How NOBULL leverages AI as a revenue engine

NOBULL is a training brand rooted in simplicity, authenticity, and performance. Known for its premium training footwear, the company has built a cult-like following.

With headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts, NOBULL is expanding rapidly, fueled by its passionate community and bold brand identity. NOBULL products are sold exclusively online through their official website. The company does not have permanent, physical retail stores, but occasionally opens temporary retail shops at major sporting events.

Scaling service amid surging demand

Unlike many direct-to-consumer brands that treat support as a cost center, NOBULL has built it into the brand promise—every interaction carries as much weight as the product itself.

“Our brand promise is literally NOBULL—so our support has to feel approachable, direct, and genuinely helpful,” explains Bhav Raju, Director of Customer Service at NOBULL. “Every interaction is the customer’s first impression of our brand, and it has to be meaningful.”

However, as the company has grown, the unpredictability of retail has presented major challenges. A single influencer post or new product drop can trigger a massive spike in orders—and in turn—overwhelm customer support.

Initially, NOBULL’s human agents were excelling. Customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores hovered around 95 percent, reflecting the high-touch, personal experience they delivered. But as volumes climbed, relying solely on human capacity wasn’t sustainable.

“Our human agents were delivering what I would consider best-in-class service,” says Raju. “But scaling only with people just wasn’t realistic at the pace we were growing.”

The support team also faced redundancy fatigue. Agents were bogged down by repetitive inquiries—“Where’s my order?” “Does this come in my size?”—limiting their ability to focus on meaningful, consultative conversations that build brand loyalty and drive revenue.

AI-powered, brand-aligned support

To future-proof its customer service, NOBULL turned to Zendesk’s Advanced AI agents, implemented with a clear guiding principle: scale without sacrificing quality.

Raju and her team didn’t simply “plug in” AI. They first invested in foundational improvements: cleaning up data taxonomy, fixing broken customer flows, and creating an order tracking landing page.

“You would never send a human agent out there without training them on the basics. The same is true for AI—you have to build the foundation first,” notes Raju.

With those foundations in place, Zendesk AI agents were rolled out to handle repetitive, low-complexity tickets, all while maintaining the brand’s tone of voice. Unlike many companies stuck with default virtual personas, NOBULL customized its AI agents to be friendly, direct, and unmistakably on-brand.

Zendesk is one of the few companies that offers a custom AI agent voice, which was of great importance to Raju. “We wanted our AI agent to feel like NOBULL—not overly formal, but approachable and clear,” she says.

And while many companies see brand erosion with AI, NOBULL has instead deepened its brand consistency.

Efficiency without compromising quality

The impact of Zendesk AI agents has been transformative for the NOBULL, as indicated by the following strong results:

– NOBULL’s AI agent maintains a 90 to 91 percent CSAT score, nearly matching the company’s human agents who maintain a 95 percent rating.

– Zendesk AI agents automatically resolve close to 50 percent of customer inquiries in the chat channel and about 30 percent across all channels, significantly reducing human agent workload.

– The resolution rates provided by the Zendesk AI agents have dropped overall ticket volumes by 49 percent year-over-year.

Additionally, NOBULL utilizes Zendesk QA (quality assurance) software to gain instant insights into the customer support performance of its AI agents, just as it does for the company’s human agents. This allows Raju and her team to compare AI agent performance and see how it aligns with human agent performance to continuously make service improvements.

Overall, the NOBULL CX team is thrilled with the seamless transition to AI-powered CX. “The results we’ve seen are that AI hasn’t negatively impacted our customer experience. That’s huge,” emphasizes Raju.

Human agents provide revenue-generating CX

Freed from repetitive tasks, NOBULL’s human agents can now spend more time on complex, high-value interactions.
“Our agents are helping us grow our revenue through customer service,” shares Raju. “They’re spending time on more complex conversations that actually lead to sales.”

Even NOBULL’s long-standing outsourced support team embraced the change. While initially skeptical, agents have found greater satisfaction in focusing on more consultative interactions.

“Agents don’t always want to answer the same question over and over. Now they can help a customer find the right shoe for their training goals. That’s more impactful—and more rewarding,” offers Raju.

The results have been both operational and cultural. With Zendesk AI, NOBULL reduced high volume support pressure, improved the agent experience, and maintained stellar CSAT scores—all while scaling its brand presence.

Intangible benefits: happy agents and higher retention rates

Beyond KPIs, the shift has improved agent engagement and retention. NOBULL’s BPO team in the Philippines has been with the company for about eight years—a rare feat in an industry plagued by high turnover. Reducing repetitive tasks has contributed to that longevity and improved morale.

It is noteworthy that NOBULL’s approach protected against a common AI pitfall: over-automation. By focusing on quality rather than sheer ticket deflection, NOBULL avoided the CSAT drop many companies experience when virtual agents take over too much too soon.

As Raju reflects: “I’ve sat on the other side of a virtual agent, typing ‘human, human, human’ out of frustration. That is the opposite of what we wanted. If a customer wants an agent, we connect them to an agent. Simple as that.”

The future of AI at NOBULL

For NOBULL, Zendesk AI isn’t the end state—it’s just the beginning. The brand is now exploring ways to integrate APIs with Shopify to further automate complex post-purchase requests, such as shipping status and returns.

While many brands are just starting to test automation, NOBULL is already exploring next-gen personalization at scale. Raju envisions AI evolving to create more tailored experiences that deepen customer relationships while staying true to NOBULL’s direct, no-nonsense ethos.

“We’re still scratching the surface with AI at NOBULL. It’s helped us reimagine how we support customers, but there’s real excitement in what’s next,” concludes Raju. “AI hasn’t replaced the human touch at NOBULL—it’s amplified it.”