Stewart Golf, the leading manufacturer of follow golf trolleys, has transformed its customer support operation with AI-powered customer experience platform Crescendo. The partnership has reduced first response times from up to 72 hours to just one minute, while simultaneously achieving 100% customer satisfaction for four consecutive weeks.
Founded more than 20 years ago, Stewart Golf serves customers across the UK and US through operations in Britain and Houston, Texas, selling high-performance golf trolleys, accessories and support services to golfers worldwide. As the company expanded internationally, customer support became increasingly challenging.
Every support ticket was still managed through a UK-based team operating during British working hours. Weekend coverage was limited, meaning a golfer in Florida experiencing an issue during a round could wait days for an answer that was already documented in the company’s knowledge base. During peak periods, including Black Friday, bank holidays and the start of the golf season, support backlogs could grow into the thousands.
To address the challenge, Stewart Golf deployed Crescendo’s AI platform across chat and email channels, publicly branding the AI assistant as “Stewie”. The solution combines AI-powered automation with human expertise, enabling weekday support from Stewart Golf’s internal team and weekend coverage from Crescendo’s trained customer service agents.
No more waiting on the fairway
Within a month of launch, Stewie was resolving 75% of customer enquiries globally across chat and email. Customers can now receive answers to questions about products, deliveries, warranties and troubleshooting within minutes, while more complex cases are automatically escalated to a human agent.
The impact has been significant:
75% of customer enquiries resolved by AI across chat and email
First response times reduced from 24-72 hours to one minute
Average escalation time from AI to human agent of just 24 seconds
24/7 support coverage across the UK and US
Internal teams freed to focus on complex customer issues rather than repetitive enquiries
Nathan Hooper, Head of Customer Experience at Stewart Golf, commented: “Working with Crescendo has changed what we thought was possible in customer experience. The platform didn't just solve our coverage gaps, it gave us a level of consistency and quality we'd never been able to achieve before. Four consecutive weeks of 100% customer satisfaction isn't something I ever expected to see, and that's a direct result of what Crescendo has built. Stewie has become a genuine extension of our brand."
Before implementing Crescendo, Hooper estimated Stewart Golf would have needed to increase its customer experience headcount by 50% to maintain service levels during peak periods while providing weekend coverage.
The company initially explored building automated workflows within Zendesk and evaluated native AI capabilities, but found existing solutions lacked the conversational experience customers expected. Crescendo demonstrated a working AI assistant using Stewart Golf’s existing Zendesk knowledge base within days, providing accurate, on-brand responses while seamlessly escalating more complex enquiries to human agents when required.
Looking Ahead
Matt Price, CEO of Crescendo, said: “Most AI companies think about AI in customer support as a cost problem to solve. Stewart Golf saw it as an experience to build. That mindset is exactly why their results speak for themselves – from multi-day response times to five-star reviews. What comes next is even more exciting, with that same intelligence moving seamlessly from answering questions today to guiding purchases tomorrow. The best sales tool they’d have is just great service.”
The platform continues to improve through every customer interaction. Crescendo’s Automatic QA functionality scores every conversation, while Stewart Golf’s team reviews edge cases and updates supporting content in its knowledge base.
With support now operating around the clock without increasing headcount, Stewart Golf can continue expanding across both sides of the Atlantic while protecting the reputation it has built over more than two decades. The company is already looking ahead to the next phase of its partnership with Crescendo, including the implementation of Crescendo’s AI Shopping Assistant, which will enable Stewie to guide customers from support conversations through to purchase recommendations.