When Ehandel.se recently compiled a list weighing turnover against customer ratings and response frequency, Royal Design took a leading position. Notably, the company has responded to 100 percent of its negative reviews, based on a dataset of approximately 40,000 reviews.
For us, customer reviews are a central tool for understanding how we are actually perceived and performing. It gives us a direct and honest picture of the customer experience and the opportunity to catch early when something has not worked as it should, says Charlotta Svarfvar.
Many companies in the industry are struggling with the gap between high sales volumes and customer perceived satisfaction.
Responding to each individual comment expressing dissatisfaction requires time and personnel. At Royal Design, the statistics suggest that this is a structured machinery rather than random efforts from the customer service department.
Yes, it is a conscious and prioritized approach, absolutely. We do not see negative reviews as just feedback, but as concrete cases that should be followed up on, says the CEO.
Charlotta Svarfvar develops the reasoning behind how employees are expected to address someone who has had a bad purchasing experience:
The starting point is that the customer should feel heard and taken seriously – and that every insight we gain also contributes to improving our business going forward.
From Customer Service to the Boardroom
But the company's work does not stop at writing a response on a platform like Trustpilot. The information collected from buyers is further used within the organization.
The reviews are filtered and compiled and then sent upwards in the hierarchy, allowing decision-makers to regularly take part in what consumers think about deliveries, products and service.
Investing resources in platforms where we can have a dialogue with our customers is an integral part of our business development and the result is something that is highlighted weekly at the management level. It gives us a continuous temperature check of where we stand – and where we may have challenges to manage, says Charlotta Svarfvar.
Data Over One-Way Communication
Sister company Bagaren och Kocken is also found in our mapping of customer satisfaction, where they rank 55th. Although it is a stable position, they do not quite reach the same level as Royal Design.
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As the move now goes to the west coast and the new premises in Gothenburg, there is a clear strategy for how the companies in the group will work more uniformly. Royal Design will in the future be located under the same roof as Bagaren och Kocken, a sister company that has previously established routines for working systematically with figures and measurable results in its customer management.
By placing the teams close to each other, the idea is that methods will be exchanged in the daily work. Collecting, structuring and evaluating facts from buyers forms the basis of how the company wants to run its e-commerce. It is about letting statistics guide the decisions.
When company management is to give advice on the connection between customer service and growth, the focus is therefore on how the information is handled methodically behind the scenes.
The most important lesson is to treat customer feedback and reviews as data, not just as a communication channel to the customer. If you act quickly and follow up consistently - only then can you actively change customer satisfaction, not just measure it, concludes Charlotta Svarfvar.