Inside the Call Button: The Hidden Story of Store Performance
The Challenge
A Retail ISV collected thousands of weekly data points from in-store call buttons tracking when and how shoppers requested help. But most of their clients stopped at surface-level metrics like "Average Response Time."
The data was rich. The story behind it was invisible.
The Storyboard Approach
Nexlytix turned raw button signals into narrative intelligence - stories that store teams could act on.
Using The Nexlytix Storyboard Engine, we unified button event logs across locations, modeled behavioral patterns, and applied AI-driven storytelling to reveal why performance varied, not just where.
Each storyboard uncovered a new chapter in the store operations story:
The Rankings With Context: Instead of a cold "Rank #1," store managers now saw why they ranked first - "Low wait times, high dispatch usage, and strong customer engagement." The story behind the number made the metric meaningful.
Department Risk Zones: Storyboards visualized departments where hidden bottlenecks caused wait-time spikes - patterns no static dashboard could surface.
Operational Blind Spots: Late-night call surges told a story of fatigue and missed staffing cues - prompting smarter scheduling, not just faster reactions.
Behavioral Insights: AI revealed that "high claimers" weren't always top performers, and speed without context hurt resolution quality redefining what good looked like.
Actionable Playbook
Every storyboard ended with an action chapter prescriptions teams could use right away:
Flag silent traffic jams through hidden wait-time alerts.
Redefine performance with Impression %, a fairer measure of impact.
Clone "rockstar" staff behaviors to coach mid-performers.
Build staggered shift schedules from real-time heatmaps.
Trigger fatigue alerts before burnout hit the floor.
Add post-resolution feedback loops to continuously improve.
New KPIs That Told Better Stories
Nexlytix engineered fresh, story-aligned metrics:
Customer Patience Index: how long before a customer gives up.
Abandonment Probability: predictive indicator of unserved requests.
Department Response Efficiency: fairness across store formats.
The Impact
CSAT Lift: Stores that adopted our AI-driven insights saw a 7–10% increase in customer satisfaction scores within 8 weeks.
Increased Basket Size: Fast, effective responses increased likelihood of purchase completion by up to 12% in target departments.
Reduced Wait Times: High-wait zones reduced average response times by 25% with smarter staff allocation.
Prevention of Operational Risk: Early detection of high-fatigue staff and underperforming zones helped reduce escalations.
The Takeaway
Dashboards told the what.
Storyboards told the why, and showed what to do next.
With Nexlytix, the ISV moved from data reporting to real-time decision intelligence proving that every click of a call button can tell a story worth acting on.