ODEON Cinemas delivers boffo results with Zendesk AI

Since opening its first cinema in 1930, moviegoers have flocked to ODEON Cinemas to experience unforgettable films on the big screen. Today, ODEON is one of the largest cinema chains in the U.K. and Ireland, with more than 100 locations serving millions of guests each year.

As guest expectations evolved and customer interactions became increasingly digital, ODEON needed a more scalable way to support guests. The company turned to Zendesk for AI-powered solutions and guidance from its CX acceleration engagement program.

From simple chatbots to AI-powered conversations

Before adopting Zendesk AI Expert Plus, ODEON experimented with a chatbot that relied on rigid decision trees and predefined responses.

“It worked as a proof of concept,” says Sam Bellis, Guest Service Manager at ODEON. “But the automations were sitting around 10 percent on a good day.”

With support from Zendesk Professional Services, ODEON migrated to Zendesk messaging and implemented Zendesk AI agents Advanced. The team quickly moved from a rules-based chatbot to an AI-powered experience capable of understanding intent, engaging customers in natural conversations, and guiding them to resolution.

“The ability to automate and optimize is leagues ahead with Zendesk—it’s an impressive bit of kit,” says Bellis. “It was like going from stone tools to the steam engine—and we set it up in just a couple of weeks.”

Today, Zendesk AI agents resolve or deflect about 60 percent of customer inquiries. The AI agent handles repeat questions, guides guests through refund requests, collects the information needed to create tickets via API, and routes work to the appropriate queue. What once required a five-minute conversation with an agent can now become a 30-second task.

The impact is especially visible during blockbuster releases. Previously, spikes in cinema attendance often led to corresponding increases in support demand. Now, AI agents absorb much of that volume, helping ODEON maintain service levels while delivering bot satisfaction scores between 80 and 90 percent. The company also resolves 72.5 percent of tickets without agent intervention and 23.4 percent with a single touch, enabling agents to handle an average of 1,660 solved tickets each.

Automating high-volume requests

One of ODEON’s most successful AI use cases has been ticket refunds and booking amendments. Instead of requiring guests to wait for a live agent, Zendesk AI agents now guide customers through the process.

“The AI agent has the conversation with the guest, takes all the details, and creates a ticket,” Bellis explains. “Now, our teams spend 30 seconds doing a refund instead of having a five-minute interaction.”

The change reduced handling time for a common support request by 90 percent.

The AI-powered platform has also helped ODEON manage sudden spikes in demand around viral events. Instead of delivering generic automated responses, the company can quickly create conversational experiences tailored to specific audiences.

“I’ll give you an example,” says Bellis. “The Amazing Digital Circus, which is a hugely popular series online, asked all of their diehard fans—including my ten-year-old daughter—to go and pester all the cinema chains to book the finale in theaters.”

As a result, ODEON received hundreds of thousands of emails from excited fans. To deflect the volume of emails, ODEON set up a process where the AI agent could reference lines from the show and have engaging conversations with fans.

“Guests were much happier speaking to the AI agent,” Bellis says. “It could acknowledge their excitement and engage with them in a way that felt relevant and personal.”

The experience demonstrated how quickly ODEON could adapt its AI agent to emerging trends and fan-driven campaigns.

Accelerating transformation with the Zendesk CX Acceleration program

To successfully manage this transition, ODEON partnered with the Zendesk CX acceleration engagement team.

The collaborative program was rolled out in three distinct phases designed to lay a technical foundation, launch advanced automation, and continuously optimize operations. The hands-on collaboration with Zendesk solution consultants provided an educational breakthrough that extended far beyond standard software onboarding.

“The real benefit was understanding how whatever we were working on at the time connects to the bigger Zendesk picture,” says Bellis. “My understanding of Zendesk from before the program to now is drastic—the difference is night and day. It’s like when Neo starts seeing the code in The Matrix.”

Through the engagement program, the team moved away from simply “firefighting” incoming issues to strategically utilizing underlying Zendesk features. They reviewed their SLAs, analyzed customer journeys, and learned how various triggers, automations, and agent statuses actively interact with omnichannel routing to maximize back-end efficiency.

Creating a better experience for guests and agents

A key part of ODEON’s AI strategy has been transparency. The company clearly identifies its virtual assistant as AI and gives guests the option to escalate to a human agent whenever needed.

“We found that the best way to get people on board with the AI agent is to give them a choice,” says Bellis. “When we didn’t, people would get really cross and didn’t want to engage with it. But now that they have an option, people are much happier to engage with AI.”

The approach delivered an unexpected result: more guests chose to continue their conversations with the AI agent when a human alternative was available than when it wasn’t. Guest sentiment has remained strong, with the virtual assistant consistently earning satisfaction scores between 80 and 90 percent.

Internally, the transformation has also changed perceptions of AI. At first, some team members worried automation might replace their roles. Instead, they found it removed repetitive work and allowed them to focus on higher-value customer interactions.

“They can see it’s not there to take their job,” says Jodie Kirkham, Guest Service Manager at ODEON. “It’s there to make their job easier because it only deals with the questions that don’t need an advisor. Then the advisors are there to actually help the guest.”

The results have been significant. ODEON’s Zendesk benchmarking data shows exceptionally high ticket productivity per agent, while automation and self-service initiatives continue to reduce manual workloads.

Building the foundation for self-service

The success of ODEON’s AI strategy didn’t happen overnight. Years before implementing AI Agents, the company invested in creating a strong self-service foundation through Zendesk.

“The Zendesk consultant helped us set up the system from the ground up,” says Nick Gimbert, Guest Service Center Manager at ODEON. “And we just basically lifted and shifted all our existing FAQs from the old website into the new one.”

Instead of simply adding more articles, the team focused on making information easier to find and easier to understand.

“I think we actually have fewer articles now than when we started because they’re more concise,” says Kirkham. “Over time, we whittled it down and made them more informative.”

That foundation became increasingly valuable as ODEON introduced new offerings, including its Limitless subscription program, loyalty initiatives, and seasonal promotions.

The company also had to navigate demand spikes tied to major film releases and merchandise launches. During the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon, for example, interest in limited-edition Barbie merchandise drove an extraordinary increase in customer contacts.

“In one week, I think we had about 18,000 contacts,” Gimbert recalls. “I’d say 90 percent of them were about Barbie cups.”

The experience reinforced the value of having concise, searchable content that could help guests find answers without contacting support.

Coming attractions

ODEON plans to expand automation further, explore additional AI-powered workflows, and bring voice support into Zendesk to create a truly unified customer service operation.

But reflecting on their AI journey, the team has one clear takeaway.

“I would have done a lot of this work sooner,” Gimbert laughs.

As ODEON continues to invest in automation, self-service, and AI-powered experiences, the company is focused on giving guests the same seamless experience behind the scenes as they enjoy on the big screen.