Regal Cineworld Group puts better CX in a starring role

At Regal Cineworld Group, the magic of movies begins long before the opening credits. But behind the scenes, their customer support setup wasn’t quite blockbuster material. With teams across the brands Regal, Cineworld, Cinema City, and Picturehouse Cinemas using different systems – from homegrown CRMs to Outlook and spreadsheets – customer queries were handled manually, inconsistently, and without meaningful insights. The lack of automation meant agents spent time on routine tasks while leadership couldn't access critical data for business decisions.

"We were really struggling with alignment across groups, as well as providing a great experience for customers if they needed to contact us," says Rajab Khalid, Director of Customer Experience, International.

Regal Cineworld Group implemented Freshdesk to standardize operations across all territories. The solution introduced automated workflows, AI-powered assistance, and comprehensive analytics that transformed customer support delivery. Today, Cineworld automatically resolves over 700 lost-item tickets monthly, maintains global 24-hour response standards, and has gained unprecedented insight into customer needs—with 60-70% of tickets now clearly identified as membership-related queries.

Further exciting advancements in the resolution of customer enquiries are forthcoming as Regal Cineworld Group ramps up the use of the multiple possibilities by using Freshdesk and Freddy Co-Pilot globally.

The company

Regal Cineworld Group operates over 600 cinemas across the US, UK, and Eastern Europe, serving millions of moviegoers annually as the world's second-largest cinema exhibitor.

The challenge

Regal Cineworld Group's customer experience varied dramatically depending on which brand or region customers contacted. Without centralized ticketing or analytics, agents couldn't track customer interactions effectively, and leadership lacked visibility into contact drivers.

"There was no automation, no insights into what customers were talking to us about," says Khalid.  “It was so manual. If someone asked what our top five contact reasons were, it was just guesswork.”

The fragmented approach created operational inefficiencies and inconsistent service standards. Agents spent significant time on routine inquiries like lost-property claims and membership questions rather than complex issues requiring expertise. Without proper categorization or routing, tickets were often misdirected, impacting resolution times across the organization.

Leadership faced particular challenges accessing data required for accreditation and compliance reporting. When asked for customer interaction histories or contact volume analytics, teams couldn't provide the information, creating risks for business operations and regulatory requirements.

The solution

Regal Cineworld Group selected Freshdesk, powered by AWS, for its simplicity, flexibility, and comprehensive automation capabilities. The platform was implemented across all major Regal Cineworld Group brands, introducing structured workflows and AI-powered tools that standardized global operations.

The implementation prioritized automation for high-volume, routine queries. Freshdesk's contact portal enabled customer self-service through smart responses and live-updated FAQs, reducing agent workload while improving response times. For complex inquiries requiring human intervention, structured forms capture complete information upfront, eliminating back-and-forth exchanges.

“Freshdesk is flexible for our needs,” says Khalid. “It allows us to automate and simplify what we're doing."

Freddy AI Agent transformed lost-item handling—when theatergoers leave an item behind and contact the cinema about it. The automated workflow directs customers to a form that alerts the appropriate cinema and closes tickets without agent involvement. This single automation now resolves over 700 tickets monthly across the UK operation of Cineworld.

“We’re now able to control our FAQs and give customers that data quickly, without relying on IT or e-commerce teams,” says Khalid. “The automation for us has just been a game-changer.”

Freddy Copilot provides agents with AI assistance for complex cases, instantly summarizing lengthy email threads and translating multilingual tickets for Eastern European operations. The tool has proven particularly valuable for training new agents and maintaining service quality during expansion.

Advanced analytics capabilities give leadership unprecedented visibility into customer contact patterns. The system clearly categorizes inquiries, revealing that 60-70% of tickets relate to membership issues—insights that inform both customer experience improvements and operational decisions.

Impact

Response times have standardized globally at 24 hours across all territories and brands. Analytics capabilities revealed that 60-70% of customer contacts relate to membership queries, providing leadership with previously unavailable business intelligence.

"We can now see that the biggest category of tickets is very clearly membership queries," says Khalid. "So we're able to utilize that feedback to improve the experience for those customers and provide feedback to internal stakeholders across the business."