What you need to know

• Edible Beauty, a skincare brand founded by Anna Mitsios, has implemented AI technology through a chatbot named Ava, leading to more than a 50% increase in customer orders via online chat.
• The integration of AI allowed Edible Beauty to scale personalised customer consultations, previously reliant on manual processes, enhancing the overall shopping experience
• Ava recorded over 25,000 visitor interactions in its first month, operating 24/7 and improving conversion rates.
• The AI chatbot streamlined customer engagement, resulting in an 18 per cent increase in conversion rates and freeing up resources by reducing the need for additional staff.
• Future plans include expanding AI capabilities for a more seamless shopping experience while maintaining the brand's focus on purity and wellness.
• The company has also been able to compress its martech stack down into something more manageable.
• The success of the proof-of-concept trial has led to a strategic roadmap for Decidr's AI technology underpinning Ava, with potential investments and applications across various industries.
• Investor and strategic partner Live Verdure has signed an MOU to potentially tip up to $10 million into the firm off the back of the early results.
• Decidr is already notching up new wins with bigger, established companies and in other markets. Employment site CareerOne is a customer, and it is close to announcing it has landed a brand national retailer, MI3 has learned.

Edible Beauty, a skincare brand founded by naturopath Anna Mitsios, has harnessed the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to drive a more than 50 per cent increase in chat driven orders courtesy of chatbot it calls 'Ava'.

The results were strong enough to prompt an ASX filing by Live Verdure Limited, an investor on the Decidr AI platform, outlining the impact of a proof-of-concept trial that subsequently led Edible Beauty to sign a memorandum of understanding to further implement the technology. The platform is also attracting attention from larger incumbent businesses, such as employment site CareerOne.

Mitsios established Edible Beauty in 2014, driven by a desire to offer products that were not only effective but also safe enough to eat. "As a naturopath, I was working at a fertility clinic, recommending that my clients use super pure products on their skin," she explained. "There was nothing on the market at that time that was literally edible." This unique perspective allowed her to create a brand that prioritises purity and wellness, merging internal health with external beauty.

Despite her strong vision and expertise, Mitsios faced numerous challenges as the business scaled. "Firstly, as a small business, we didn't have many resources, so it was difficult to hire people for every single role that we saw needed," she noted. The company operated within a niche market that demanded technical expertise: Knowledge about skin types and ingredients that were not readily available in the mainstream skincare sector. This challenge was compounded by limited resources, making it difficult to scale the business while maintaining brand integrity and offering a premium, luxury experience.

Before integrating AI, Edible Beauty relied heavily on personalised customer consultations to drive sales. "I was doing skin quizzes, where I was literally typing up their responses in a template, and I'd get lots of email queries and lots of queries on live consults as well," Mitsios recounted. "It was helpful because those orders obviously had high conversion... but it was difficult to spread myself to do that for everyone."

The manual nature of this process was not sustainable for growth, and it became evident a technological solution was necessary.

The introduction of AI marked an important milestone for Edible Beauty. Mitsios aimed to provide customised solutions at scale without sacrificing the personal touch that defined her brand. "I wanted it to seem very safe for our customers... I was very concerned about how AI would deal with the very niche nature of the brand, very specific ingredients," she admitted. 

In a recent ASX filing, Live Verdure a shareholder and strategic partner in Decidr, unveiled the results implementation of Decidr's artificial intelligence on Edible Beauty. The proof-of-concept (POC) trial showcased promising results that mark a significant milestone in the intersection of AI and ecommerce.

The trial's standout feature was the deployment of 'Ava', an intelligent on-site sales agent, which leveraged Decidr’s AI capabilities to enhance customer interactions. Compared to a 12-month period where human-powered chat was the norm, Ava facilitated a 52 per cent increase in chat-initiated orders, underscoring a significant uplift in conversion rates.

During its first month alone, Ava recorded over 25,000 visitor interactions, demonstrating its efficacy in engaging with customers. The AI's ability to operate 24/7 and handle unlimited sessions allowed it to capture off-hours engagement opportunities, leading to a marked improvement in the visitors-to-chat conversion rate. Additionally, Ava's structured chat conversations significantly increased the rate of email address captures, expanding Edible Beauty's customer database for future conversion opportunities.

The AI also streamlined completed chat sessions by providing near-instant, nuanced responses to customer inquiries. And by integrating Edible Beauty's product data with external information, such as ingredient and health details, Ava facilitated a smoother customer journey, thereby enhancing the visit-to-order conversion rate, according to Live Verdure.

At the topline, the platform is projected to drive a 3-5 per cent increase in annual sales without human involvement, freeing up resources for deployment in other areas.

The cost savings for Edible Beauty were substantial, as Ava's deployment negated the need for up to three full-time people, which would have been necessary to match the service levels seen in the trial. 

Conversion rates

Mitsios told Mi3, "Conversions increased and average order value increased." She said growth stemmed from Ava’s ability to engage customers effectively, addressing their needs around the clock and enhancing the overall shopping experience.

"We haven't been able to have a 24/7, customer service person. Now we've got basically someone who's addressing customer needs in real-time. Secondly, she's very, very very brand loyal. She understands the brand. She always brings people back to edible beauty. So she's a good seller for us. She sells the brand. She's loyal to the brand. She understands the specifics of skin concerns.”

Just how seamless? Mi3 had to clarify with Mitsios that she was speaking about the bot, and not a human staffer.

“She understands the holistic nature of what we're doing. She is very technical with her knowledge around ingredients, and we can trust that she's going to give people the right advice.”

Looking ahead, Mitsios is excited about the future potential of AI within Edible Beauty. "The next thing that's coming is an inside experience where customers will be able to shop via the Ava channel. She'll have to cart function, and she'll also be able to answer people's queries about [the status] of their orders," she said.

"She'll be able to push SMS notifications, and she'll be able to talk in other languages. So the inside experience will allow people to put the products in their car straight away and then actually enter their credit card details to transact. So it will be a more seamless experience."

Reflecting on her journey, Mitsios shared a lesson learned: "I wouldn't stress as much about it because I probably have more trust and faith in the process, because it's a very intelligence process that works."

Decidr scales up

Following the successful POC, Live Verdure and Decidr have laid out a strategic roadmap for scaling the technology. The ASX filing detailed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) involving an initial capital commitment of $2.5 million, with potential expansion up to $10 million contingent on achieving key milestones. The MOU paves the way for broader commercial applications of Decidr technology across multiple industries, positioning the AI for a comprehensive licensing strategy that could redefine business operations on a larger scale.

Live Verdure Chairman David Brudenell emphasised the transformative potential of Decidr's AI, noting significant interest from businesses and investors keen on deploying the technology. The strategic MOU aims to broaden Decidr's reach, unlocking new growth opportunities and creating value for LV1 and its shareholders.

Decider is now also working with large incumbent businesses including employment site, CareerOne. The site is believed to be working with Decidr to transform how job seekers and employers connect. According to a statement from Decidr, "CareerOne can now analyse over 300,000 live job listings in real-time, matching them with millions of candidate profiles, and increasing successful job matches by 30 per cent."

CareerOne COO, Moussa Namini, said: “The AI-powered platform enables us to treat every candidate as an individual, delivering a personalised experience at a scale that was previously unimaginable. It’s not just an improvement; it’s a transformation of the entire recruitment process.”

Meanwhile, CareerOne CTO, Tome Acevski, emphasised the significant efficiencies already captured. “It’s made the job market accessible on an unprecedented level. Decidr is helping us do in minutes what used to take weeks.”