We have measured it: as the crow flies, the Rituals contact center is less than a kilometer away from Cygnific, the partner that Rituals has been working with since 2019. Outsourcing, primarily to deal with the holiday peak, is no obstacle at all for Rituals to be declared the most customer-friendly company in the Netherlands. Ziptone spoke to Rommy Verschelling about the collaboration with what she calls a “boutique service provider, which feels like an in-house Rituals team in a different location”.

 

After a disappointing outsourcing relationship, head of Customer Relations Rommy Verschelling shortly after her arrival in 2018, she insourced global customer contact. Subsequently, Rituals' multilingual (13 languages) Customer Relations team grew from 10 to 200 FTE in five years, which is why it is now no longer located in the Amsterdam city center, but in The Edge near Amsterdam Sloterdijk. Insourcing also means: rethinking, organizing and implementing everything yourself; including loyalty program and the transformation from customer service to customer relations. And that while everything was in full growth.

Annual peak

Rituals has been repeatedly awarded the title in recent years the most customer-friendly company in the Netherlands. That is not based on routine. On the contrary, every year Rituals experiences a huge peak around the holidays - both in terms of turnover and customer contact. It is therefore very important to have everything extra well arranged during that period. In the first year of 'doing everything yourself again' - which nowadays includes 1,5 million contacts per year - Rituals decided to engage a partner specifically for the peak period who could provide extra capacity. This was found in Cygnific, a well-known party for the decision makers - Verschelling had worked there himself.

From peak care to partner

“In the first year, in 2019, peak relief went well,” Verschelling reflects. “But despite this, Cygnific informed us that it is an enormous challenge to scale up from zero to approximately 300 employees for three months – and then scale down everything again. This applies in particular to Dutch and generally more difficult to find German. That is why we have decided to structurally accommodate a team of 30 to 38 FTE at Cygnific. Even though we have everything in-house at Rituals, this solution ensures that the knowledge acquired within Cygnific is retained throughout the year and that they remain involved in all new campaigns, product launches, collections, etc..”

Carrying out your own customer contact yourself is a good fit for the most customer-friendly retailer in the Netherlands. But outsourcing, especially during the holidays – moment of truth – while insourcing was previously the starting point, raises questions. For example, how do you ensure that your outsourcing partner acts according to your vision?

Uncomplicated vision on customer contact

What helps is that Rituals has a rather uncomplicated view of customer contact. Verschelling explains: “It may sound simple. But it should be the case that every employee would feel very good about letting his or her own mother contact Rituals, because you know that everything will be fine, regardless of the question or problem. We can come up with all kinds of difficult words around that, but this is really the core. Yes, it's about authenticity, transparency, being friendly, looking forward to helping the customer. If the people who work with us really feel this, the rest will almost happen automatically. Also within Cygnific.”

The result of all this is that Customer Relations 'unnoticed' turnover approximately 1,7 million euros per year. “That doesn't seem like much if you look at e-commerce as a whole,” says Verschelling, but it is comparable to an average store.”

Do not merge functions

Rituals aims to be a leading customer-focused company in the industry, creating Rituals-worthy experiences for customers and strengthening the brand as an iconic well-being brand. Rituals' vision is partly inspired by the 'frontline obsession' of the CEO of Rituals ("who, if necessary, replaces a lamp in a store he visits"), but also by Verschelling's own experience.

Verschelling explains the latter: “For example, there is a trend in the contact center world to merge the functions of mentor and supervisor into team lead. Leadership, people management and everything that goes with it and coaching on the content, knowledge of all processes and procedures of customer contact, these are skills and passions that are very rarely found in one person. As managers, I prefer to hire people with people skills, experience and a good ability for self-reflection.”

Ensure good cooperation with other departments

In addition to 'stopping things', Verschelling has also consciously implemented a number of things. In this way, she has made the working area of ​​the Customer Relations department as broad as necessary for good cooperation with the rest of the organization. So Customer Relations includes WFM, quality, training and education, knowledge management, and the Voice of Customer domain. This helps the Verschelling team to continuously improve all processes within Rituals. Not only within Customer Relations, but also together with departments such as Supply Chain, Retail, Digital, Marketing and Innovation. “If we can jointly ensure through process improvements that customers no longer have to contact us because things did not go well, this will not only result in satisfied customers but also in lower costs.”

Don't bother the customer

“The teams regularly sit in 'feet on the table' sessions with the question 'what could be improved?', says Verschelling, “And then we take the initiative to go to other departments with ideas and proposals or how it can be improved. Rituals has become quite big in the past twenty years. The organization is experiencing natural growth towards a corporate. But the way we collaborate still has the character of a startup. There are short lines.”

