How Popsmith Turned Social Media Interactions Into Sales With AI

When customers ask questions on social media, they're often moments away from making a purchase decision.

For Popsmith, these crucial moments were opportunities they couldn't afford to miss. As a modern popcorn brand competing against industry giants, Popsmith knew their advantage was in genuine engagement.

They needed a way to maintain authentic connections while dramatically improving response times–to turn social media engagement into sales.

The challenge

Popsmith operates in a category that’s dominated by large corporations. In many ways, their key differentiating factor is that they actually engage with their customers.

"A lot of the other products in my space are SKUs of very, very large companies," explains Dave Stickland, President and founder of Popsmith. "They're not ever present, they're not engaging with anybody, and they aren’t sharing the joy of their product in any way."

But the reality of maintaining that level of engagement proved challenging.

"We know what it's like for a customer service agent to log in for the day and have a hundred tickets because something went wrong with the website the night before or there's been a big sale," Dave recalls. "They're going to spend the day working through all that pain to get to the other end of that situation. It's really stressful for them."

Each delayed response to a social media comment represented a potentially lost sale. The team struggled to keep up with volume while maintaining the personal touch that set them apart from larger competitors.

The solution

After evaluating their options, Popsmith chose Siena.

Crafting the right persona

Siena stood out because of its ability to provide intelligent, contextual responses that maintained their brand voice.

"We put a lot of effort into working with the Siena product to really dial in a feeling and thinking validating tool," Dave notes. They needed an AI agent that could make customers feel heard and seen across all their social channels.

Using the Persona Studio, Popsmith could finetune every aspect of their AI's interactions—from its tone and language choices to its understanding of product context.

Whether customers were commenting on colorful product photos, questioning value ("is this really worth the money?"), or sharing their excitement, the AI needed to respond authentically.

Speedy implementation

Siena was very fast to implement.

"We were up and running really quickly," Dave explains. "We found that in the beginning Siena was capable and able to answer most customer questions, and the ability to train while working was a real advantage for us."

Rather than experiencing a period of mistakes and corrections, the AI would flag uncertainties, so the team could train it while responding to those tickets.

Siena provides a ton of templates that make that initial setup easy and fast, and integrates with many ecommerce tools so it can manage end-to-end interactions, rather than having to escalate simple questions.

Ongoing fine-tuning

The partnership with Siena's team proved crucial to their success.

"The engagement we get from the Siena team itself on how to improve the AI is very similar to as if you hired a call center," Dave notes. "What we feel is a superpower is the continual and constant desire of the Siena team to help us level up our customer service."

This ongoing support includes:

• Suggestions for how to optimize Siena on a weekly basis.
• Regular analysis to identify improvement opportunities.
• Updates on new features and capabilities.
• Proactive problem-solving for common customer inquiries.

"My customer service agent loves getting the weekly or sometimes multiple times a week engagement from the Siena team of, 'Hey, this is how you can do this better,'" Dave shares.

This combination of a powerful product and dedicated support enabled Popsmith to maintain high-quality customer engagement at scale.

The results

The impact of implementing Siena was both immediate and comprehensive. Response times improved by 99.44%, transforming what used to be hours-long waits into near-instant replies.

Their customer satisfaction scores "went through the roof," with the AI consistently outperforming human agents in satisfaction ratings.

Increased sales velocity

The quick, intelligent responses had a direct impact on sales.

"When someone is responding intelligently and they're offering thoughtful answers to questions, you move faster to closing that deal and you move faster to sales," Dave explains. By engaging with potential customers during crucial decision-making moments on social media, they were able to convert interest into purchases more effectively.

New career opportunities

Siena doesn't just automate responses; it streamlines workflows by handling routine tickets, allowing teams to focus on more meaningful and complex interactions, Dave notes.

This implementation enabled Popsmith to create new opportunities for their team members.

One customer service agent transitioned from handling routine tickets to pursuing her passion for social media marketing and influencer relations.

"I freed up half of a person's whole day to do something that they really love to do," Dave shares.

This way, she could contribute to the business by developing influencer relationships and creating engaging social media content.

Creating memorable experiences

Siena’s ability to provide thoughtful, contextual responses improved the overall customer experience.

"Even having our AI tool say thank you or 'we're really glad that you love it' to someone who loves it just really validates what we think is a special purchase for them," Dave explains. This level of engagement would have been impossible to maintain at scale with an all-human team.

Looking ahead

For Popsmith, implementing Siena gave them an opportunity to convert customers via social media. This efficiency can enable the long-term strategic growth of their company.

“Instead of hiring an extra customer service agent who will reply to repetitive questions, you use Siena and then you have the opportunity to hire someone in marketing, bookkeeping, finance, or some other critical part of your company."

As they continue to grow, Popsmith sees AI-powered engagement as key to maintaining their position as a modern, responsive brand that truly connects with its customers.

Ready to transform your team's potential? Siena can help your team grow while providing an amazing customer experience. Book a time with our team here.

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