Bloom & Wild improve forecasting accuracy by 33% with Dialpad WFM to reduce BPO costs

Bloom & Wild is a direct-to-consumer flower delivery company, offering prompt delivery and first-rate customer service if something’s not perfect.

Bloom & Wild’s challenges

Bloom & Wild encountered significant challenges due to its rapid growth of 160% in 2020 and the seasonal demands on its customer service team. The company faced heightened customer service requirements during peak periods such as Valentine’s Day, Christmas, and Mother’s Day, exacerbated by the surge in flower demand during the COVID-19 pandemic. With 89% of retailers competing primarily on the basis of customer experience, Bloom & Wild’s need for flawless customer service delivery was essential — and urgent.

Bloom & Wild’s Customer Delight team is comprised of full-time, part-time, and outsourced associates. With this in mind, Bloom & Wild recognized the necessity for advanced planning and accurate forecasting to effectively meet service demands while efficiently managing costs. Prior to adopting Dialpad WFM, the company relied on internal spreadsheets for forecasting and capacity planning, posing limitations on precision and efficiency. These outdated practices potentially put their customers at risk of switching retailers.

How Dialpad WFM helped Bloom & Wild

Labor forecasting

Dialpad WFM proved instrumental in enhancing Bloom & Wild’s forecasting capabilities. Through a combination of historical data and the Bloom & Wild growth model, Dialpad WFM generated granular forecasts predicting the hourly and channel-specific ticket volumes the customer service team would receive. The forecasts heavily relied on delivery and order volumes, utilizing data accessible through the Zendesk API.

Since implementing Dialpad WFM, Bloom & Wild experienced a remarkable 33% improvement in forecasting performance. The mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), a metric measuring the disparity between Dialpad WFM’s predicted ticket numbers and the actual tickets received, averaged at an impressive 12%.

Better management of outsourcing companies

Dialpad WFM improved collaboration between Bloom & Wild and its outsourcing agencies by providing advanced notice of staffing requirements. This approach ensured that both parties were adequately prepared to handle peak times and special occasions.

Additionally, Dialpad WFM worked with Bloom & Wild to formulate long-term (12-month) forecasts, which allowed outsourcing agencies to make preparations for critical periods, such as Mother’s Day, when the team required an additional 100 agents. Dialpad WFM also empowered Bloom & Wild to flexibly manage their service level agreement (SLA), enabling them to assess the tradeoff between quick responses and cost and identify the optimal balance for efficient operations.