“The chatbot won't come in here as long as I'm here”

Also part of the vision on customer contact: not bothering the customer, something that is also included in the MarketResponse questionnaire. Translated into the practice of customer contact: no classic chatbot aimed directly at the customer ("it won't come in here as long as I'm here") and no NPS questionnaires after every interaction. “This year we won the 'Kundenservice des Jahres' award in Germany, based on very strict external audits that we will also have carried out in other countries. And in the Netherlands, MarketResponse research is a good indicator. I am often approached by chatbot suppliers, but I first want to see a reputable company where the chatbot is really successful. In practice, it comes down to answers that you can find yourself and the effect towards the customer is: 'please don't call us'.”

Right after Black Friday

Then back to the peak shelter. “Our peak period literally starts the day after Black Friday. Around Sinterklaas, volumes increase even further, until just after Christmas. A few days before Christmas, that volume is extremely high. After the 26th the volume drops back quickly. Of course, we still have to deal with the after-effects of the holiday season. During the corona period, the peak period was very unpredictable. For example, the volume was then directly influenced by what Prime Minister Mark Rutte said. For example, the additional lockdown on December 19 led to a boom (30.000 in one week) in contacts.”

“To ensure that everyone is well trained in their place on the day after Black Friday, we will start preparations at the end of September. Cygnific knows exactly what is expected and works closely with a number of partners for recruitment and selection. Cygnific's peak teams work almost entirely from home. That makes it easier for Cygnific's HR partners to find people, because it doesn't matter where they come from. In addition, a talent pool has recently emerged of employees who return every year to work during the peak period.”

Collaborate during peak times

“Our forecast is of course getting better and this year it was even spot-on. This was of course also because there were no unexpected external factors. This is different when, for example, there are disruptions in the logistics chain. The temporary team works on the basis of min-max contracts. This provides flexibility to make adjustments on a weekly basis. We share our forecast with Cygnific, after which we reach conclusions together about the required capacity.”

“When things get really busy, all managers have their own contact persons at Cygnific and there are weekly meetings. That concerns intake, training, etc. Of course, we also look at the financial picture. Cygnific's operations manager often spends a few days with us. But other than that, it really is a train that is moving and a process that is running very well. We have created a blueprint of the whole as a basis: who does what and when. In practice, everyone knows where to find each other to discuss, even if something doesn't go well, but it gives peace of mind that that script is there.”

Where is my order

Rituals is of course also looking at options to reduce the number of contacts. Verschelling gives examples: “First of all, we introduced 'WIMO' a few years ago: Where is my order. Customers can now easily check online where their order is located. In terms of volume, that is contact reason number one. We have also developed a compensation form. Contact reason number two is that an order arrives in damaged form. We ask customers to upload a photo with an explanation and then as a customer you can choose from options such as being sent a new product, a refund or a gift card. The next step is that we will handle this fully automatically. These are things we have developed ourselves, but Cygnific may also come up with ideas.”

Verschelling about AI: “Even if there is no chatbot, that does not mean that we are not looking at AI. We are particularly looking for opportunities to use AI behind the scenes - so we don't want to bother our customers with it for the time being. Consider drafting messages or processing refunds.”

Verschelling explains that the collaboration with Cynific is still developing in that respect. “Cygnific does much more than just implementation. Cynific itself invests a lot in continuous improvement and therefore has an extensive team of Lean Six Sigma specialists. They train our people, most of them in... orangebelt, some in green belt. They also train our people in the field of WFM and analytics. We are working increasingly closely together, not only within Customer Relations, but also outside it. This year we want to join the Cygnific team at an even earlier stage and, for example, include it in our operational forecast.”

No massiveness

“As far as I am concerned, Cygnific is a kind of boutique in-house service center. That's what it feels like. It is not massiveness that matters. It feels like it's the same team. There is honesty and transparency in sharing information, even if something goes wrong. And that is very important to me,” says Verschelling. “After all, around 40% of the turnover comes in during those three months. The new model with basic staffing is also great for Cygnific – it delivers more stable turnover and gives confidence for the future.”

Of course, it took time to build that together and to have the right people in the right place, Verschelling concludes. “As for the future: I have learned that things always turn out differently than you think. The advantage of being well attuned to each other is that you can handle everything, regardless of what comes your way.” (Ziptone/Erik Bouwer)

Case, Customer Experience, Featured Cygnific