Lulu Uses Yext To Write The Book On Digital Presence Management

Writing a book is hard work — and it's often followed by the even more daunting task of figuring out publishing and distribution. Many writers or content creators choose to take the route of self-publishing — but they may not know how to get their work printed and sold.

This is where Lulu comes in. Lulu is a free, on-demand book publishing platform that allows creators to easily share their content with the world.

One of Lulu's goals is to provide content creators with access to a wealth of videos, articles, blogs, help guides, FAQs, and other resources that teach them how to get published, use the Lulu platform, and more. The problem they faced? Getting these resources in front of Lulu's customers when they needed them.

"One of the major challenges we had was the ability to provide self-service to our customers," explains Marcus Freeman, Director of Customer Experience at Lulu. "We needed a way to get all of this information in front of them at the appropriate time."

That meant making it easier for customers to find information through the power of accurate and advanced onsite search capabilities. Since customers are conditioned to receive accurate and up-to-date information when using search engines like Google, Lulu wanted to replicate this experience when customers searched for information across their website. After trying some other solutions, Lulu decided to turn the page and begin a new chapter with Yext.

"Our website is our customer journey," Marcus says. "A lot of folks come through organic or social. That's why it's so important for all of this information to be in front of the customer at that point in time, because they might start and end the journey in one shot. We have to make sure that everything is ready for them when they arrive."

Lulu uses Yext Search to present customers with the exact information they need, when they need it, reducing their need to reach out to Lulu customer support. For example, a search for "what is self-publishing" on Lulu's knowledge base will return a targeted list of video tutorials tailored to that query from Lulu University, the company's YouTube channel. With Yext, Lulu can aggregate all of their content from different channels into one knowledge base, providing customers with a centralized repository that delivers accurate and valuable answers to their inquiries.

"We needed a search mechanism that was reliable, accurate, and could help with ticket deflection even at the point of creating a support ticket," Marcus explains. "Yext has reduced our support tickets and allowed us to have more crucial conversations with customers that are having true issues, letting our extensive knowledge base handle the low-hanging fruit."

Lulu's secret to success has been their use of Yext's headless CMS, which makes it easy for them to deliver the right content, anywhere. "The ability to have everything in front of our customers — that, to me, is the value, the whole idea of the right information in front of the right person at the right time. Yext hits all three of those points."

It's easy to talk about "right content, right person, right time" in practice — but Lulu got to see it in reality in 2021. When one of Lulu's biggest publishers was hampered due to a COVID-19 outbreak at their facility, Lulu leveraged Yext to publish an FAQ specific to the situation, so that customers could understand the possibility of delays in order processing and shipping.

Julia DaRocha, Lulu's Business Systems Analyst, says that Yext has also helped Lulu identify gaps in their resources.

"I sat down with our distribution team that helps send books to Amazon and Barnes and Noble, and we found specific searches that just didn't have an answer, or accurate answers that our customers were looking for. That led them to create more knowledge-based articles and FAQs about those topics. I also created a report to see what resources weren't getting clicks, and that helped us see which assets we wanted to get rid of or improve so that they're more helpful."

Through it all, the Lulu team has leaned on Hitchhikers, Yext's online community and resource hub, to learn how to use Yext for optimal outcomes. Hitchhiker's training pages have been particularly helpful. "I love how easy it is to find information on the training pages,"Julia says. "It's very organized and that makes it super easy to find exactly what I need."

Now, Lulu delivers accurate information to customers with a single search and drives a stronger customer experience by leveraging Yext. Since implementation, 94% of searches on Lulu and Lulu University have returned structured data, including videos and help articles. There have been an average of 11,000 support searches per month, resulting in a 45% case deflection rate. Plus, Lulu's customer satisfaction score (CSAT) has improved, with 7% more positive CSAT responses year-over-year.

Access to support content overall has enjoyed an enormous bump. Lulu's educational videos have been found more than 71,000 times through search. Meanwhile, text-based content, including blogs, FAQs, help articles, and guides, have been found by searchers more than 350,000 times.

Julia gives thanks to Yext's support team, which has helped Lulu along every step of the way. "My experience has been amazing," Julia says. "I reach out a lot to our account rep or the support team about technical issues and new features, and every time I've gotten an answer super quickly. It's been awesome!"

"I echo Julia's statement," Marcus says. "It's been great working with Yext."