Streamlining Inventory Management and Customer Retention: A Case Study on MistoBox and Zapier

• Functional Applications - Inventory Management Systems
• Sensors - Optical Sensors

• E-Commerce
• Equipment & Machinery

• Warehouse & Inventory Management

• Inventory Management
• Picking, Sorting & Positioning

• System Integration

MistoBox, a coffee subscription service, faced significant challenges in managing its vast inventory and improving customer retention. The company offers over 500 different coffees from around 35 different roasters, and the availability of each blend changes daily. Initially, inventory updates were handled via email, with roasters sending PDF attachments detailing which coffees were new and which ones were sold out. This process was unorganized, time-consuming, and prone to errors, leading to situations where orders were placed for coffees that were no longer available. This negatively impacted the customer experience and relationship. Additionally, MistoBox struggled with customer retention due to the difficulty in accurately matching customers' tastes with the right coffee blend. The company found that the coffees customers claimed to like were not always what they actually preferred, leading to dissatisfaction and subscription cancellations.

MistoBox is a coffee subscription service that was founded by Connor Riley and Sam Meis in late 2011. The company sends people a sampling of coffee blends from all over the world, tailored to their preferences. Customers tell MistoBox what they like, and the company uses that information to curate a box of coffees compatible with their tastes. The company offers more than 500 different coffees from around 35 different roasters. MistoBox has secured funding on Shark Tank and has a small but energetic team, including a 'director of coffee'. The company prides itself on working with the best coffee roasters and maintaining a high-quality inventory.

MistoBox turned to Zapier, a tool that connects and automates apps, to streamline its inventory management and improve customer retention. For inventory management, MistoBox used two Zaps (automated workflows in Zapier). The first Zap connected Google Forms to Google Sheets, allowing roasters to enter information about new coffees they were offering. Once a new product was submitted, Zapier automatically added it to an inventory spreadsheet. The second Zap triggered when a new row (i.e., a new coffee) was added to the Google spreadsheet, automatically creating a new product in Magento, the e-commerce system MistoBox uses. This process gave roasters the power to update products themselves, reducing errors and saving time. For sold-out products, a Zap was created to connect Google Sheets to Asana, a task-management app, to remind the team to remove the sold-out product from their online store. To improve customer retention, MistoBox used Zapier to tap into the comments that customers left on their coffee shipments. A Zap was created that watched for new coffee reviews across customers, and when a low rating was detected, it automatically created a new case for that customer in Desk, a help desk app, prompting the team to follow up and find out why the customer was dissatisfied.

• The use of Zapier has transformed MistoBox's operations, making them more efficient and customer-centric. The automation of inventory updates has streamlined the process, reducing the time and effort required, and minimizing errors. This has improved the overall customer experience, as it has eliminated instances of customers placing orders for coffees that are no longer available. The ability to automatically create tasks in Asana based on changes in inventory has also improved team coordination and efficiency. Furthermore, the use of Zapier to tap into customer reviews has enabled MistoBox to proactively address customer dissatisfaction, improving their recommendations and ultimately enhancing customer retention. This has also allowed the company to personalize their customer service, reaching out directly to customers who have given a low rating to understand their preferences better and make necessary adjustments.

• Significant time savings in managing inventory updates, which previously involved manual data entry and were prone to errors.

• Reduced instances of orders being placed for coffees that were no longer available, improving order accuracy.

• Improved customer retention by accurately matching customers' tastes with the right coffee blend within the first two to three shipments.