How Guaw enhances the customer experience in its animal-care ecommerce with Gaia, its AI Agent from Oct8ne

Project summary

• Client: Guaw
• Tool: Oct8ne AI Agent
• AI Chatbot Name: Gaia
• Challenge: Evolve from a traditional button-based bot to a conversational AI capable of delivering natural, immediate, and contextualized support. The goal was to seamlessly integrate pre-sales, post-sales, order tracking, and safe product guidance in a highly sensitive market like the animal-care industry.
• Key results:
  • 70.9% autonomous resolution rate without human intervention during the analyzed period.
  • Customer satisfaction score above 4 out of 5.
  • Immediate customer service for common queries, eliminating wait times and queues.
  • Enhanced capacity to assist users throughout the purchasing funnel, including critical moments like checkout.
  • Increased availability for the human team to handle inquiries that require specialized criteria, empathy, or advanced expertise.

The eCommerce challenge: overcoming option based chatbots while maintaining empathy

Guaw already had experience with customer service automation but was facing the typical limitations of traditional bots. The previous model, based on predefined options, served its purpose but forced users down closed paths and often failed to naturally interpret what the customer truly needed.

The challenge was to evolve toward a more conversational, helpful, and immediate experience. Guaw needed a solution capable of better understanding customer intent, providing relevant product and order details, assisting during critical touchpoints like the checkout, and-at the same time-respecting strict boundaries in a highly sensitive sector, such as animal-care supplies and inquiries related to veterinary health or prescriptions.

As Luis Alonso explains:

“We came from a model where all customer support relied on human agents, then we moved to a button-based bot, and now we work with a conversational AI capable of understanding customer intent much better. The option-based bot did its job, but it was far too rigid. Users had to adapt to the paths we offered, and if they couldn’t find the right option, the experience fell short.”

The solution: ‘Gaia’, a conversational AI integrated into the customer experience

To achieve this, the Guaw team worked alongside Oct8ne to develop and train Gaia, their new AI agent. A key element of the project was the Guaw team’s internal work to transfer their accumulated customer service knowledge, company procedures, brand voice, and necessary industry guardrails into Gaia.

The project’s value was also built on Guaw’s operational criteria, customer insight, and team expertise. The goal was not simply to add new technology, but to create a support experience that is more agile, natural, and helpful for the customer. 

For Guaw, it was essential that Gaia did not give generic responses but instead operated within a very clear framework. It had to be helpful, precise, natural, and strictly adhere to internal company guidelines. This prior groundwork has allowed Gaia to function as an additional member of the team, always within well-defined limits.

The strategy: 4 pillars of Guaw’s AI implementation

1. Safe and incremental deployment

Gaia’s rollout was carried out gradually, with customer satisfaction as the primary decision-making metric. Before scaling its use to 100% of live chat traffic, Guaw tested the tool in a controlled environment and reviewed conversations to identify areas for improvement.

“Several weeks passed from the moment we started feeling comfortable with its responses to when Gaia began assisting 100% of website live chat users. During that controlled period, it handled only a small percentage of traffic, and we reviewed conversations one by one to detect flaws. We increased that percentage gradually—first to 10%, then 30%, then 50%, until we were finally confident and made the decision to apply it to 100%,” notes Luis Alonso.

This approach allowed them to fine-tune instructions, processes, and criteria before scaling the solution, ensuring that Gaia’s autonomy was always tied to an excellent customer experience.

2. Proactive support at checkout

Gaia’s chat accompanies users throughout their browsing experience. At any moment, customers can start a conversation to resolve doubts about products, orders, shipping, payments, or the purchase process itself.

One of the most critical touchpoints is the checkout phase. At this stage, any hesitation can halt an order, making immediacy vital. Guaw can detect when a user spends more time than usual at checkout; in those instances, Gaia can trigger a proactive conversation offering help.

This support can address shipping options, payment methods, active promotions, or any other friction point. One of the latest features allows Gaia to solve common questions about promotions and discounts, helping customers better understand their final total before confirming the order.

