Chemby’s Herbal Products sells herbal skincare from the hills of Wayanad, and most of its sales start as a WhatsApp message. This is how Sendiee’s first customer went from two people answering every chat by hand to an AI that replies in seconds, in Malayalam, and closes the sale inside the chat.
Chemby’s Herbal Products, a D2C herbal skincare brand in Wayanad, Kerala, uses Sendiee’s AI on WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger. The AI writes 94% of all replies with a median first reply of 11 seconds. It answers in Malayalam, Manglish and English, understands voice notes, and checks UPI payment screenshots before placing orders. Chemby’s reports that monthly sales have tripled.
About Chemby’s
Chemby’s Herbal Products (Chembys Herbals) is a herbal skincare brand from Kalpetta, in the hills of Wayanad, Kerala. It sells 100% herbal cosmetics direct to customers through chembys.com, Instagram (@chembys_herbals), WhatsApp and Amazon. The range is built on traditional Kerala ingredients: Kasthuri Manjal (wild turmeric), rose water, carrot seed virgin coconut oil, red sandalwood powder and anti-dandruff hair oil.
Chemby’s was Sendiee’s very first customer. They signed up before Sendiee’s own WhatsApp Business API onboarding was finished. The Sendiee team onboarded them by hand, and it became a working partnership: Chemby’s told us where their day was breaking, and we built the fix. The brand has since expanded into jewellery and other categories, but the story began with the herbal range.
A scaling wall at 150 chats a day
Before Sendiee, 100 to 150 customer enquiries arrived every day, and two support executives answered all of them by hand. Four problems kept capping sales.
Replies took 10 to 15 minutes
Skincare is often an impulse buy. A customer who asks എത്ര രൂപ ആണ്?“How much is it?” and waits fifteen minutes has usually moved on.
Customers write the way they talk
Malayalam script, Manglish, or both in one message. Some ask “offer undo?” when they mean “is there an offer?”. Replying accurately at speed was a constant strain.
Voice notes
Many customers would rather speak than type. Every voice note meant stopping to listen, understand and type a reply.
Manual payment checks
Customers pay by UPI and send a screenshot. Each one meant opening the business account, finding the payment, matching amount and name, then confirming by hand.
There was a fifth problem nobody could see yet. Our data now shows that 41% of Chemby’s customer messages arrive outside 9 am to 7 pm, and 9 pm is one of the busiest hours of the day. Before Sendiee, those customers waited until staff were back, and follow-ups were tracked from memory, so warm leads often went cold.
- 9 am – 7 pm 59%
- 7 pm – 11 pm 24%
- 11 pm – 9 am 17%
How it works
Chemby’s did not want a menu bot that asks customers to “press 1 for products”. They wanted the WhatsApp number to behave like their best salesperson: answer in the customer’s language, understand a voice note, recommend the right product, take the order, check the payment and follow up, at any hour.
Sendiee connected Chemby’s WhatsApp Business account, Instagram and Facebook page to one inbox, with an AI assistant on each channel trained on Chemby’s products, offers, delivery rules and tone.
Replies in Malayalam, Manglish or English
The AI detects the language of the customer’s first message and replies the same way. Malayalam script gets Malayalam; Manglish gets Manglish. The tone is everyday chat Malayalam mixed with English, the way people in Kerala actually text, not formal textbook Malayalam. It also handles Tamil and Kannada.
1 in 9 text messages Chemby’s receives is in Malayalam script.
Understands voice notes
Customers can send a voice note instead of typing. The AI listens to it directly, works out what the customer wants, and replies with product options, a price or an answer, in seconds. That matters most for customers who find typing slow, often the ones a brand would otherwise lose.
1 in 15 messages Chemby’s receives is a voice note.
Checks UPI payment screenshots
Chemby’s takes payment by UPI or cash on delivery. When a customer pays by UPI, the AI asks for the payment screenshot and reads it to check two things: that the payment went to Chemby’s, and that the amount matches the order total. If both match, it places the order and confirms it in the same chat.
