About BetFred
Betfred is one of the largest privately owned betting company in the UK, operating 24/7 across more than 1,500 retail shops and digital channels. The digital customer service team supports around 150,000 weekly active users, handling over 11,000 live chats alongside email and in-app queries each week.
The Challenge
By 2024, Betfred’s CRM was no longer fit for a high-volume, regulated operation. Advisors had to switch between multiple systems to handle a single query, with no central view of previous interactions or escalation history. Many escalations were managed outside the platform altogether, making them harder to track and slowing down compliance responses.
"Our previous CRM system wasn’t meeting our requirements… and it was meaning that our advisors were having to use several different systems in order just to resolve a query.”
- Julian Wood, Customer Service & Experience Professional
A lack of automation meant even routine enquiries had to be managed manually, while limited reporting gave little visibility into contact drivers or service performance. As a result, CSAT scores were beginning to fall.
The Solution
Following an RFP process that included Zendesk and Salesforce, Betfred chose Halo as its CRM partner in early 2024. The rollout began with the digital and retail customer service teams, bringing all live chat, email and app-based enquiries into a single platform with full visibility of each customer’s history.
As more departments have been onboarded into Halo, escalation processes have become significantly more efficient. Advisors can link an escalation directly to the customer record, and when another team resolves it, the ticket automatically reopens and routes back, replacing manual Outlook follow-ups and preventing missed contacts.
Halo’s AI-powered chatbot, embedded across Betfred’s website and mobile app, is fuelled by an integrated knowledge base and can be updated instantly. From a standing start, the bot now resolves a significant share of daily enquiries, deflecting common questions and allowing advisors to focus on complex cases.
During spikes in contact volume, the team can quickly identify the cause and make immediate bot or messaging changes, a process that previously took up to 12 hours. Reporting gives detailed insight into why customers are getting in touch, how interactions are handled, and where improvements can be made.
The platform’s flexibility allows the team to reconfigure workflows, update front-end messaging, and adjust business rules in a matter of hours. Workflows are now being standardised across the organisation, with every current procedure improved by Halo’s functionality.
"Every current procedure or workflow that we’re coming up with to use on Halo has been improved by just the functionality that Halo can offer.”
- Joseph Potts, Digital Customer Service Advisor
The Results
Halo has given Betfred the tools and visibility to deliver faster, more consistent service while maintaining agility in a high-volume, regulated environment.
- 95% transformation of workflows and procedures – Almost every process has been improved or redesigned since moving to Halo.
- AI deflection from 0% to 28% of daily chats in six months – The bot now resolves routine queries by directing customers to the right information or answering outright, freeing advisors to focus on complex cases.
- Compliance turnaround cut from 72 hours to same day – All actions are logged in the customer contact record, creating a clear audit trail.
- Automatic prioritisation for vulnerable customers – Ensures the right level of attention during busy periods.
- Smoother cross-team escalations – Tickets are passed directly to the right team and automatically returned when resolved, reducing touchpoints and missed follow-ups.
- Improved customer satisfaction – CSAT scores are trending upwards as customers get quicker, more accurate answers.
"The support we get from Halo is massively important. It feels personalised, not corporate, and we’re driving towards the same goals.”
- Julian Wood, Customer Service & Experience Professional
The scalable foundation built with Halo is only the beginning, as Betfred and Halo continue to collaborate on expanding capabilities and setting new standards for customer service.