Startup Spotlight #36: Customer Satisfaction, Done Right
In the modern economy, consumers seem to have fewer rights with each passing day. Today's featured startup is trying to change that.
Project Overview
Ajust has created a service that acts as a “consumer advocate,” helping individuals resolve issues they encounter when purchasing goods or services from companies.
The core feature of the service is a specialized AI-powered assistant that drafts and sends formal complaints on behalf of consumers.
To use the service, users interact with the AI, which identifies the issue and asks relevant questions to gather all necessary details for the complaint. Once the information is collected, the AI drafts a letter that describes the problem, suggests reasonable compensation, and submits it to the appropriate company after the user’s approval.
If the company responds with an apology or compensation, the user can accept it or decline. In the latter case, Ajust suggests possible next steps, including filing a lawsuit.
Ajust only earns revenue from additional services requiring manual input — for instance, preparing lawsuits or representing users in court. Otherwise, the service is free, even if users receive compensation.
Interestingly, over 80% of Ajust’s users achieve satisfactory resolutions and compensation through the automated complaint process. This statistic is based on 20,000 complaints filed with 750 Australian companies, primarily in the telecommunications and retail sectors (20% each), followed by banks (15%), energy providers (7%), and airlines (5%).
Compensations typically range from AUD 50 to AUD 500. Depending on the case, companies either refund this amount directly or credit it to the user’s account.
Recently, Ajust raised AUD 2 million (approximately USD 1.29 million) in a new funding round, bringing its total funding to AUD 2.7 million (approximately USD 1.75 million).
What’s the Gist?
Here’s a compelling insight: each successfully resolved complaint through Ajust improves the company’s customer satisfaction score by an average of five points.
“Our worldview is there’s always going to be mistakes…,” says Ajust’s founder, Thomas Kaldor. “What matters is how you show up for your customers after that point”
In fact, customers may feel more satisfied with a company that resolves their complaints promptly than one that never encounters issues. It’s akin to friendships strengthened after initial disagreements.
Ajust is now running pilot programs with companies, offering its platform as a tool to turn customer complaints into lasting relationships. The AI provides clients with a calm, factual way to voice their grievances, unlike emotionally charged messages often lacking details. This enables companies to address issues efficiently, improving complaint resolution rates by 15% and customer satisfaction scores by nine points above industry averages.
From Ajust’s experience, the least effective responses from companies involve explanations of the issue with a discount for future services. Moderate responses include recalculating bills or offering a free month of service. The most effective? Refunds or financial compensation paired with an apology.
To promote its platform, Ajust leverages PR strategies. For example, during a wave of negative press about Qantas last year, the Kaldor published an open letter to the airline’s CEO, proposing the use of Ajust’s platform to address passenger complaints.
The letter highlighted two key issues:
1. Half of passengers felt it was too difficult to file complaints with Qantas.
2. A quarter of those who managed to file complaints reported receiving no response.
The proposed solution emphasized Ajust’s free tools to simplify complaint submission and help companies address issues faster. However, the founder noted, “This only works if the company genuinely cares about its customers,” subtly framing Ajust as essential for any customer-centric business.
Ultimately, Ajust is not merely a B2C platform for complaint submissions but a B2B solution for improving customer service. The B2C aspect serves as a marketing tool to attract business clients.
Key Takeaways
One potential growth path for Ajust is automating legal dispute resolution when compensation doesn’t justify the cost of hiring lawyers.
A similar approach can be seen in the startup Pap!, which recently graduated from Y Combinator.
Pap! developed an AI tool that automatically requests compensation when the price of purchased goods drops. By linking to users’ email receipts, the AI tracks price changes and submits claims for refunds — earning a commission on successful recoveries.
Another opportunity is creating AI tools for drafting detailed, well-structured complaints for support teams. Many customer grievances lack essential information, wasting time on back-and-forth exchanges and delaying resolutions. Properly formulated complaints could prioritize issues based on the severity of users’ demands, streamlining support processes.
As shown by Ajust, these two approaches — consumer-facing and business-focused — can be combined into one platform. The B2C component increases complaint submissions, while the B2B side helps companies resolve them efficiently. This dual strategy is both innovative and a clever marketing tactic.
What do you think of Ajust? Let us know in the comments!
Company info
Ajust
Website: https://www.ajust.com.au/
Last funding round: $1.29 million, 29.11.2024
Total funds raised: $1.75 million over 2 rounds