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The Proud London Cuts Missed Customer Calls by 55% with Calilio
The UK-based sustainable fashion and accessories retailer replaced its single-device phone setup with Calilio’s cloud business phone system, helping its small team answer more calls, organise order enquiries, and follow up with wholesale prospects more consistently.
Overview
The Proud London is a UK-based sustainable accessories business specialising in handcrafted hemp backpacks, laptop bags, travel bags, tote bags, clothing, and other environmentally conscious products.
The company sells directly to customers through its website and Etsy store while also working with independent retailers through a wholesale programme. Its customers include commuters, travellers, students, festival-goers, gift buyers, and people looking for durable alternatives to conventional synthetic bags.
Although most transactions begin online, phone conversations remain important to the business. Customers often call before purchasing to ask whether a backpack will fit a particular laptop, when an item will arrive, whether a colour will be restocked, or how to arrange a return, exchange, or repair.
Wholesale conversations are usually more detailed. Retailers may want to discuss product availability, opening-order quantities, pricing, lead times, samples, and delivery arrangements before deciding whether to stock the range.
As the volume and variety of these conversations increased, The Proud London found that its existing mobile-phone setup no longer gave the team enough visibility or flexibility. A call could be missed simply because the person carrying the phone was packing an order, speaking with a courier, or dealing with another customer.
The company needed a better way to manage calls without losing the personal service customers expected from an independent brand.
The Challenge
1. Customer Calls Relied on One Device
Before Calilio, most customer calls reached a single business mobile phone.
The number was known to customers, but access depended on whoever had the device at the time. When that person was unavailable, another team member could not easily answer the same number, even when they were free to help.
This became particularly difficult during product launches, seasonal promotions, Christmas ordering, and periods of increased travel or festival-related purchases.
A missed call did not always result in a lost order, but it created unnecessary friction. Customers sometimes called again, sent an email, or moved to Etsy messaging. The team then had to piece together conversations across several channels.
2. Retail and Wholesale Enquiries Entered the Same Queue
All calls followed the same route, whether the caller wanted a delivery update or was an independent retailer interested in placing a wholesale order.
That made it difficult to prioritise commercially valuable enquiries.
Wholesale prospects often needed a structured follow-up that included:
- Business name and location
- Store type
- Products of interest
- Estimated opening-order size
- Preferred delivery date
- Sample or image requirements
- Best time for a follow-up call
When these conversations entered a general voicemail queue, important details could be delayed or missed.
3. Customer Context Was Not Shared
The Proud London communicated with customers through email, website forms, Etsy messages, social media, and phone calls. However, information from phone conversations was not stored in a shared workspace.
When a customer called again, another team member might not know what had already been discussed, whether a courier had been contacted, or what action had been promised.
Customers occasionally had to repeat their order number, delivery issue, product name, or preferred resolution. The same problem affected wholesale enquiries when a retailer spoke with more than one member of the team.
4. Callback Ownership Was Unclear
Voicemails were checked manually, and there was no central status showing whether a caller had already received a response.
During busy periods, one person could assume that another team member had returned a call. In other cases, two people could contact the same customer without realizing it.
The issue was not a lack of effort. The team simply did not have a shared process for assigning, tracking, and completing telephone follow-ups.
5. The Business Lacked Reliable Call Data
The existing setup provided little information about:
- Total inbound calls
- Missed-call rate
- Peak calling hours
- Response time
- Average call duration
- Frequent call reasons
- Wholesale enquiry volume
- Completed and outstanding callbacks
Without this information, the company had to plan phone coverage largely from memory.
The Solution: Why Calilio
After considering different options for managing customer calls, The Proud London chose Calilio for five key reasons:
- Cloud-first simplicity: Calilio provided a fully cloud-based phone system that allowed the team to answer one business number from laptops and smartphones, without installing desk phones or investing in office telephone infrastructure.
- Efficient call routing: the platform offered built-in call routing capabilities, making it easy to separate customer support from wholesale enquiries and direct callers to the right team member.
- Centralized communication: Calilio included shared voicemail, call history, notes, and basic call reporting in one place, giving the small team a practical way to manage customer interactions.
- Flexible business-hours management: features for handling calls outside normal working hours aligned with the company's need to remain accessible without building a large customer service operation.
- Scalable without complexity: Calilio delivered the functionality of a business phone system while avoiding the complexity of a traditional call-centre platform, making it a suitable fit for a small team focused on maintaining a personal customer experience.
The Implementation
1. Plan Selected
The Proud London subscribed to Calilio’s Premium Plan.
The plan was chosen because the business required IVR, business-hours routing, call recording, team management, advanced reporting, and AI-assisted call documentation.
2. Members Added
Four members were added to the workspace.
Member Type | Number | Main Responsibility |
| Owner and administrator | 1 | Workspace management, wholesale calls, reports, and escalations |
| Customer support and order operations | 2 | Product enquiries, order updates, delivery issues, returns, and repairs |
| Backup operations member | 1 | Overflow calls, supplier coordination, and seasonal coverage |
| Total | 4 |
Each person received an individual account so calls and follow-up activity could be attributed correctly.
3. Phone Number Setup
The company purchased one UK local number through Calilio.
No existing number was ported during the initial rollout. Instead, the new number was gradually added to the company website, email signatures, order communications, wholesale materials, and customer service information.
