Audien Hearing makes high-quality, FDA-cleared hearing aids accessible and affordable by selling directly to consumers. Founded by Arthur Garber, Audien cuts out the middleman by offering rechargeable devices that help people hear clearly without the high costs of traditional clinics.

"Since switching to Gorgias, the results have been incredible. We've seen nearly a 5% drop in return rates, faster response times, and a huge boost in customer satisfaction. Gorgias has not only helped us stay organized but it’s also allowed our team to focus on what matters most — delivering a great customer experience. The difference is night and day."

—Zoe Kahn, VP of Retention and Customer Experience, Audien Hearing

The challenge: Scaling customer support for a high-volume business

Audien Hearing, an over-the-counter hearing aid company, faced significant challenges as their customer base rapidly expanded. With over 30,000 phone calls and nearly 20,000 email tickets each month, their support team struggled with disorganization, inefficient ticket prioritization, and an overwhelmed system. This led to a high return rate as customers sent back products when they didn’t receive timely support. 

"Our customers often need more in-depth support because we're dealing with hearing aids, which can be a very personal and complex product. They don’t just want quick answers — they need guidance, troubleshooting, and sometimes reassurance. It’s important that we offer a level of care and attention that makes them feel heard and supported, and that’s where we’ve really focused our efforts."

—Zoe Kahn, VP of Retention and Customer Experience, Audien Hearing

Not to mention, poor user experiences on their previous helpdesk resulted in negative reviews and customer churn.

The solution: Creating a better experience for customers across the board 

In early 2024, Audien Hearing made the strategic decision to migrate to Gorgias. Gorgias provided the team with enhanced organization, automation capabilities, and tools to improve efficiency in managing their large volume of customer support inquiries.

Gorgias helped the team in three significant areas: 

Making the online shopping experience more informative for customers through proactive education and increased self-service options

The team at Audien Hearing achieved this by building informative Flows and a robust Help Center that would enable customers to answer questions without depending on a live agent for support. 

Answering repetitive FAQs that hit their inbox 

By leveraging AI Agent, Zoe and her team have been able to automate the very simple FAQ, freeing up their time for complex issues, and additional phone support. 

A deep integration with Aircall

Gorgias natively offers Voice, but also integrates with Aircall for brands with specific phone needs such as outbound calling, call-back options, and voicemail transcripts. 

This seamless integration allows the team to continue to do their work in one place. All interactions can be tagged and organized, along with the rest of their tickets. Agents are able to see all customer and order data while on the phone via Aircall – without ever leaving Gorgias. 

Custom integrations to improve agent efficiency

The Audien team saw opportunities to streamline their workflow beyond what’s possible with Gorgias’s library of pre-built integrations. So, they tapped into Gorgias’s open API and developer documentation to build a custom integration improving the returns process with their warehouse.

“It's amazing that we're able to create any custom solutions we want with Gorgias's open API. We created an integration with our warehouse software so we can manage returns directly in Gorgias instead of a shared Google Sheet. We also created a process to create tickets in Gorgias when high-risk orders come through Shopify. Gorgias is way more than a typically helpdesk if you utilize it's features it offers.”

—Zoe Kahn, VP of Retention and Customer Experience, Audien Hearing

The results: 5% reduction in returns, improved CSAT, and optimized support

• 10,000 customers served by self-service in Flows and Help Center 
• 5% Reduction in Return Rate: One of the most significant impacts was a 5% reduction in product returns because now customers are able to get instant access to product-related questions that enable them to troubleshoot common issues. 
• Increased CSAT: Audien Hearing saw a measurable increase in CSAT scores from 80 to 86 across both phone and email support channels. This is because agents have more time to spend on the phone and provide the deep, 1:1 support experience that customers not only desire but expect. 

"With Gorgias, you're not just getting a help desk — you're getting a platform that truly understands how to streamline support with automations, better ticket management, and a single-screen interface that keeps everything organized. We were losing customers and money with our previous helpdesk, but with Gorgias, we've seen faster response times, happier customers, and fewer returns. It's a game-changer."

—Zoe Kahn, VP of Retention and Customer Experience, Audien Hearing

Leveraging AI and automations for growth

Audien Hearing further optimized their support operations with Gorgias’s AI and automation tools: 

Automation-driven efficiency

Audien Hearing used Gorgias to automate answers to common queries, reducing ticket volume and freeing up agents to handle the more complex and intricate issues. Their customers require in-depth support due to the nature of their product, and with the majority of customers relying on the phone as their primary source of support, so by automating routine inquiries, agents can focus on providing a personalized experience. 

AI integration and revenue growth

They introduced an AI Agent, affectionately named "Sophie," who played a key role in increasing revenue by answering product-related questions during crucial customer interactions. 

5% of all tickets handled by Sophie turn into sales because it’s able to answer those basic pre-sales questions while customers are still actively shopping. This is a huge advantage over human agents, who often can’t respond fast enough — typically replying hours later, when the shopper is no longer on the website or has moved on. Sophie, on the other hand, provides the immediate information customers need to make a purchase right when they're considering it, driving higher conversions.

Looking forward: Continuing to optimize with AI and automations 

Audien Hearing's successful implementation of Gorgias, has the team excited about how AI Agent will help them achieve their BFCM goals this year. 

With the help of AI Agent reducing the backlog of tickets which will improve the overall customer experience, the team is confident that they will be able to drive increased revenue, and customer loyalty. Especially during the busy season, knowing that they can rely on AI Agent to respond to common inquiries, the Audien Hearing team knows that they will be able to focus on what matters most – helping their customers. 

Moving forward, they plan to continue optimizing their AI Agent and automate additional customer touchpoints, such as handling order modifications and cancellations.

Tune into faster resolutions and happier customers like Audien Hearing. Book a demo now.