Chatbot specialist Envolve Tech in Newport has won the Best Emerging Technology or Start Up at this year’s 15th annual Performance Marketing Awards, celebrating the industry’s most innovative and ground breaking campaigns, companies and individuals.

The Envolve Tech team gathered over pizza to witness their triumph in the virtual awards, recognising an incredible first full year as an affiliate-based technology. During this time they achieved growth across the key areas of clients, sales generated and commissions of several thousand percent, establishing the company as one of the key technology players in the affiliate space.

CEO Emma Smith said:

“I’m so proud of our entire team for winning the Best Emerging Technology or Start Up award at the Performance Marketing Awards. Being a tech start-up is a massive team effort and I’m so pleased that all our hard work is really paying off.” Chairman Mark Smith said: “We’re thrilled with the recognition of the incredible progress Envolve has made, and continues to make, with the Virtual Shopping Assistant. Since entering the affiliate scene less than 18 months ago, Envolve has gone from strength to strength, powering a fantastic experience for retailers and consumers alike.”

Envolve’s artificial intelligence-powered Virtual Shopping Assistant identifies and converts sales opportunities in customer chat channels while reducing customer service costs. It was recognised by the judges for combining a number of key areas which ensure the human touch remains in this highly automated world. The company built a data-analytics team to answer questions correctly, and also focus on key events, from Valentine’s Day to Mother’s Day, Christmas through to relevant sports events – giving the user that human-level experience that is often missing in the chat-bot arena. Through 2020, handover rate was reduced from 30% to 5% – meaning that an amazing 95% of queries asked of the Virtual Shopping Assistant were successfully answered.

The Performance Marketing Awards judges commended Envolve Tech for:

“An innovative approach to the chatbot space that provides a low-risk and demonstrable return on investment. Envolve Tech have started in earnest during a tough year for all businesses, and I look forward to seeing how their tech continues to evolve!”

Envolve Tech obtained Development Bank of Wales funding to support its growth plans, was on Welsh Government’s Accelerated Growth Programme, and has been supported through a number of its programmes, including Smart Cymru and Trade support.