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The Danish workwear brand F. Engel, is using Claimlane to streamline the after-sales process for returns and claims with all B2B wholesale customers. F Engel is known for the brands Engel Workwear, Deerhunter, and Sunwill.
Betina Kyed, Head of Returns & Claims, was interviewed to evaluate the first 6 months of using Claimlane. She explains why there was a need to streamline their process, how it has helped them internally, and its impact on their customer experience.
As Head of the Returns & Claims, it’s my responsibility to make sure things run as smoothly and efficiently as possible, and to take care of customer complaints and returns. One of the tasks I was given when I was put in this role was to streamline the entire process, and give our customers a better experience.
Our old solution didn't work very well. We had a PDF form that our customers had to fill out and send to us by email. The email would end up at the bottom of the inbox and it could take many days before we got to it, and sometimes information was missing, even though it was a form they were supposed to fill out. We would then need to get back to ask for more information, such as color or size, so they would need to fill out the form again, which would prolong the process even more. This long and complicated process of getting a complaint handled was in no way satisfactory from a customer perspective.
"We had a PDF form that our customers had to fill out and send to us by email." - Betina Kyed, Head of Returns
When we are effective and can quickly handle complaints. I’ve always said anyone can sell but it’s when you’re faced with a faulty product complaint, you show your worth as a company. How you handle them and how quickly you handle them shows a lot about you. It must happen instantly, and I’d say preferably within 24 hours. It leads to unhappy customers if it takes up to a week before you can tell them that a complaint is accepted or not.
"I’ve always said anyone can sell but it’s when you’re faced with a faulty product complaint, you show your worth as a company." - Betina Kyed, Head of Returns
We consider faulty product returns as part of customer service, but we are divided into two departments. We have a lot of focus on customer complaints, and have a dedicated team who are experienced in only handling product claims. I also want to add that I’ve never before experienced in any company that our customers call us to tell us how easy our warrant claim process is. When our sales team talk to our retailer customer, they tell them how much they love it.
"I’ve never before experienced in any company that our customers call to tell us how easy our warranty claim process is after we started using Claimlane." - Betina Kyed, Head of Returns
Our old claim process was very time-consuming, and Claimlane has made everything much easier! Before we had to manually type each line of the PDF form into our ERP system. We now get all the data we need right away and can handle returns within 24 hours. With Claimlane we have all the information we need in one place, an increase in satisfied customers, and the perfect overview. We hear from our B2B wholesale customers that they now choose to promote our products over others, because they know how easy the claim process is, if anything is wrong with the product.
"We now get all the data we need right away and can handle complaints within 24 hours." - Betina Kyed, Head of Returns
Claimlane has made it a lot easier because we have all the information at once in one place. There is no need to write many emails back and forth, as customers cannot submit returns without all the needed information. With the integration between Claimlane and Navision, we can now automate the entire refund/credit note work – this is a huge timer saver, allowing us to work faster and be even more efficient.
"With Claimlane there is no need to write many emails back and forth, as customers cannot submit claims without all the needed information." - Betina Kyed, Head of Returns
It has helped us a lot. We did have data before, but it was very unstructured and hard to navigate. With Claimlane we have product pictures, product numbers, descriptions of the faults, and so on, all in one place. Our department now creates a lot of value for other departments. We have a lot of data and statistics that can easily be pulled out to create detailed reports from the information we have asked from our customers. Our purchasing department loves this because they can go back to our suppliers and say exactly what was wrong with the product.
"We have a lot of data and statistics that can easily be pulled out to create detailed reports from the information we have asked from our customers." - Betina Kyed, Head of Returns
I would understand because it is a big process to get started with a new system. Of course it is. However, implementing Claimlane has not been as time-consuming as I originally feared. It was easy to invite all our B2B customers to Claimlane and introduce them to a new smarter way of submitting claims to us. We just uploaded an Excel sheet with all our customers and then they were all invited at once.
"It was easy to invite all our B2B customers to Claimlane and introduce them to a new smarter way of submitting claims to us." - Betina Kyed, Head of Returns
Claimlane has significantly improved the workflow for F. Engel after just 6 month by reducing the claim handling time and by making it easier to collect and manage customer information. Their old claim handling process was inefficient and not satisfactory to customers due to the long resolution time and unstructured data, which slowed down the business. Automation has allowed F. Engel for more efficient handling of warranty claims for faulty products and now collects and provides useful knowledge to other departments that creates a lot of value to the business.
