Company: Blueair, Chicago, IL
Company Description: Founded in 1996 in Stockholm, Sweden, we believe everyone has a right to clean air. Over two decades ago, our Swedish founder set out to make the world’s best air purifier. Today, our award-winning air purifiers, improve the health and well-being of people in over 60 countries around the world. Since 2016, we are a proud member of the Unilever family of brands, and a certified B Corp.
Nomination Category: Customer Service & Call Center Awards Achievement Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Customer Satisfaction Strategy
 Nomination Title: Revamping Customer Satisfaction: Blueair's Journey to Excellence
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes, explaining the nominated achievement since July 1, 2022, OR written answers to the questions? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video. If you are submitting written answers to the questions for this category, provide them in the spaces below.
- Briefly describe the nominated organization: its history and past performance (up to 200 words):
Total 200 words used.
Blueair is a leading provider of air wellness solutions, committed to improving the health and well-being of people worldwide. Founded over two decades ago in Sweden, Blueair has consistently delivered high-performance, energy-efficient, and responsibly made air purifiers that combine superior performance with timeless Scandinavian design.
In 2023, Blueair recognized a gap between our premium product experience and the quality of our customer experience. Long wait times, high abandonment rates, and a backlog of emails underscored the need for an overhaul. Partnering with Intouch CX and Sprinklr, we invested in comprehensive agent training and support systems, ensuring that customer interactions would consistently reflect our brand’s standards. This transformation now allows us to exceed industry benchmarks in customer satisfaction, responsiveness, and effectiveness.
At the core of Blueair's current success is our Customer Experience team. Our team of compassionate and knowledgeable specialists is committed to helping our customers at every touchpoint of their air wellness journey. Each customer experience specialist takes full responsibility for helping customers determine the right product for their health needs, educating our customers about the benefits and proper use of their products, and helping to troubleshoot any issues that arise to ensure their indoor air quality exceeds their expectations.
- Outline the nominated achievement since July 1 2022 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):
Total 250 words used.
At the start of 2023, our customer experience faced significant challenges: call wait times exceeded 9 minutes with an abandonment rate of greater than 42%, and an email backlog stretched over three months. This led to customer dissatisfaction and negative reviews, revealing an urgent need for improvement.
We revamped our support structure by partnering with Intouch CX Disrupt and implementing Sprinklr’s CRM platform to centralize and streamline interactions across phone, email, and chat. Major milestones include:
- Enhanced Training: The onboarding of Intouch CX included a revamped training process which increased training time by 50%. The new training included both in-depth product training (3 weeks) and live listening (2 weeks).
- Clearing the Backlog: In March 2023, we had 6,000 emails, roughly 10% of our annual volume, pending response from Blueair. We transitioned contacts to Intouch CX and began executing a backlog clearing plan. By July 2023, the email backlog was fully cleared.
- Enhanced Responsiveness: Average wait times have reduced to 13 seconds for phone and 15 seconds for chat as of October 2024, with an average email first-response time (FRT) average of 17 hours for 2024 through October. Cross-channel abandonment now remains under 1.5%.
- Improved Customer Satisfaction: CSAT climbed from a low of 65% in March 2023 to 94% by year’s end, rising further in 2024 to 96%.
This transformation aligns our customer experience with the premium Blueair experience, demonstrating commitment to exceptional service and customer satisfaction. Today, Blueair exceeds the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) standard for excellence.
- Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 223 words used.
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- Explain why the achievement you have highlighted is unique or significant. If possible compare the achievement to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the organization's past performance (up to 250 words):
Total 237 words used.
Through our 2023 customer experience overhaul, we methodically transformed service quality and addressed major operational pain points, aligning our customer experience with the excellence of our products. We made investments in systems that would help us better manage our owned contact channels, a partner who believed in our vision for a better experience, and a training regimen to better equip our Air Care Specialists to assist our customers health and wellness needs.
Our 96% CSAT rating now surpasses the typical industry average for consumer electronics, underscoring Blueair’s competitive advantage in the air wellness sector. With abandonment rates below 1.5% and first response times under 30 seconds for phone and chat, and under 24 hours for email, we are ahead of many competitors, especially in the U.S. market where air purifiers are increasingly popular.
Beyond faster response times, our adoption of Sprinklr has also allowed us to centralize customer insights and share voice-of-customer data with cross-functional teams, making us more responsive to emerging trends. This streamlined approach reduces pain points across our entire service cycle, reinforcing our brand’s reputation for quality across all touchpoints of the customer journey.
In 2024, we assisted nearly 100,000 customers to date across multiple channels, while maintaining our high CSAT and low abandonment rates. As Blueair continues to expand globally and launch new products, our commitment to efficient, customer-centered service will continue to enhance our premium brand’s loyalty and value.
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