The previous number remained active temporarily to reduce the risk of missed calls during the transition.
4. Features Activated
The company enabled:
- UK virtual phone number
- Phone number sharing
- IVR
- Business-hours routing
- Call recording
- AI call transcription
- AI call summaries
- Call notes
- Call tags
- Call analytics
- Internal call transfer
- Pipedrive integration
5. Setup and Adoption
The initial configuration was completed in approximately four hours.
The process included: Creating the Calilio workspace
- Selecting the Premium Plan
- Purchasing the UK number
- Adding four team members
- Creating the customer support and wholesale groups
- Recording the IVR greeting
- Configuring business hours
- Setting call recording and voicemail rules
- Creating standard call tags
- Testing incoming, missed, transferred, and after-hours calls
The system was ready to receive calls in a couple of hours.
During the following week, the team adjusted ring durations, simplified some voicemail wording, and refined the tag list based on real calls.
Training focused on familiar situations rather than technical explanations. Team members practised handling a damaged-parcel report, a delivery update, a product-fit question, a repair request, a wholesale enquiry, and an after-hours callback.
Because the system worked through devices the team already used, adoption was straightforward.
The Results
3. Before and After Calilio
| Before Calilio | After Calilio |
| Calls depended heavily on one mobile device | Four members could answer one shared business number |
| Retail and wholesale calls followed the same route | IVR separated customer, product, and wholesale enquiries |
| Missed calls were difficult to assign | Each call had a visible history and follow-up status |
| Voicemails were checked manually | Voicemails appeared in one shared workspace |
| Customers sometimes repeated information | Notes, recordings, and AI summaries preserved context |
| Phone availability was planned from memory | Analytics showed peak days and calling hours |
| International callers reached an unattended phone | Business-hours routing provided clear after-hours guidance |
| Wholesale enquiries could remain in a general queue | Wholesale calls followed a dedicated route |
| Calls were tied to a physical handset | Calls could be managed through web and mobile applications |
1. Performance Summary
Performance metric | Before Calilio | After Calilio | Change |
| Missed inbound call rate | 22% | 10% | 55% reduction |
| Average first response time | 2 hours 32 minutes | 58 minutes | 62% faster |
| Calls answered within 30 seconds | 64% | 84% | 20% increase |
| Voicemails unresolved after one business day | 11 per week | 3 per week | 73% reduction |
| Average routine order-call duration | 6 minutes 5 seconds | 5 minutes 18 seconds | 13% reduction |
| Qualified wholesale enquiries reaching the next stage | 34% | 42% | 24% relative increase |
| Weekly time spent managing calls and callbacks | 5.25 hours | 3.25 hours | 2 hours saved |
2. Operational Improvements
i. Missed Calls Fell from 22% to 10%
The greatest improvement came from removing the team’s dependence on one device.
When the first person could not answer, the call moved to another member. Simultaneous ringing also gave several people the opportunity to answer during busy periods.
Calls received after hours or while all members were occupied were still captured in a central voicemail queue, making them easier to identify and return.
ii. First Response Time Dropped Below One Hour
Average first response time improved from two hours and 32 minutes to 58 minutes.
The business did not add new support staff. The improvement came from clearer ownership and better visibility.
Team members could immediately see when a call arrived, which IVR route the caller selected, whether a message was left, and what follow-up remained outstanding.
iii. More Calls Were Answered Promptly
The percentage of calls answered within 30 seconds increased from 64% to 84%.
Product and order calls reached a team rather than an individual phone. During promotions, temporary changes to the routing allowed additional members to support the customer service line without changing the public number.
iv. Outstanding Voicemails Fell by 73%
Before Calilio, an average of 11 voicemails remained unresolved after one business day. After implementation, that number fell to three.
The improvement came from a shared voicemail list, scheduled reviews, and visible ownership of each callback.
Time-sensitive order and delivery issues were handled first, while wholesale messages moved directly to the owner’s follow-up queue.
v. Routine Calls Became More Efficient
Average handling time for routine order calls decreased from six minutes and five seconds to five minutes and 18 seconds.
The company did not rush conversations involving complaints, repairs, or detailed product guidance. The reduction came mainly from repeat enquiries.
Previous notes, recordings, and AI summaries gave team members enough context to continue the conversation without asking customers to repeat information.
vi. Wholesale Follow-Up Became More Consistent
The percentage of qualified wholesale enquiries progressing to a defined next stage increased from 34% to 42%.
Calilio did not create demand for the products. It helped the company respond to existing interests more consistently and capture the information needed to move each inquiry forward.
vii. Two Hours of Administration Were Recovered Each Week
Central call history, visible voicemail status, and AI-generated summaries reduced the time spent checking separate call logs, confirming who had returned a call, and rewriting conversation notes.
The team recovered approximately two hours each week, which could be redirected to order fulfilment, customer communication, product work, and wholesale preparation.
“Before Calilio, customer and wholesale calls depended too heavily on one person being available. When things became busy, it was difficult to see which calls still needed a response. Now another team member can answer the same number, review the previous context, and continue the follow-up. Wholesale enquiries also have a clearer route instead of sitting alongside everyday order questions. It has helped us stay personal with customers while becoming much more organized behind the scenes.”
Ranjan Poudel
Owner, The Proud London
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