Resolution over deflection: how Ruggable turned its phone line into a 24/7, on-brand channel with Flip

Ruggable used Flip to fix unreliable phone coverage without losing its brand voice. That freed its agents to offer interior design support and handle nuanced requests instead of answering “where is my order?” all day.

Region: North America · Industry: Home goods / DTC · Flip features: Voice AI agent, Shopify, Zendesk and Loop Returns integrations, English and Spanish

The Challenge: Inconsistent phone hours, high volume of repetitive questions clogging the queue. 

CX Care Points: peak-season readiness, team morale, and brand consistency.

Key Takeaways

• Live in 3 days
• One of the calmest BFCMs the team has ever had
• 40% Increase in automation: Call automation reached 30% just a few days after launch during the holiday period, and later approached 42% as the platform added product-search and lookup capabilities.
• 24/7 Phone coverage 
• Better use of agent time: By automating routine call intents, Ruggable could position its live team around exception handling and white-glove service rather than repetitive tasks. 
• Integrations with Shopify, Zendesk, and Loop Returns for personalized customer experiences
• A more contextual phone experience: With relevant integrations, more than 80% account matching, and 91% engagement, Ruggable could use caller and order context to make automated interactions as personalized and relevant as possible. 
• Operational insight: Call-density and after-hours data helped Ruggable evaluate staffing coverage and planned expansion of phone availability

Ruggable customer experience at a glance

Founded in Los Angeles by Jeneva Bell in 2017, Ruggable brought the first patented two-piece machine-washable rug brand to the market. Today, Ruggable combines beauty and utility to bring made-to-order rugs and home accessories to homes: kids, pets, spills and all.

This same philosophy shapes Ruggable’s customer experience. The brand’s muse is someone who seeks advice from a friend – “How should I arrange this room? What color feels the most like me? – and Roma Yumul, Sr. Director, Customer Experience, wants every channel to feel that way. But the phone line, the channel many customers trust most, was the hardest to keep consistent.

With Flip, Ruggable now answers every call, day or night, with an AI agent that customers often mistake for a person. Its human team has the time to act as design concierges instead of looking up order statuses.

The challenge: variable phone hours and holiday strain

When Roma joined Ruggable, the CX team handily supported customers across phone, messaging, social and email, but the phone’s performance was the outlier. Hours shifted, weren’t posted publicly, and could be cut short at any moment due to strain. Customers felt it.

“Before Flip, our phones [operated according to] variable hours and at any moment could be understaffed,” Roma says.

Phone lines were clogged with routine questions: Where is my order? Can I cancel? Can I update my billing address? Ruggable’s CX team handled those questions with their chat solution, but if a customer wanted to switch a rug color late on a Sunday night on the phone, for example, no one was there to help.

“If you really want a customer to buy and accept your product, you also need to be there with them when they change their mind,” Roma says. “That becomes difficult when they need somebody to consult with and there’s no one there.”

The strain peaked during the holidays: seasonal hires, shipping delays, and mid-season promo changes drove spikes in calls while email queues kept growing, spreading the CX team thin and threatening their high standard of customer service.

Choosing Flip as a CX AI partner: From skepticism to smooth sailing

Why Flip: ease of use, fast implementation, low risk to launch, thoughtful edge-case support.

A few months into Roma’s time at Ruggable, her leader suggested exploring Flip. Roma was ready, but her team was more cautious. Some worried about it syncing with existing integrations smoothly, while others feared an AI tool would replace them. Everyone worried that a flat, robotic IVR would alienate customers and clash with Ruggable’s friendly, design-forward brand identity.

“[Before] the Flip implementation process, we were mostly battling a lot of skepticism,” Roma says. “One of the things I really wanted to make sure of was that my team felt really heard.”

Once certain her team felt confident with a test run, Roma was cautiously optimistic. Flip started answering calls in about three days. The Shopify integration “hit the ground running,” and the setup felt intuitive, as if built by people who understood consumer care and its edge cases. When the team flagged an issue, it was fixed within hours.

“I have worked with a lot of chatbot configurations and launches in the past, and this was a process that went a lot more smoothly than we expected,” Roma says.

