10% Higher Article Reach at 16 Million Accounts: Rakuten Bank's Online-First Support Strategy

Rakuten Bank, Ltd.

Banking·1,001+ employees·Customer Support

10% Higher Article Reach at 16 Million Accounts: Rakuten Bank's Online-First Support Strategy

At a glance

• Article reach rate up 10%+
• No-hit searches reduced to ~3%
• 16 million accounts served with online-first self-service
• Data-driven operations model with monthly CS-led reviews

The Challenge

Rakuten Bank's Content Planning Division manages every customer touchpoint for over 16 million accounts, yet they couldn't tell whether customers were actually resolving their questions in the FAQ. Inquiry content from phone, chat, and email centered on basic internet banking procedures like opening an account.

As an internet bank, customers expect to resolve questions immediately, right where they are. The team repeatedly added FAQ articles and registered expected keywords, but whether these efforts were solving the root problem remained unclear. The real concern: customers who fail to find answers and don't bother contacting support simply risk disengaging from the bank altogether. The FAQ was clearly critical to customer satisfaction, but incremental fixes didn't feel like meaningful progress.

Why Helpfeel

The team learned about Helpfeel through a referral. The intent-prediction search feature, which handles variations in how customers type the same keyword, seemed like it could address the visibility gap they faced.

Equally important: they hadn't been running data-driven improvements to the FAQ system. Introducing Helpfeel with Customer Success support would help them build a better operational structure. They launched a proof of concept with clear KPIs: no-hit rate, article reach rate, search utilization rate, bounce rate, and re-search count.

What They Did

• Migrated existing FAQ articles directly into Helpfeel and launched the PoC, measuring article reach and no-hit rate from day one
• After PoC KPIs cleared (article reach rate improved by 10%+, no-hit rate dropped to ~3%), moved to full deployment
• Established monthly review meetings with Helpfeel Customer Success, Content Planning, and call center teams to analyze data and plan initiatives
• Built an internal FAQ operations guideline based on insights from iterative article improvements, with CS team input
• Enabled the entire team to operate the system through detailed onboarding, eliminating reliance on specific individuals

Results

Metrics including article reach rate and no-hit rate have stayed consistently strong across the board. The bank genuinely feels that a significant number of customers are now resolving their questions through Helpfeel.

Article reach rate improved by 10%+, and the no-hit rate reduced to approximately 3%. The Customer Success team flags unusual patterns, such as a sudden spike in searches for "NISA" when the new NISA scheme received major media coverage. The team investigated, identified keyword gaps, and added articles to address growing demand before inquiries piled up.

Beyond the metrics, Helpfeel solved the knowledge-lock problem. Previously, only specific individuals could update content or configure the admin panel. Now everyone involved can operate the system, and the monthly review process gives the team a quantifiable sense that they're enhancing the customer experience.

"What I'm most grateful for is having the opportunity at every monthly review meeting to think through initiatives based on data analysis results. Because the proposals are grounded in facts, we find them persuasive and can move to action quickly."

Chie Chiyonobu, Content Planning Division, Content Planning Department

Looking Ahead

The FAQ is one of the division's most important customer touchpoints. The team will continue improving individual articles and overall readability so customers can smoothly resolve their questions. They also want the FAQ to handle time-sensitive information needs, like emergency maintenance notices, so customers searching during incidents can find answers immediately.

The ideal is a seamlessly designed service where customers never need to contact support with a question. Customer situations will always vary, so questions will arise, but the team will keep driving improvements with the goal of providing an ever-better FAQ experience.

“What I'm most grateful for is having the opportunity at every monthly review meeting to think through initiatives based on data analysis results. Because the proposals are grounded in facts, we find them persuasive and can move to action quickly.”

— Chie Chiyonobu, Content Planning Division, Content Planning Department