Bad Birdie: Reaching 80% Automation with Siena AI in One Month

Bad Birdie, a modern golf apparel brand known for its bold designs and mission to make golf more fun and inclusive, transformed their customer service operations by implementing Siena AI. After testing multiple AI options, Bad Birdie chose Siena to transform their customer experience while maintaining their unique brand voice. In just one month, they achieved an 80% automation rate while maintaining a 90% Customer Experience Performance (CXP) score. This case study explores how Bad Birdie leveraged Siena's capabilities to overcome cultural mismatches in their customer service model, maintain their distinctive brand voice, and dramatically improve their operations.

"We wanted to make the world of golf more fun and inclusive. Rather than having to wear just the boring salmon-colored or solid-colored polos, we wanted to make it fun so that all ages can get in on it."

— Joe Garcia, Customer Experience & Product Management Leader, Bad Birdie

The Challenge

Bad Birdie faced several critical challenges with their customer service operations:

1. Creating Brand-Aligned Customer Experiences

Bad Birdie faced a challenge in delivering customer experiences that fully embodied their distinctive brand voice and customer-first philosophy across their support channels.

As a brand dedicated to making golf more fun and inclusive, Bad Birdie needed their customer service to reflect the same innovative, personalized approach as their products. The company wanted to ensure every customer interaction consistently reflected their values—flexibility, personality, and exceptional service.

"To provide a better experience, we should make exceptions because if we make customers happy, they'll come back, they'll spend more."

— Joe Garcia, Bad Birdie

Bad Birdie needed a solution that would empower their team to deliver consistently excellent customer experiences that aligned with their brand identity while managing their growing volume of customer inquiries.

2. Brand Voice Consistency

As a brand with a distinctive voice and aesthetic in the golf apparel space, Bad Birdie needed to ensure every customer interaction reflected their unique personality.

"I want it to be on brand. I want it to be as if I'm talking to my grandma through this AI."

— Joe Garcia, Bad Birdie

3. Scaling Quality Service

As a growing brand, Bad Birdie needed to scale their customer service operations while maintaining their high standards for quality and personalization. They needed a solution that would help them manage increasing customer inquiries without compromising on the exceptional experience that defines their brand.

The Solution

Bad Birdie developed a hybrid approach: bringing customer service expertise in-house while implementing Siena AI to enhance their support capabilities. This strategy would empower their team to deliver exceptional experiences while maintaining their distinctive brand voice across all customer interactions.

Comprehensive Evaluation Process

Joe Garcia led a meticulous evaluation process, comparing several AI solutions including Ada, Glean, Gladly AI, and Siena. His criteria were clear:

1. 24-hour support to ensure customers received timely assistance regardless of time zone
2. Multi-channel support capabilities to meet customers across different touchpoints
3. Complete brand customization of voice and persona to maintain Bad Birdie's distinctive identity

Why Bad Birdie Chose Siena

Two features particularly impressed the Bad Birdie team during their evaluation:

• Knowledge Library: The ability to add their own knowledge sources and test responses in the playground environment
• Suggested Intents: Siena's ability to analyze all conversations and proactively suggest new automations based on common customer inquiries

"Siena analyzes every conversation to identify customer needs and suggest solutions beyond what we expected."

— Joe Garcia, Bad Birdie

Joe likened this proactive approach to "that hungry advocate that I just hired and they want to prove themselves... they hit the ground running."

Rapid Implementation

Despite being told the implementation would take four to six weeks, Joe completed it in just two weeks, creating an impressive 50 automations in his first week and a half.

The Results

The implementation of Siena delivered immediate and significant benefits for Bad Birdie:

1. One month results

• 80% automation rate with 90% customer satisfaction
• 50 automations created in just 10 days
• Implemented in two weeks instead of expected 4-6 weeks

2. Implementing Siena allowed Bad Birdie to:

• Maintain distinctive brand voice across all customer interactions
• Provide 24-hour support across all channels
• Significantly reduce response times
• Free up staff from routine inquiries to focus on complex, high-value conversations
• Shift from reactive  to proactive customer support

"Our advocates loved that they weren't just overwhelmed constantly. They were only dealing with what Siena was not set up to handle. So it made the morale internally a lot better because now they had a little bit of time to breathe between conversations."

— Joe Garcia, Bad Birdie

3. Shifting from Reactive to Proactive Support

With Siena handling routine inquiries, Joe found himself with time to focus on strategic initiatives.

"Rather than being reactive, I was able to be proactive because I saved so much time. Now that I'm not swamped, I can kind of make a one-pager that says, here's all of our sale items or here's what's changing."

— Joe Garcia, Bad Birdie

4. Enhanced Customer Guidance

The Bad Birdie team was impressed with how Siena helped them provide comprehensive, helpful responses that enhanced their customer service capabilities.

"The AI provided a lot of helpful tips that maybe a human interaction would overlook... It can look at our knowledge base, our help articles, our assisted articles... literally everything."

— Joe Garcia, Bad Birdie

This enhanced capability allowed Bad Birdie's customer service to become more thorough and consistent, ensuring customers received complete information while maintaining the brand's distinctive voice.

5. Easy Optimization

When improvements are needed, Joe appreciates how straightforward it is to refine Siena's responses.

"If there is an error, it's so easy to adjust. Just go into the conversation, put a down thumb, here's what went wrong, and it suggests how to fix it, and then you can run a playground test."

— Joe Garcia, Bad Birdie

Transformation Impact

Bad Birdie's implementation of Siena enhanced their customer service capabilities, allowing them to bring on a dedicated Customer Experience Lead (Kristin Montgomery) who works alongside Siena to deliver exceptional experiences. This partnership created a more cohesive, brand-aligned approach to customer service that better represents Bad Birdie's unique voice and values.

As Joe Garcia recently shared on LinkedIn:

"Taking the Bold Swing: Bad Birdies' AI Revolution with Siena AI. At Bad Birdie, 'We didn't come here to lay up.' That's why we went all-in on generative AI with Siena, achieving results that others only dream about: 70-80% automation rates that transformed our operations, customer satisfaction soaring to nearly 90%, and dramatic reductions in costs that fuel our continued innovation."

Future Outlook

Bad Birdie is excited about continuing to evolve their customer experience with Siena.

For Bad Birdie, the journey with Siena has transformed their approach to customer experience in a way that aligns with their brand mission of making golf more fun and inclusive. By providing exceptional service that understands the needs and expectations of their customers, Bad Birdie continues to strengthen their position as an innovative force in the golf apparel market.

Key Takeaways

• Cultural alignment in customer service is crucial for brands with distinctive identities
• Rapid implementation is possible with the right AI solution and technical background
• Proactive intent suggestions can help discover automation opportunities
• Brand voice customization ensures AI interactions feel authentic and on-brand
• Hybrid approaches combining AI automation with in-house expertise can deliver optimal results

Are you looking to maintain a consistent brand voice across all channels?

Contact us today to see how Siena can help your business provide faster, more personalized support that truly represents your brand identity.*

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