If the screenshot doesn’t match, it asks again. It never confirms an order on an “I’ve already paid” message without the screenshot. Chemby’s estimates that about 95% of payment checks now happen without anyone on the team stepping in.
Follows up on every open enquiry
Every conversation is sorted automatically into a lead category: Enquiry, Add to Cart, Purchased, Wholesale, Collaboration, Not Interested or Spam. Each category has its own follow-up sequence, so a customer who asked about a product but didn’t order gets a timely, relevant nudge from the AI, inside WhatsApp’s 24-hour window.
89% of AI-handled conversations get a follow-up; 73% of WhatsApp follow-ups are read.
- Catalog, buttons and listsCustomers browse skincare or hair care, pick a combo and check out without leaving the chat.
- One inbox, three channelsWhatsApp, Instagram DMs and Messenger, with the same AI and the same order flow.
- Team takes over in one tapStaff can step into any chat. The AI pauses as soon as they reply, so customers never get two answers.
Built together with Sendiee’s first customer
Chemby’s didn’t just use Sendiee; they shaped it. Several features every Sendiee customer uses today were first built and tested with Chemby’s, including voice note understanding, screenshot-based payment checks and natural regional-language replies.
- 2025Chemby's becomes Sendiee's first customer. An AI assistant goes live on Instagram.
- Nov 2025The WhatsApp Business API goes live. The AI answers its first WhatsApp customer the same day.
- Jan 2026Instagram DMs move into the same Sendiee inbox as WhatsApp.
- Apr 2026Facebook Messenger is added, completing the three Meta channels.
- 2026Voice notes, payment screenshot checks, lead categories and AI follow-ups are rolled out and refined with Chemby’s feedback.
The numbers
Between 5 July – 30 September 2026, Sendiee’s AI wrote 94% of every reply Chemby’s customers received, and staff typed fewer than 1 in 100. Most of the rest were automatic replies sent outside Sendiee. The team now spends its time on the conversations that need a person.
Measured on the Sendiee platform Measured
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Median time to first AI reply | 11 seconds97% within 30 seconds, 99% within a minute |
| Replies written by AI | 94%Staff typed fewer than 1 in 100 |
| Conversations where AI replied first | 9 in 10 |
| Messages arriving outside 9 am – 7 pm | 41%All answered instantly |
| Text messages in Malayalam script | 1 in 9Plus Manglish, Tamil and Kannada |
| Incoming messages that are voice notes | 1 in 15 |
| AI-handled conversations with an automated follow-up | 89% |
| WhatsApp follow-ups read by the customer | 73% |
| Leads marked “Purchased”, July → September | 1.9xNearly doubled in a quarter |
| Leads marked “Add to Cart”, July → September | 2.6x |
| Share of messages now coming from Instagram | ≈ 1 in 4Up from zero |
The 11-second median includes a deliberate 6-second pause: the AI waits briefly so it can read a customer’s full burst of messages and answer them together.
Reported by Chemby’s Reported
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Monthly sales | 3xSince moving WhatsApp sales to Sendiee |
| Payment screenshot checks automated | 90–95% |
| Repetitive support workload | −70–80% |
| First response time before Sendiee | 10–15 min |
Before and after
| Area | Before Sendiee | With Sendiee |
|---|---|---|
| First reply | 10–15 minutes | 11-second median, 24/7 |
| Who replies | Two executives, by hand | AI writes 94% of replies; the team handles exceptions |
| Languages | Translation delays for Malayalam and Manglish | Native replies in Malayalam, Manglish and English |
| Voice notes | Listen, understand, then type | Understood and answered in seconds |
| Payment checks | A person checked every screenshot | About 95% checked by AI (reported) |
| Follow-ups | Tracked from memory, often missed | Automated in 89% of conversations |
| After-hours messages (41%) | Waited for staff to come back | Answered instantly |
| Channels | WhatsApp only, managed by hand | WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger in one inbox |
| Monthly sales | Baseline | 3x (reported) |
In their words
Our customers send us voice notes in Malayalam at ten in the night. Now every one of them gets a proper answer in seconds.
