CEWE’s products are more than just prints, they’re memories

From photo books documenting a child’s first years to carefully curated holiday gifts, CEWE is Europe’s leading photo service provider, offering personalised products such as photo books, calendars, and prints. With millions of emotionally meaningful orders every year, customer expectations for fast, reliable support are exceptionally high.

To meet growing service demands, CEWE partnered with botario to streamline complaint handling and improve responsiveness — without losing the human touch that defines the customer experience.

“Our goal wasn’t to reduce costs. It was to improve experiences consistently, even at 10pm, when no agent is available.“

From photo books documenting a child’s first years to carefully curated holiday gifts, CEWE’s customers are emotionally invested. When something goes wrong, fast, empathetic resolution isn’t just expected, it’s essential.

But during peak season — especially Christmas — CEWE’s order volumes spike by 400%, creating an avalanche of support inquiries, many of them repetitive, time-sensitive, and emotionally charged. The company faced a difficult balancing act: scale service capacity without sacrificing care.

That’s when they decided to take a bold step: reimagine service automation not only as a cost-saving tool, but as an extension of their customer promise.

CEWE had tried other chatbot platforms, but found them rigid, limited to FAQ-style exchanges, and unable to support real transactional workflows. Worse, they often created friction instead of solving problems.

What CEWE needed was fundamentally different:

• A chatbot that could own and resolve entire processes — like returns and complaints.
• A platform that developers could shape, not just configure.
• Deep integration with internal tools and on-premise hosting for full GDPR compliance.

After a disappointing PoC with another vendor, CEWE’s innovation team discovered botario through Germany’s AI tech community. They soon realised it wasn’t just a platform — it was a partner.

Starting in 2020, CEWE and botario co-developed a technically sophisticated chatbot, beginning with the company’s most complex use case: complaints and returns. The chatbot wasn’t a bolt-on widget — it was treated like a real team member. CEWE defined its tone, personality, escalation logic, and customer journey.

botario’s strengths sealed the deal:
• Ability to write custom Python logic and plugins.
• Lightweight, secure deployment on CEWE’s own infrastructure.
• Easy integration with CEWE’s website, CRM, and telephone system.

“botario platform isn’t just powerful — it’s respectful. It lets us control every detail, from data hosting to how the bot speaks to customers.”

— Jan Halfbrodt, Head of Mobile Campus & AI, CEWE

botario powers two pillars of CEWE’s support system:

• A web-based chatbot capable of full end-to-end issue resolution — including photo uploads, returns, form prefilling, and more.
• A phone bot integrated into CEWE’s ACD that authenticates callers and identifies their request — enabling significant time savings per call.

botario’s flexible SDK (software development kit) allowed CEWE to build features such as:

• A webcam plugin for damage documentation.
• Vector database integration for retrieval-augmented LLMs.
• Language localisation for multi-market rollout.

The chatbot launched to immediate adoption: 4,000+ conversations in just the first two months and quickly became an embedded part of CEWE’s service DNA.

The outcomes:

• 300+ chats per day during peak season
• Chatbot now central to support operations
• Multilingual rollout across CEWE Group in progress
• Phonebot now greets every caller, captures intent, and assists agents

Customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Users praise the bot’s clarity, helpfulness, and the surprise of getting a fully resolved claims process — even late at night.

“When customers upload damage photos at 22:00 and get an instant return label — it’s not just service. It’s reassurance.”

— Jan Halfbrodt, Head of Mobile Campus & AI, CEWE

botario technology was not deployed to replace CEWE’s agents — but to empower them. By offloading routine inquiries, agents can now focus on complex, emotionally sensitive interactions, like helping a customer fix their photo software minutes before a deadline.

“Every second the bot saves is a second our agents can spend with someone who really needs them. That’s the real ROI.”

— Jan Halfbrodt, Head of Mobile Campus & AI, CEWE