$86 K in New Revenue: How we Turned Returns Into Upsells With a Single Bot for this aesthetic clinic
TL;DR — 61 % fewer support tickets, +9 % average order value,
US $86 000 net lift in 90 days—all by turning every refund request into a “next-best product” pitch.
1 · What Was Bleeding Money?
GleamCare is a direct-to-consumer skincare brand shipping 18 000+ orders/month.
Their rave reviews hid an expensive problem:
Pain points
Inbox swamped by “Where’s my return label?”
Reps copied RMA numbers into ShipStation, generated PDFs, emailed attachments—2–4 min each.
No proactive cross-sell, so every refund was pure revenue leakage.
2 · Mapping the Old Refund Maze
7 manual clicks per ticket
Avg. 3-day turnaround → impatient shoppers → disputes
Zero upsell prompt at decision point
3 · The Falqen Playbook
Tech stack snapshot
Bot flow (25 sec from click to send)
Label autogen — ShipStation returns PDF + tracking ID.
Cross-sell logic
Reads product the customer bought → pulls “Better Fit” list (tone, skin type, price).
Picks top match & inserts One-click Exchange button.
Email dispatch — Custom HTML template with:
Blue “Download label” CTA
Green “Try [Recommended Product] instead” CTA (applies 20 % credit).
Ticket status → Pending Return.
If customer accepts exchange → bot edits order in Shopify, issues credit, closes ticket.
If no action in 7 days → bot sends gentle nudge.
4 · Three-Month Scorecard
ROI math
Bot stack: $549/mo → payoff in 19 hours of saved payroll.
5 · Why the Upsell Worked
Psychology of hassle – download-and-print label already feels like progress; adding a one-click “Keep shopping” with built-in credit converts impulse.
Hyper-relevant recs – GPT-4o picks substitutes by ingredient & price bracket, so suggestions aren’t random.
Instant gratification – exchange ships next day; refund would take 10–12 days to hit the card.
No CAPTCHA friction – branded template inside the same email thread; customer never leaves inbox.
6 · Team & Customer Reactions
“Tickets that ate half our day now solve themselves while we’re at lunch.”
— Elena G., CX Lead
“I actually switched to the brightening serum they suggested—works better and shipped free.”
— Actual customer review, post-automation survey
7 · Implementation Timeline
8 · Could You Be the Next GleamCare?
Check these boxes:
❏ 500+ orders per month
❏ Refund requests ≥ 5 % of orders
❏ Support reps copying labels manually
❏ No AI-driven exchanges in place
If that’s you, you’re leaving money—and sanity—on the table.
9 · Next Step: Free Returns Audit
30-second form → we run the numbers on your last month’s RMAs → you get projected upsell revenue & support hours saved.
No savings = no invoice.
TL;DR — 61 % fewer support tickets, +9 % average order value,
US $86 000 net lift in 90 days—all by turning every refund request into a “next-best product” pitch.
1 · What Was Bleeding Money?
GleamCare is a direct-to-consumer skincare brand shipping 18 000+ orders/month.
Their rave reviews hid an expensive problem:
Pain points
Inbox swamped by “Where’s my return label?”
Reps copied RMA numbers into ShipStation, generated PDFs, emailed attachments—2–4 min each.
No proactive cross-sell, so every refund was pure revenue leakage.
2 · Mapping the Old Refund Maze
7 manual clicks per ticket
Avg. 3-day turnaround → impatient shoppers → disputes
Zero upsell prompt at decision point
3 · The Falqen Playbook
Tech stack snapshot
Bot flow (25 sec from click to send)
Label autogen — ShipStation returns PDF + tracking ID.
Cross-sell logic
Reads product the customer bought → pulls “Better Fit” list (tone, skin type, price).
Picks top match & inserts One-click Exchange button.
Email dispatch — Custom HTML template with:
Blue “Download label” CTA
Green “Try [Recommended Product] instead” CTA (applies 20 % credit).
Ticket status → Pending Return.
If customer accepts exchange → bot edits order in Shopify, issues credit, closes ticket.
If no action in 7 days → bot sends gentle nudge.
4 · Three-Month Scorecard
ROI math
Bot stack: $549/mo → payoff in 19 hours of saved payroll.
5 · Why the Upsell Worked
Psychology of hassle – download-and-print label already feels like progress; adding a one-click “Keep shopping” with built-in credit converts impulse.
Hyper-relevant recs – GPT-4o picks substitutes by ingredient & price bracket, so suggestions aren’t random.
Instant gratification – exchange ships next day; refund would take 10–12 days to hit the card.
No CAPTCHA friction – branded template inside the same email thread; customer never leaves inbox.
6 · Team & Customer Reactions
“Tickets that ate half our day now solve themselves while we’re at lunch.”
— Elena G., CX Lead
“I actually switched to the brightening serum they suggested—works better and shipped free.”
— Actual customer review, post-automation survey
7 · Implementation Timeline
8 · Could You Be the Next GleamCare?
Check these boxes:
❏ 500+ orders per month
❏ Refund requests ≥ 5 % of orders
❏ Support reps copying labels manually
❏ No AI-driven exchanges in place
If that’s you, you’re leaving money—and sanity—on the table.
9 · Next Step: Free Returns Audit
30-second form → we run the numbers on your last month’s RMAs → you get projected upsell revenue & support hours saved.
No savings = no invoice.
Your first automation is on us
If it doesn’t save you time and money, delete it. No hard feelings.
