The Rotterdam-based brand WoodWatch once again made it on the Financial Times list of the thousand fastest growing companies of 2021. With a growth of 300% over the past three years, WoodWatch is making good progress. 

But this growth also came with an increase of questions, especially regarding the returns process. That was the moment Woodwatch decided to start looking for help, and they found that help in Returnista.

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We spoke to co-founder Kevin van der Veer about how they used Returnista to reduce returns by 85%

What began with traveling to unique and remote parts of the world, eventually resulted in the combination of wood and design. Kevin van der Veer was inspired by craftsmen from all over the world. He managed to turn that inspiration into what we now know as the successful company Woodwatch. 

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The enduring success of the company had its foundation in the sustainable idea behind it: for every watch that is sold, a tree is planted. This means a customer is not only buying a watch but a way of life. 

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Van der Veer: "As a growing brand, we at WoodWatch quickly faced a difficult challenge: the proper handling of potentially unsustainable e-commerce returns. Although returns are inevitable within e-commerce, We wanted to handle them as environmentally conscious as we possibly could. That's why we started looking for a solution."

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Properly handling returns: the big challenge

Where initially we were in charge, Returnista now takes care of the entire returns process. Previously, the customer himself had to initiate a return through our customer service, after which a support agent would assess it. Now, however, the customer is in full control.

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Through the use of Returnista’s returns portal a customer can arrange everything on his own without our intervention. This is pleasant for both parties: for the customer the process is a pleasant experience because it’s so fast, for us it means a considerable saving in customer service costs and more time available to focus on other aspects.

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This returns process applies only to customers who wish to exercise their right of withdrawal within our return period. In the case of defects, returns are still referred by the gatekeeper to our customer support for review.

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"We believe that returns should not be a burden, but an opportunity to make the customer fall in love with your brand." - Kevin van der Veer

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How Returnista's return solution changed this

Van der Veer: "Before we started working with Returnista, returns required a lot of manual work. This was because all returns went through our customer service."

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"Our customer support staff had to review each request, log it in, create a return label (by manually entering customer information) and communicate with the customer. Our data showed that the average returns process took about 15 minutes."

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What WoodWatch got out of the collaboration in the end

Currently, the front-end of the Returnista returns portal is - with a few exceptions - fully automated. This has taken a lot of work out of the hands of our customer service.

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For example, in January alone between 200 and 300 returns were initiated and handled completely independently by WoodWatch customers. This translates into roughly 79 hours of saved time for our customer service department. 

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"If you are afraid of returns, there is something wrong with your business." - Kevin van der Veer

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That saves almost 0.5 FTEs in personnel costs. On top of that, Returnista offers attractive (return) rates, making it easy to choose to continue using this platform.

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In addition, this solution is much more convenient for the customer. The customer can initiate everything himself. The customer can also choose between drop-off or pick-up at home, which in our opinion is a strong aspect of the service provided. 

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We believe that returns should not be a burden but an opportunity for the customer to fall in love with our brand. If you are afraid of returns, there is something wrong with your business.

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In the end, return requests dropped from being the eighth most cited customer service problem to the sixteenth. Where previously 6% of customer service tickets were about returns, This now makes up only 1% of the tickets. That’s a reduction of up to 85%. Now, that’s something.