AI Agent Turns After-Hours Calls Into Sales Leads & Revenue

The Takeaway

1000bulbs uses Invoca's AI Messaging Agent for after-hours coverage that keeps leads in the funnel and for support deflection.

Stats:

• 67% opt-in rate
• 59% occurred on weekends with zero live coverage
• 45% converted to a scheduled specialist callback
• 51% resolved with no live-agent time needed

‍Mission

‍Since 1994, 1000Bulbs.com has grown from a single room to a leading online source for light bulbs, fixtures, and specialty lighting, serving contractors, electricians, and homeowners nationwide.

Challenge

1000Bulbs.com's specialist team is available on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Time. Everything outside that window, including nights, weekends, and holidays, went unanswered. For an online retailer selling to contractors, electricians, and homeowners around the country, that's a lot of missed activity: a shopper trying to match a bulb to a fixture, an account holder checking on a return, or a business customer who needs an answer before their crew shows up in the morning.

Solution

1000Bulbs deployed Invoca's AI Messaging Agent to cover exactly that gap. The agent was built to:

• Engage customers the moment they text in outside business hours, instead of leaving them with a dead-end voicemail
• Answer common product questions on the spot, helping shoppers compare options like LED versus halogen replacements
• Recognize when a request needs a specialist, account lookups, order status, defective items, and route it to a scheduled callback instead of guessing
• Capture a name and contact number on every engaged conversation, building a ready-made follow-up list for the team
• Hand off return and product-issue conversations with the details already documented, so nothing gets repeated

Insights

The team's read on the agent has been positive. Ryan Nabors, 1000Bulbs' Digital Marketing Director, has said he's pleased with how it's performing and has been clear that he does not want to replace the relationship his team has built with customers with AI. The AI agent deflects, routes, and handles after-hours calls, while the sales reps maintain direct, recurring relationships with commercial accounts. The agent freeing up rep time for those conversations, rather than trying to take them over, is exactly the fit he's looking for.

That demand has been real. Usage has consistently run ahead of plan, a clear signal that the after-hours window is busier than anyone expected.

Results

• 67% opt-in rate
• 59% occurred on weekends with zero live coverage
• 45% converted to a scheduled specialist callback
• 51% resolved with no live-agent time needed

The Impact

Customers who previously had to wait until the next business day now get immediate, useful responses, and in half the cases, get their question answered immediately.

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