An AI voice that embodies the brand

In keeping with Ruggable’s brand identity, the team chose a relaxed West Coast voice – “Vanessa” – paced slowly so every caller could follow. “Vanessa” stops and listens when a caller interrupts, and adjusts when they change their mind mid-request.

Immediately, the Ruggable team tasked Flip and “Vanessa” with delivering messaging that were essential to the immediate brand’s pain points, like seasonal hours and made-to-order shipping times. Flip’s integrations enable live order status updates from Shopify and returns through Loop. Spanish-speaking customers get the same experience end to end, from the call itself to translated SMS follow-ups and links.

The real test came in January after launch. After one call was transferred, a customer told an agent, “Wow, I can’t believe that was not one of your representatives. That’s actually nuts.”

Results with Flip x Ruggable: 

• Live in about 3 days, with issues fixed within hours
• One of the calmest BFCMs the team has ever had
• 91% Engagement Rate
• 42% of calls automated in the last 30 days
• 4.41 Flip AI Agent CSAT
• 24/7 Phone coverage 
• 48% of calls resolved by Flip in the last 30 days
• 61% of calls arrive after hours, and every one gets an answer
• Highest value intents: WISMO and Order Cancellation, with WISMO reaching a 60% Automation Rate
• Key configurations:
  • Flexible hours and closure messages (holidays, why the line is off, when it’s back)
  • Made-to-order shipping timelines
  • Real-time order status from Shopify
  • Returns through Loop
  • Spanish from start to finish: calls, translated SMS follow-ups, translated links and messages

The results with Flip: calmer peaks and a team with room to grow

Today Flip’s AI agent is Ruggable’s first line of phone support. Live agents handle escalations and the conversations that need a person. Customers who want a quick answer get one at any hour, and those who reach a live agent arrive calm.

“When done right and personably, a phone experience like Flip is very beneficial because someone still feels like they’re being attended to,” Roma says. “And it’s fast.”

Flip handling the routine “Where is my order?” calls has freed the CX team to lean into concierge and revenue-driving service, like answering home styling and design questions, solving more complicated order cases, or simply talking with customers about life with Ruggable.

“We love Flip for taking the pressure off our internal agents,” says Josh Dalrymple, Customer Care Supervisor. “It handles the customer inquiries that don’t need the same nuance as speaking to our live agents.”

“We want to handle the biggest escalations of escalations,” Roma adds. “Flip can handle everything that comes before that.”

Strategic partnership: Flip x Ruggable

The partnership has mattered as much as the product. Jeff Robie, Flip’s Client Service Lead, checks in with the Ruggable team proactively, provides strategic recommendations, and even troubleshoots issues with other tools connected to Flip. 

“Jeff sets the tone for the relationships we have with other vendors and always goes above and beyond our expectations,” the team says.

Looking ahead

Ruggable now uses Flip’s analytics to plan its next moves. The dashboard’s heat map shows when customers call at every hour of the day.

“Something that’s really important to me as a leader is expanding on those opportunities and expanding those hours to meet our customers where they are,” Roma says.

For Roma, that’s the real point of AI in customer experience. “I value resolution over deflection,” she says. AI handles the quick fixes so people have time for the moments that need a person, like helping a new parent choose a nursery rug that isn’t too pink. “AI really is a tool to buy back that time.”

“Flip has enabled us to really allocate the true labor that we need towards customers who are seeking human connection, over things that they’re able to resolve on their own,” she says.

Read more:

• Resolution over deflection: how Ruggable turned its phone line into a 24/7, on-brand channel with Flip
• Retail CX AI strategy for the holidays
• How HAMMITT Streamlined Its White Glove Customer Service With Flip CX AI
• Holiday Season Prep: Retail Brands’ Top Considerations for CX Planning & Seasonal Hiring
• Liquid I.V. x Flip: True CX AI Partnership from 24/7 Phones to Super Bowl Campaigns

Flip Voice AI integrates with phone system for automated customer experience workflows. Flip’s Voice AI agent for CX has native tech integrations, compliance, analytics, and vendors built in for the best calls. The right CX partner can lead to performance outcomes.