We usually think about an eye exam only once our eyes start sending clear signals. Text on the screen turns blurry, your head aches by the end of the day, your eyes water, feel heavy, or tire more quickly. Then somewhere a thought appears - I should book an appointment with an optometrist. But in the daily rush it often gets pushed to tomorrow. And then to the next day.
The moment I finally pick up the phone almost never lines up with the store's opening hours. It comes late in the evening or on a weekend, but by then, of course, the store is closed. The thought of an eye exam and new glasses gets postponed again.
Many Latvian stores and clinics quietly lose customers every day - customers whose calls they never even know about. The optics store Novoptika decided to solve this problem with the help of an AI voice agent.
The quiet losses that never show up in any report
For Novoptika's management, the problem I described was nothing new. The store's co-owner, Edgars Novikovs, put it precisely:
The biggest challenge with calls has never been in the middle of the day, when the team is on site and every call is heard. The real difficulty starts in the evenings and on weekends - the hours when people finally have time to call.- Edgars Novikovs, Novoptika co-owner
That's exactly when what Edgars calls the quiet losses happen:
- existing customers leave when they don't get an answer and feel neglected;
- new customer bookings are lost - they never reach the system, and the caller dials the next store on the list instead.
Just as it happens with other healthcare providers, these losses don't show up in any report. A call that no one answers leaves no trace. It simply disappears - along with the customer. That's exactly why Novoptika is now deliberately working on improving the customer experience at every level of the company.
This isn't a single isolated improvement but a broader direction - rethinking how customers get in touch with the store, how requests are handled, and where everyday processes can cut unnecessary waiting for both customers and the team.
Handling calls outside business hours was the logical first step. This is exactly where the losses were most obvious and easiest to prevent.
Why Novoptika chose instadial
The main goal was not to lose a customer the moment the store is closed, and to do it in a way that wouldn't burden the team or create high additional costs.
Edgars had three clear criteria:
- fast rollout, without months of preparation;
- a simple process, without complex integration of existing systems;
- the option to start with one specific time window - evenings and weekends.
The cooperation between instadial and Novoptika began with a very simple conversation about how Novoptika currently handles incoming calls and how to cover the time period when the optics team is resting.
Edgars chose instadial with a clear purpose - to improve call handling and ease the staff's workload exactly where it was felt most. The goal was also to introduce AI tools gradually, in order to test their impact.
How the AI voice assistant works after hours
1. A customer calls in the evening or on a weekend
When the optics store is closed, every Novoptika call is answered by the AI voice assistant. It introduces itself as Novoptika's virtual assistant, listens to the customer, notes their wishes, and the very next morning an administrator gets in touch with the customer.
The customer doesn't have to talk to an automated answering machine that only understands "yes" and "no" - the conversation flows naturally, just like with a real person. The assistant asks simple, focused questions:
- What is the reason for the call?
- What is the customer's name and contact number?
- What service is needed - an eye exam, new glasses, or a frame adjustment?
- What appointment time would be preferred?
2. Gathering the information
The entire AI-led conversation is saved in the system in a structured, clear way:
- with no errors;
- with no misunderstandings;
- with no need for the customer to repeat what they have already said.
3. Handing the information to the team
The next working morning, the Novoptika team receives:
- a summary of all evening and night calls;
- customer contacts;
- booking preferences, as well as full transcripts of every conversation.
The team doesn't have to search for anything. The information is already in the system - clear, organized, and ready to act on. All the administrator has to do is call the customer and confirm the visit or offer another time.
Next steps
In the second phase of the rollout, the plan is to integrate the assistant with the booking system, so the AI assistant can make bookings in the store's calendar itself and automatically send the customer a visit confirmation and reminders.
This way, relatively monotonous work at all hours of the day will be handled by AI. Administrators, in turn, will be free for more important conversations and other tasks.
The customer first, not the technology
Novoptika's example is the story of a company that consciously chooses to grow and modernize its processes. It does so by paying attention to the everyday situations where a customer's first impression - or first disappointment - is most often formed.
One missed customer in optics is never just one call. Behind it lies:
- an eye exam (roughly 40-60 EUR);
- new glasses (roughly 100-300 EUR);
- possibly family members who come along and also want an exam or to buy something;
- a repeat visit a year later.
In other words, a missed call means both lost revenue and a lost potential customer. And customer loyalty, once lost, usually never comes back.
Novoptika chose to put the customer first. Even when the lights in the store are off.