We started with Sendiee because we wanted faster replies on WhatsApp. What we got was much more.
Our customers write to us in Malayalam, in Manglish, and sometimes they just send a voice note. Now every one of them gets a proper answer in seconds, even at night.
Checking payment screenshots used to take hours of our team’s day; now the AI checks them and confirms the order. Our monthly sales have grown three times, and our team spends its time on the customers who really need a person.
Sendiee treated us like a partner, not a ticket number. Many features we use every day started as a problem we told them about.
Three lessons for D2C brands selling on WhatsApp
Speak your customer’s language, the way they type it
For a regional brand, Malayalam and Manglish aren’t a feature. They are the baseline for trust.
Automate the friction, not just the chat
Customers drop off at payment and at follow-up, not at “hello”. Checking the screenshot in-chat and following up on every enquiry keeps them buying.
Let customers talk
Voice-first customers are a real share of demand. An AI that understands voice notes serves them without extra staff.
Frequently asked questions
Can a WhatsApp chatbot reply in Malayalam?
Yes. Sendiee's AI detects the language of each customer's message and replies in it: Malayalam script, Manglish (Malayalam typed in English letters) or English. At Chemby's Herbal Products, about one in nine text messages is in Malayalam script, and the AI answers each one in natural, conversational Malayalam.
Can the AI understand WhatsApp voice notes?
Yes. Customers can send a voice note instead of typing. Sendiee's AI processes the audio directly, understands the request and replies in seconds. About one in fifteen messages Chemby's receives is a voice note.
Can AI verify a UPI payment screenshot on WhatsApp?
Sendiee's AI reads the screenshot and checks that the payment went to the right business and that the amount matches the order before placing it. A screenshot is not the same as a bank confirmation, so businesses should still reconcile payments against their UPI or bank statement. What the AI removes is the manual step of checking each screenshot as it arrives.
How fast does the AI reply?
For Chemby's, the median time to first reply is 11 seconds, and 97% of first replies go out within 30 seconds. That includes a short, deliberate pause so the AI can read a customer's full set of messages before answering.
Does it work on Instagram and Facebook Messenger too?
Yes. Chemby's runs the same AI on WhatsApp, Instagram DMs and Messenger, all in one Sendiee inbox. Instagram now brings in about a quarter of their customer messages.
Does the AI replace the support team?
No. It takes over the repetitive work: product questions, prices, payment screenshots and follow-ups. Chemby's reports a 70–80% cut in that workload. Staff can step into any chat, and the AI pauses as soon as they reply.
How does the AI follow up with customers?
Each conversation is automatically sorted into a lead category such as Enquiry or Add to Cart. Each category has its own follow-up messages, which the AI sends inside WhatsApp's 24-hour customer window. At Chemby's, 89% of AI-handled conversations received an automated follow-up.
Is this only for herbal and skincare brands?
No. The same setup (multilingual replies, voice notes, payment checks and follow-ups) works for any business that sells through WhatsApp or Instagram chats, from fashion and jewellery to education and travel.
Watch Sendiee answer in Malayalam, understand a voice note and check a payment.
A 15-minute walkthrough on WhatsApp, with your products and your languages.
Book a demoHow we measured
Platform figures come from Chemby’s Sendiee account between 5 July – 30 September 2026, the period in which every reply is attributed to AI or a person. Response time runs from a customer’s message to the next AI reply in the same conversation, across every first reply in that period, not a sample. Language share is by script detection on incoming text messages. Time-of-day share covers all messages since November 2025. Broadcast campaign messages and internal notes are excluded. Sales, workload and payment-automation figures are reported by Chemby’s. No individual customer data is shown; chat examples are recreated.