The challenge
A family-first brand was letting subscribers leave without a conversation
Gratsi is a premium, Mediterranean-inspired boxed wine brand with a subscription business at its core. Johnnie Koennecke, Director of Customer Operations, leads a CX philosophy built around treating every customer like family.
We treat customers as how we would treat our own family.
That high-touch philosophy did not always carry through to cancellation requests. Before Hoop, a customer who asked to cancel was usually canceled. Agents wanted to help, but asking why someone was leaving, or continuing a conversation about money, could feel uncomfortable. The team did not want a customer to feel pressured, so most cancellations moved forward without a real save attempt.
Hoop's retention audit made the opportunity visible. The baseline was lower than Johnnie expected, giving her a clear case to take to leadership: Gratsi had a measurable retention problem, and a credible path to improve it.
The fit
An AI that was precise. Not a “jack of all trades, master of none”
Gratsi had already experimented with AI in its support operation. The experience left Johnnie skeptical.
I had tried an AI a year prior, actually, with our ticket integration, and I just wasn't satisfied with it. It seemed that they wanted to do everything and not specialize.
Hoop stood out because it focused on one consequential workflow: subscription cancellations. Instead of trying to automate every kind of ticket, Hoop was designed to understand why a subscriber wanted to leave, match the reason to the right save offer, and know when to hand the conversation to a person.
For Gratsi, that focus mattered. Subscriptions are the “meat and potatoes” of the business, as Johnnie put it. The cancellation experience was too important to hand to a generalist.
The rollout
Meet Nonna: retention in Gratsi's voice
Gratsi named its Hoop agent Nonna, extending the persona behind its Nonna Wisdom series, which celebrates the laid-back Mediterranean lifestyle and the kind of wisdom shared around a family table.
Gratsi and Hoop built Nonna's policy around a simple question: How would we want to be treated?
That meant more than matching a tone of voice. Nonna asks why a customer is leaving, chooses from Gratsi's approved save offers, and keeps the conversation helpful rather than pushy. When she senses friction, she hands the ticket to a human.
We're about helping you and not keeping you stuck in a limbo, and she's very good about handing over, which is completely on brand.
The results
What changed
More than tripled the save rate
Within a couple of months, Gratsi's save rate had more than tripled. The change came from replacing automatic cancellations with genuine dialogue: customers explained what was driving the decision, Nonna could respond with the most relevant option, and subscribers had a reason to reconsider before leaving.
Coverage no longer stopped after hours
Cancellation requests can be urgent. A customer may realize late at night that a subscription is about to renew and cannot wait for the support team to return the next morning. Nonna gives those customers immediate help, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and can alter subscriptions automatically in Skio and Shopify.
Customers accepted the AI
Johnnie's biggest concern was that customers would be frustrated when they realized they were talking to AI. That had happened quickly in earlier AI pilots. With Nonna, Gratsi did not see the same “send me a human” reaction. Customers continued the conversation, accepted help, and were handed to an agent when they needed one.
The human team got better, too
Nonna did not simply take cancellation tickets off the queue. Her conversations became a training tool. By watching her ask direct questions and seeing that customers were comfortable answering them, Gratsi's agents became more confident opening retention conversations themselves.
With repetitive cancellation work off their plates, agents also gained more time for complex tickets and the back-and-forth that creates a genuinely personal experience.
No one was replaced
She hasn't replaced anyone, she's just kind of added on. She's like an additional, you know, agent that just doesn't need breaks.
The team's early hesitation gave way to seeing Nonna as another member of the operation, one who absorbs a high-pressure workflow and helps the human team do its best work.
CX became part of the revenue engine
The results changed how the business could talk about customer experience internally. Retention was no longer only a support responsibility; it was a measurable growth lever.
Every save is just, you know, money back in the pocket.
The takeaway
A focused AI agent can strengthen the human experience
Hoop gave Gratsi the coverage and consistency of automation without giving up the care at the center of its brand. Nonna can have the uncomfortable conversation, apply the right save strategy, and operate around the clock. Gratsi's team can spend more time on the customers and situations that benefit most from human judgment.
“Hoop alleviated the pressure of retaining clients. It just… it streamlined things for us.”
Johnnie KoenneckeDirector of Customer Operations · Gratsi