Research · Case study
AI that answers and books
How a UK flooring retailer’s AI assistant turned WhatsApp sample updates into 36 quote requests, covering more than 1,750 m² of flooring, and 17 booked calls. August to October 2026.
3 in 10
homeowners who started a conversation asked for a quote or booked a call in the chat
4 in 10
quote requests and booked calls came in while the showroom was shut
1 in 10
conversations needed a person to take over. The assistant kept the rest
01
Delivery updates that became sales conversations
A UK flooring retailer sends homeowners two WhatsApp messages about their free samples: an order confirmation, then a check-in when the sample should have arrived.¹ An AI assistant answers whatever comes back, using the retailer’s product guide. It can take a quote request, book a call with the flooring team, record feedback on the sample, and hand over to a person when it should.
Between 6 August and 22 October 2026 it messaged 2,976 homeowners. 216 replied, 59 of them only to say stop, which leaves 157 conversations. The check-in, which asks a question, drew replies about one and a half times as often as the confirmation.
3 in 10 of those conversations turned into business: 48 homeowners asked for a quote or booked a call in the chat. The 36 quote requests covered more than 1,750 m² of flooring, about 45 m² each.²
What the 157 homeowners who started a conversation did
Purple: took the next step in the chat. A homeowner can appear in more than one row.
Source: POCKLA, 157 homeowners in conversation with one UK flooring retailer’s WhatsApp assistant, 6 Aug–22 Oct 2026.
Show the numbers
| People | Share of 157 homeowners in conversation | |
|---|---|---|
| Asked for a quote or booked a call | 48 | 31% |
| Asked for a quote | 36 | 23% |
| Booked a call | 17 | 11% |
| Left feedback on their sample | 39 | 25% |
| Got an answer from the product guide | 23 | 15% |
02
Demand that arrives when you’re shut
Nearly 4 in 10 quote requests and booked calls came in while the showroom was shut: 13 of the 36 quote requests and 7 of the 17 calls. Most came on weekday evenings, the rest at weekends and early in the morning.
An assistant answering at any hour is what you’d expect of software. What matters is what it did with those conversations: a quote request with the area already given, or a call in the diary, waiting for the team when the showroom opened.
Messages, quote requests and booked calls: showroom open or shut
Purple: while the showroom was shut. Opening hours taken as weekdays 9–5 and Saturday 9–1. UK time.
Messages · 542
37% while shut
Quote requests · 36
36% while shut
Booked calls · 17
41% while shut
- While open
- While shut
Source: POCKLA, one UK flooring retailer’s WhatsApp line, 6 Aug–22 Oct 2026.
Show the numbers
| While open | Weekday evenings | Weekday early mornings | Saturday afternoons and Sundays | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Messages | 343 | 104 | 21 | 74 | 542 |
| Quote requests | 23 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 36 |
| Booked calls | 10 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 17 |
03
People only where they’re needed
The assistant kept 141 of the 157 conversations. In 103 it needed no help at all. In 38 it hit a fact it couldn’t see, such as a delivery date or an earlier sample order, so it asked the team that one question and carried on.
A person took over in 16, about 1 in 10. Those are the things the assistant is set up to hand straight to the team: refunds, complaints and changes to orders already placed.
Booked calls work the same way. 14 of the 17 were booked before anyone at the retailer got involved, and a person then confirms each one: 9 were confirmed, 2 moved to another time and 6 were still waiting when we counted.³ Every confirmed call was during working hours.
Who handled the 157 conversations
Purple: the assistant kept the conversation.
Source: POCKLA, 157 conversations on one UK flooring retailer’s WhatsApp line, 6 Aug–22 Oct 2026.
Show the numbers
| Conversations | Share of 157 conversations | |
|---|---|---|
| Assistant on its own | 103 | 66% |
| Assistant, with one fact from the team | 38 | 24% |
| A person took over | 16 | 10% |
Next update
Coming in January: orders
The question every retailer will ask is whether these conversations turn into orders. It’s too early to tell: orders often come weeks after a sample, and the retailer’s records don’t yet show order values for these homeowners.
In January we’ll compare orders and order values for homeowners who talked to the assistant and those who didn’t.
04
What this means for your business
01
Ask a question, don’t just confirm
The check-in, which asks whether the sample arrived, drew replies about one and a half times as often as the order confirmation.
02
Let it take the next step
Give the assistant a way to take a quote request and book a call. 30 of the 48 homeowners who did either never needed a person to get there.
03
Decide what it hands over
Refunds, complaints and changes to existing orders went to a person. That was 1 in 10 conversations; the assistant kept the rest.
POCKLA sends every lead it sells a WhatsApp or SMS in the installer’s name within seconds, and agrees a call time the homeowner chose. How our WhatsApp follow-up works.
05
How we did it
- Data
- One UK flooring retailer’s WhatsApp line, 6 August to 22 October 2026: 2,976 homeowners messaged after ordering a free sample, and every reply, quote request, booked call and hand-over that followed.
- Conversations
- Homeowners who replied, less the 59 who only replied to stop the messages.
- Hand-overs
- “A person took over” means the assistant handed the conversation to the team. “One fact from the team” means it asked the team a single question and kept the conversation.
- Quote area
- Totalled from the area field of each quote request by a script that output only the total. Where a request gave more than one figure, we counted the largest.
- Times
- UK time. “While the showroom was shut” takes opening hours as weekdays 9–5 and Saturday 9–1.
- Privacy
- We counted timestamps, labels and events, plus the area field of quote requests. No names, phone numbers or message text were taken out, the retailer is anonymised, and our contracts allow this analysis.
- Limits
- One retailer, about eleven weeks, and small numbers by the time you reach bookings (17). The figures describe what happened, not what would have happened without the assistant.
Cite this study
POCKLA (2026). AI that answers and books: a UK flooring retailer’s WhatsApp assistant, August–October 2026. pockla.io/research/ai-that-answers-and-books
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