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A bold leap into AI

For years, IPSY’s Customer Care team had been using Ada’s scripted chatbot, better known to members as Glam Bot, with solid results. But with customer expectations rising and efficiency top of mind, they knew “solid” wasn’t enough.

IPSY wasn’t about to sit back and watch the future unfold; they wanted to lead it. The conversation around AI had already started at the leadership level when TJ Stein and Anna Prince joined the team.

"Watching competitors roll out next-generation AI experiences lit a fire under me," said TJ, Head of Customer Care at IPSY. "I knew IPSY couldn't just keep pace. We needed to lead, and that required both the right technology foundation and the vision to use it strategically."

In May 2024, IPSY made a bold move: promoting Glam Bot from a scripted chatbot to an AI agent powered by Ada’s ACX platform. Within weeks, CSAT began to climb and containment rates surged. IPSY’s support experience was being redefined in real time.

“The great thing about AI is that it responds to what the customer is saying, rather than being stuck in a predetermined path,” explained Anna, AI & Automation Strategy Manager. “And then, just the power and flexibility of what it can handle in terms of containment and resolution was a big selling point, too.”

A visionary empowered by the right team and the right tooling

When Anna joined IPSY, she was handed a clear mandate: Modernize customer support automation and deliver measurable performance gains. She didn’t just accept the challenge; she rewrote the playbook.

Anna brought strategy, clarity, and urgency. Within weeks, she had designed an ACX (AI Customer Experience) roadmap, secured internal buy-in, and kicked off cross-functional partnerships that would prove foundational.

Unlocking cross-functional collaboration

One of Anna’s first moves was to establish deep alignment with IPSY’s Internal Apps Team in Engineering. She understood that unlocking the Glam Bot’s full potential meant going beyond content—it meant integrating with systems, accessing data, and building real functionality into the AI agent.

And leadership backed her. As a brand known for innovation, IPSY understood the importance of ensuring Anna had the access and influence to execute across teams.

From low-hanging fruit to complex playbooks

Anna’s early focus was strategic: Build trust quickly by identifying large-volume inquiries that the AI agent could fully automate without compromising experience. Missing and damaged item requests were first on the list.

These common issues used to require human intervention, but now, Glam Bot handles them end-to-end, verifying eligibility and issuing replacements on the spot.

Here’s what happened in the first four months:

• The Missing Item flow hit 4.3 CSAT, the highest of any contact reason
• Containment rose month over month, freeing up agents for higher-value conversations 

Rather than resting on her laurels, Anna expanded Glam Bot’s capabilities with Playbooks—dynamic, step-by-step flows designed to resolve nuanced account issues at scale.

“The inquiries our customers need help with aren’t just general knowledge questions,” Anna explained. “They’re specific to their account and require that ‘first check this, then that’ flow, which Playbooks do really well. It’s how we give customers accurate, personalized answers instead of generic ones.”

Today, 90% of IPSY’s AI volume runs through Playbooks, covering topics like billing, retention, and account troubleshooting. These playbooks don’t just automate—they reassure, resolve, and reinforce that AI customer experience can be as exceptional as human ones, and they scale better too.

A teammate, not a tool

Anna understood that a truly effective AI agent wouldn’t just automate. It would support, triage, and collaborate like a teammate.

Anna continued, “She takes all the low-hanging fruit, handles it fast, and if she can’t solve it, collects everything the agent needs, with a sort of ‘I got you, girl’ attitude. She’s making the customer’s life easier, and the agent’s too.”

With Ada’s coaching and extensibility features, Glam Bot has become more than just a bot. She’s a trainable teammate who can grow alongside her peers.

Redefining retention, one conversation at a time

One of the most transformative changes came with the launch of a new retention playbook. The data told a sobering story: When members asked to cancel, IPSY simply let them go. No conversation. No alternative. No second chance.

Anna saw an opportunity not only to reduce churn, but to genuinely serve members better. The new retention program gives Glam Bot the tools to have helpful conversations and present relevant solutions.

It’s empathetic. It’s strategic. And it’s working.

Success in numbers

In 4 months, IPSY has seen:

• a 41% improvement in CSAT
• a 63% improvement in Automated Resolution rate
• a 943% return on AI investment through containing ~160K conversations

Compelling as these numbers are, the real win for IPSY? Anna says, “These aren't just operational metrics; they represent real members getting faster, better service while IPSY's support team focuses their expertise where it matters most.”

Beyond cost savings: customer success as a growth lever

The impact of IPSY’s AI transformation extends beyond the balance sheet. While cost savings and ROI are clear, what matters more to the team is how those gains are being reinvested.

"What we've achieved with Ada goes far beyond efficiency metrics," said Stein. "We've fundamentally expanded our operational capacity, which means we can now invest in strategic initiatives that directly elevate the member experience."

Customer Care: the golden example of AI success

IPSY’s Customer Care team has now set the bar for what’s possible. Their success has made a clear impact—not just on support outcomes but across the broader organization.

According to TJ, the team now leads one of IPSY’s largest AI deployments, and the operational improvements have been hard to ignore. Their efficiency gains and improved customer experience have sparked interest across the company, prompting other departments to explore how they might follow suit.

"The executive team is paying attention to more than just bottom-line savings," said TJ. "They're seeing a fundamental shift in how efficiently we operate, and that's opened up strategic conversations about AI deployment across the entire company. We've essentially become the internal case study."

There’s also growing momentum to build on this within Customer Care. New training initiatives are in the works, and the team continues to share what they’ve learned. As TJ puts it, “Our customer experience is dramatically better than it was a year ago,” and that progress is turning heads across the business.

The success of the ACX program has:

• Unlocked budget for more AI investment
• Elevated Customer Care to a more prominent role across the organization
• Sparked cross-functional excitement for future AI use cases
• Created a blueprint for other departments to follow

Anna now leads the program full time, focused on aligning Glam Bot’s development with the direction of the Customer Care team and the business as a whole. Her dedicated role—and the decision to expand the team—shows how seriously IPSY is taking AI as part of its long-term customer support strategy.

Looking ahead: omnichannel growth and driving revenue

Anna and her cross-functional partners are currently looking to expand Glam Bot to new channels like email and deepening integrations with internal systems for more end-to-end automation. IPSY is also exploring AI-powered commerce flows to drive cross-sell and upsell opportunities.

"We want to build upon the data-driven culture at IPSY by embedding our recommendation systems directly into the support experience," said TJ. The goal is to turn every Glam Bot interaction into an opportunity for curated product discovery.

IPSY’s journey shows what’s possible when you pair bold leadership, a relentless focus on outcomes, and the right AI platform. And Glam Bot? She’s not just handling tickets. She’s setting the bar.