Acceleraate helps BlendJet digitise complex product replacement process

The Challenge

In Q4 2023 BlendJet was required to perform a product recall which affected almost 5 million units globally. BlendJet had originally planned to manage the product replacement process manually, but with an anticipated minimum 20% recall uptake (1 million units), and 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 alone would have been in the millions of dollars.

Acceleraate was engaged to help BlendJet 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 BlendJet.

Our approach

In order to deliver a user friendly, optimised, and efficient solution for BlendJet 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 BlendJet 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

Acceleraate architected, designed, and delivered a bespoke integrated webform which provides an automated end-to-end journey for customers to check if their BlendJet 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 BlendJet service agent’s involvement.

Serial Number Lookup

The customer journey initially validates the consumer’s BlendJet 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 suggested integrating the webform with BlendJet’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 BlendJet, as the replacement orders do not need to be created manually.

Address Validation

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

Compliance & Media Capture

BlendJet 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 BlendJet to demonstrate compliance.

Gorgias Service Desk Integration

All customer interactions are captured and logged in BlendJet’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 Results

Acceleraate delivered the project end-to-end within a challenging 4-week timescale.

The product replacement programme was launched on 27th December 2023, and the integrated webform technology, which was designed and delivered by Acceleraate saved BlendJet an estimated $250k in contact handling costs on the very first day.

To date the solution has saved BlendJet over $1m in labour and contact handling costs.

The Client

BlendJet is the #1 selling brand of blenders direct to consumer with millions of customers around the world and is in over 30,000 retail doors and distributed in 38 countries.

BlendJet created the original portable blender and has over 40 issued patents on its cutting-edge technologies.

BlendJet’s flagship product, the BlendJet® 2, is the Next-Gen Blender®. It packs the power of a big blender on the go in a compact and durable package that’s powerful enough to blend ice and frozen fruit and is so visually appealing that it won a Red Dot Design Award.