How APLAZO improved CSAT while scaling conversational support

APLAZO is not just another Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) platform; it's a financial empowerment engine for millions in Mexico. By enabling users to shop online or in stores and pay in flexible, biweekly installments without needing a traditional credit card, APLAZO is democratizing access to responsible credit. This mission has propelled them to become Mexico’s leading BNPL platform, serving millions of users and generating 300,000+ app downloads per month. Operating in a market projected to explode to USD 18.5B by 2030, APLAZO is defining the standard for customer trust and service, maintaining its status as the highest‑rated installment payments app in Mexico with stellar scores of 4.8 on Google Play and 4.9 on the App Store.

As APLAZO entered a phase of hypergrowth, customer support became mission-critical. Expanding from a trusted, personal service to a national BNPL platform meant evolving their support model to handle surging demand while preserving the empathy, speed and clarity that defined their brand.

As business grew, APLAZO knew they needed to not just keep up but stand out. The team required a scalable solution that could deliver timely, accurate responses while preserving the empathy and trust that set their service apart.

APLAZO chose Kustomer AI not as a replacement for its support team, but as a dual-pronged engine to optimize the entire customer conversation landscape.

"AI is not meant to replace teams, but to enable them to focus on what creates the most value, solving real problems and supporting our users with empathy." - Alex Wieland, Co‑Founder and CRO, APLAZO

1. AI for Customers: The 24/7 Frontline Expert

Kustomer AI for Customers took over the heavy lifting of responding to general inquiries in APLAZO's primary conversational channels:WhatsApp and the newly integrated in‑app chat, which together account for 95% of general info inquiries.

APLAZO configured Kustomer AI to deliver instant, natural, and friendly responses in Mexican Spanish. Specialized Kustomer AI Agents were deployed to act as an intelligent shield, answering routine informational questions 24/7, offering a seamless, one‑tap path to a live agent when needed. This ensured users always felt heard and never waited for a simple answer.

2. AI for Reps: The Agent Superpower

For the remaining cases that truly require human empathy and expertise, Kustomer AI for Reps supercharged APLAZO's agents. This layer augments human reps with real‑time suggested answers, guides them through complex financial workflows, and provides responses grounded in the exact same trusted knowledge base as the customer-facing AI. This approach drastically boosts accuracy, minimizes errors, reduces agent stress, and crucially, empowers the human team to focus on the high-value, sensitive problems that truly require their attention.

“Kustomer’s AI for Reps has had a measurable impact on our operations. It empowers our team with the right information at the right time, driving greater consistency and quality in customer interactions. We’ve seen meaningful improvements in response times and overall efficiency, as our reps spend less time searching for information and more time delivering value to customers..” - Mariano Piña , VP of Operations, APLAZO

The implementation was designed for maximum impact with minimal disruption. Kustomer seamlessly integrated behind APLAZO’s existing conversational channels—unifying WhatsApp and in‑app chat. This central platform ensures that when a conversation transfers from an AI bot to a human, the agent receives the full context of the interaction, eliminating frustrating repetition and making every handoff smooth and intelligent.

“Kustomer unified our workflows in a way that removed friction from handoffs. In scenarios where conversations need to be escalated, agents receive complete context instantly, which improves speed, accuracy, and the overall customer experience.” - Mariano Piña , VP of Operations, APLAZO

The deployment of Kustomer AI delivered transformative results, validating APLAZO’s vision for intelligent scale:

• Trust and Satisfaction Skyrocketed: Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) increased by 40% for general-information inquiries within just four months. Users received fast, accurate answers when they needed them most, building confidence in the platform.
• Automations at Scale: Automation’s share of total inquiries increased by 36%, improving efficiency without sacrificing quality.
• Sharper Agent Focus: Response times for frequently asked questions became notably faster and consistently accurate. This allowed human specialists to dedicate their time to more sensitive financial cases, complex issue resolution, and critical customer retention efforts, reducing errors through enhanced workflow clarity.
• Built for Growth: APLAZO now has a sustainable support model that can absorb projected inquiry volume growth as the market expands.

“Kustomer helped us scale in a way that improved both efficiency and quality. Today, customer satisfaction is up 40%, and our team can focus on high-value conversations that require empathy and expertise. It’s allowed us to grow without sacrificing the human experience.” - Alex Wieland, Co‑Founder and CRO, APLAZO

By pairing customer‑facing automation with intelligent agent assistance, APLAZO successfully navigated the challenge of scaling nationwide without compromising its core commitment to the human touch. They’ve proved that in the sensitive world of fintech, scaling through technology doesn't diminish empathy—it amplifies it.