Cold Hut Recovery: 80% of customer operations automated

Cold Hut Recovery is a Bristol-based wellness business specialising in cold water therapy, ice bath sessions, and guided recovery programmes for individuals and corporate groups. The business operates six session types across three locations and serves a mix of regular members and first-time visitors.

The problem

Customer enquiries were arriving through Instagram DMs, email, and a contact form. Questions covered session types, pricing, what to bring, booking logistics, medical contraindications, and corporate package options. The founder and one part-time staff member were spending a combined four hours per day answering questions that, in most cases, had identical answers.

The problem was compounding. As the business grew, so did the enquiry volume. The founder was answering customer messages at 10pm to keep response times acceptable. First-time visitors who did not get a quick reply often booked elsewhere. The quality of responses was inconsistent: different staff gave slightly different answers to the same questions.

"I was spending four hours a day answering the same fifteen questions. I knew what needed to happen. I just did not know how to build it."

The solution

The sprint built an AI-first customer response layer that handled the full cycle from enquiry to booking confirmation for standard queries. The system was trained on the business's specific services, pricing, location details, and contraindication guidelines.

Enquiries arriving via Instagram, email, and the contact form were automatically classified by type. Standard questions received an immediate, accurate response. Complex or unusual queries, and all queries from corporate clients, were flagged for human follow-up with the relevant context pre-populated so the founder could respond in under two minutes rather than starting from scratch.

Booking confirmations, session reminders, and pre-visit information were automated end-to-end. The system handled rescheduling requests for standard session types without human intervention.

The result

80% of daily customer-facing operations now run without a human in the loop. Response time for standard enquiries dropped from an average of three hours to under sixty seconds. The founder reclaimed four hours per day, which has been redirected into developing two new session formats and expanding the corporate programme.

First-time visitor conversion improved. Potential customers who previously received a three-hour response now receive an accurate, personalised reply in under a minute. The business tracks this directly: in the eight weeks following handover, first-time bookings increased by 34%.

"The system knows the business better than some of my staff do. Every answer is correct. Every response is on brand. I have not answered a standard FAQ in two months."