3. Order integration for agile post-sales support

Integrating the AI with the order management system was one of the project’s milestones. Since Guaw works with multiple shipping methods, delivery options, and courier agencies, it was crucial for Gaia to provide precise and helpful real-time information regarding order status.

When the customer identifies themselves, Gaia can deliver contextualized support based on available data, always within the applicable privacy framework and using only the necessary information to improve service.

This allows users to receive quick, conversational updates about their purchases without waiting for a human agent for routine queries. The primary benefit lies in the service quality: the customer gets an instant answer without queues or unnecessary wait times. Consequently, the human team can dedicate more attention to cases that truly require human criteria, empathy, or personalized intervention.

4. Clear boundaries regarding veterinary prescription

One of the most sensitive aspects of the project was accurately defining the line between a commercial product recommendation and a medical prescription.

Guaw boasts an extensive catalog for animals, including specialized diets, travel gear, supplements, and products that require high sensitivity when recommended. Therefore, it was vital for Gaia to assist customers within a secure framework, never replacing professional veterinary criteria.

Luis Alonso emphasizes the importance of this point:

“One of the most critical tasks was properly working out the difference between a product recommendation and a medical prescription. Gaia never replaces professional veterinary judgment. Its role is to guide the customer safely, help them find products when the query allows it, and escalate to the human team or a veterinary professional when the situation requires a specialized assessment. For us, the quality of a recommendation isn’t just about finding the right product, but also knowing when not to recommend one and when to refer the customer to an expert.”

The results: more autonomy, better UX, and instant support

Implementing Gaia has allowed Guaw to elevate the customer service experience within its eCommerce, particularly for high-frequency queries where speed and clarity are decisive factors.

During the analyzed period, 70.9% of the conversations handled by Gaia were resolved without human intervention, achieving a customer satisfaction score above 4 out of 5.

As Luis Alonso explains:

“For us, that metric is deeply relevant because it doesn’t just measure autonomy-it also measures response quality and user trust.”

The core value is that many customers now find immediate answers without waiting, through a more natural conversational experience. The AI handles common doubts, guides users during navigation, provides checkout support, and facilitates order tracking information when needed.

However, the transition to the human team remains an essential part of the model. If a user asks to speak with an agent, or if Gaia is not entirely sure about the correct answer, the conversation is seamlessly transferred to the Customer Service team. The AI is meant to help scale support, not to become a barrier between the customer and the company.

A new role for the customer support team

The introduction of Gaia is not designed to replace the human team, but rather to evolve the support model. The main goal is for customers to receive faster, more useful answers to routine inquiries without unnecessary delays.

In the words of Luis Alonso:

“Gaia allows many customers to get instant answers in recurring situations, and that frees up the team to focus on what truly requires criteria, sensitivity, or personalized guidance. It’s no longer just about answering tickets; it’s about reviewing conversations, detecting areas for improvement, and deciding where the AI can add the most value. In that sense, Gaia doesn’t replace the team—it elevates the kind of work they can do.”

The Oct8ne competitive advantage in animal-care retail

For Guaw, Oct8ne’s differentiating factor lies in its combination of technology, integration capabilities, eCommerce focus, and expert guidance. It is not just a customer service tool, but a solution capable of uniting pre-sales, post-sales, product recommendations, and order tracking into a single, seamless conversational experience.

Luis Alonso summarizes it as follows:

“For us, Oct8ne’s main competitive advantage is that it combines technology, integration, sales orientation, and expert support. It is not just a customer service tool; it is a solution designed to help sell better and serve better at the same time. Furthermore, the team behind it makes a massive difference. They don’t just hand over a platform and documentation; they accompany the project, provide valuable criteria, and apply experience accumulated across various sectors to adapt it to our business.”

This ongoing support has been crucial for Guaw. Technology is important, but in a project of this nature, understanding the business, setting clear boundaries, prioritizing use cases, and building a solution that aligns with how the brand wants to serve its customers is equally vital.

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