How we helped an international retailer save over 1 million dollars in operational costs.

4 weeksDesign, build,
test & launch

$250kCosts saved
day of launch

$1mCosts saved in
first 2 weeks

<2%Identified
Fraud

The challenge.

In Q4 2023 our international retail/ecommerce client was required to perform a product recall which affected almost 5 million units globally.

The client anticipated a minimum 20% uptake (1 million units), and with a 5-minute average handling time for agents to validate the serial number, confirm customer details, and process a replacement order, the contact handling costs for administering this process manually would have been into millions of dollars. It was clear that an automated solution was required.

Acceleraate was engaged to work in collaboration with the client to design a technical solution and associated processes that would help to deliver this product replacement programme quickly, efficiently, providing the best possible customer experience, and with minimal pain for both the consumer, and the client.

Our approach.

In order to deliver a user friendly, optimised, and efficient solution, we considered a number of different aspects at the design and architecture stage:

Customer Experience

Product recalls can be concerning for consumers, so we felt it was very important to deliver a process that is as straightforward and as pain-free as possible. The last thing customers want is a difficult or disjointed process, which can cause frustration and, worse, customers giving up and dropping out of the process.

Agent Experience

Given the potential scale of the recall, and the amount of manual work involved for agents to process a replacement, we felt it was imperative to find ways to make the process easier through integration, automation, centralising information, and tagging/flagging risk elements.

Cost Protection

Recalls are expensive, so we wanted to mitigate as much of the potential operational cost to the client as possible. We knew that the process needed to be as automated as it possibly could be, reducing the chances of inaccurate data being captured, whilst also flagging potential fraudulent claims which allows for greater cost protection.

The solution.

Bespoke
Integration

CX Process
Automation

Solution
Design

Technology
Development

Acceleraate architected and delivered a bespoke integrated webform which provides an automated end-to-end journey for customers to check if their product is affected, and order a replacement item. This entire process is fully automated, enabling the product replacement process to be undertaken directly by the customer in under 2 minutes, without the need for a service agent's involvement.

Serial Number Lookup

The customer journey initially validates the consumer's product serial number (supported by automated fraud detection) and displays the product recall status. If the customer's product is affected the automated replacement process is then invoked.

Shopify Integration

We integrated the webform with the client's Shopify account, which enables the presentation of replacement product options instantly – which are personalised based on the original serial number. This allows the customer to select a suitable replacement product, and the order is automatically created and processed in Shopify. This integration delivers a huge time saving for the client, as the replacement orders do not need to be created manually.

Address Validation

We implemented customer address validation technology to remove the opportunity for human error when customers are entering and confirming their details.

Compliance & Media Capture

The client did not require affected units to be returned, so the final step was to capture evidence and confirmation of destruction of the product. This is provided via image upload functionality in the webform. This was essential for Consumer Product Safety Commission rules and allows the client to demonstrate compliance.

Fraud & Cost Protection

The client was concerned about the potential for fraudulent claims and needed to minimise the associated cost risk. To solve this, we incorporated AI Image Recognition to the webform. When customers upload a photograph, the AI automatically extracts and reads the serial number, ensuring that the affected unit is indeed a valid replacement claim. We also built additional rules and criteria into the solution to recognise and flag potentially suspicious requests. As a result of these built-in safeguards, identified fraud is at less than 2%.

Gorgias Service Desk Integration

All customer interactions are captured and logged in the client's Gorgias service desk account, to provide full visibility of customer product status and history. In addition, Gorgias tickets are automatically created for exception cases that require agent input (for example, international orders, duplicate replacement requests, fraud flags).

The outcome.

4 weeksDesign, build,
test & launch

$250kCosts saved
day of launch

$1mCosts saved in
first 2 weeks

<2%Identified
Fraud

“Acceleraate are a pleasure to work with. We approached them with a complex brief and extremely tight timescales. The team set to work, proposing a smart technical design that went well beyond the original brief, and delivered a very high-performing solution within 4 weeks.”

VP of Customer Experience