“It was a black hole” – from believing to knowing

Sebastian Lann is the chain’s retail director and has worked for Barnas Hus for two years. Six months after he joined, the chain started using Maze as a tool for measuring customer satisfaction in their physical stores. Since then, Barnas Hus has seen a remarkably positive trend on a range of KPIs. Lann believes that customer feedback explains a large part of this positive trend. 

“What our customers thought about us was a black hole. In reality, we didn’t know what our customers thought of us. But we do now. We’ve gone from believing to knowing,” he says.

Following up 

Lann himself uses Maze on a day-to-day basis at a general level. The dashboard allows him to track customer encounter trends throughout the chain. 

“The stores work with the tool on a day-to-day basis, and we now prioritise the customer encounter in store in a completely different way,” he says. 

He communicates weekly with store managers about what needs to be prioritised in each store. A more thorough review of all key figures is completed monthly in partnership with store managers. Maze has become a permanent item on the agenda at managerial meetings in Barnas Hus. Results are presented in weekly and monthly newsletters. 

“Maze gives us data that we’re able to use every day in order to improve. We gain insight here and now into how our customers perceive us.” 

Lann describes Maze as a kind of workplace social medium. “We also use the app to communicate with store managers and employees.” 

With 29 stores in their chain, they naturally enough have stores scoring at both ends of the scale. 

“It’s all about boosting our average and using best practice to ensure that stores become more standardised. Stores with the lowest score receive additional follow-up 1:1,” says Lann. All data are transparent and available to everyone at any time. This makes it easier for each store to take feedback on board and do something about their own approach. The retail director emphasises that, when you work in customer service, it is important that this is all rooted in executive management. “The executive management of Barnas Hus has ownership of customer satisfaction. The customer journey in store starts with us in management, and we’re responsible for putting it on the agenda and ensuring that it is rolled out in the entire organisation and to all store employees.

A great deal of feedback

As of September, Barnas Hus had 20,000 feedback messages from customers in the Maze solution.

Lann is very pleased about the fact that customers are willing to give the chain so much feedback. He points out the value of the fact that feedback is provided immediately after the customer encounter. 

“That makes it easier for us to correct things and adapt quickly. Of course, it’s easier to act on something a short time later. If a customer who’s unhappy takes the time to provide feedback, that’s positive. It means that we’re able to enter into a dialogue with our customers and update them through the feedback messages. For example, tell them that products they didn’t find in store can be purchased online or are on their way out to our stores,” says Lann.

Effect on KPIs

Maze helps Barnas Hus to focus on the customer experience and where to address any issues. 

“We see that the biggest driver in increasing our conversion rate is offering assistance. Previously, this was less clear,” admits Lann. 

Although they were also eager to greet the customer and say hello in the past, now store employees are more aware of identifying customer requirements and offering assistance.

At Barnas Hus Lambertseter, customers are now welcomed before they have even stepped three metres into the store. This is something customers have provided specific feedback on in Maze. 

“We’re a specialist retail chain and have to have time for our customers and catch them as soon as they walk in. We need to guide them through the needs analysis and the purchase process and close the sale. The customer encounter in store is only becoming increasingly important. Footfall at Barnas Hus has decreased somewhat, and conversion is therefore key,” emphasises Lann. 

Average sales increased by more than NOK 70 last year, something he is very pleased about.

 “How are KPI targets linked to feedback from Maze?”

“We have three aims, namely to increase our conversion rate, average sales and customer satisfaction. If we increase our conversion rate by one percentage point, we’ll reach our sales targets. Maze helps us to do this and contributes to driving our key figures. Maze gives us higher conversion rates and thereby boosts our bottom line,” responds Lann.

Barnas Hus’ retail director ascertains that the company has recovered and is now in a stable position at a higher level. In the first nine months of the year, the company has seen growth of 6% across its physical stores.

Staying at the top

Despite clear improvement on many key figures, Sebastian Lann believes that Barnas Hus still has some way to go.

 “In partnership with the store managers, we’ve put customer satisfaction on the agenda and are now on a journey. This is something that has been prioritised in the stores and by the chain’s executive management. Although we have improved, it’s important that this prioritisation of our customers stays top of mind,” he concludes.

“It affects sales directly”

Lina Öberg is store manager at Barnas Hus Lambertseter which has 15 employees. They are the chain’s second largest store measured by the number of paying customers.

She is very positive about using Maze to improve customer satisfaction in store. 

“I, as store manager, as well as all the store employees – even those who are only here part-time – use Maze. This digital tool reminds us about the customer in our day-to-day work. Previously, we had a fairly large gap. We thought we were good, but in practice we weren’t. Now we’ve improved and have got specific figures to prove it,” she says. 

To demonstrate, she shows us results for the store on her mobile phone. On average, they receive four items of feedback a day which cover multiple areas. In the beginning, they actively encouraged customers to provide feedback, but now they get enough without having to ask for it.

Great attention internally

The store manager sees it as a great advantage that customer feedback also goes to the stores – and not just to head office. 

“We’re given quite a lot to work with. Usually, it’s positive, but we also receive constructive criticism. Some feedback is brutally honest, and we need that sometimes. ‘Found no one to serve me.’ ‘There was no one on the till.’” 

Luckily, the feedback is mostly positive, and maybe they get one red message a week. 

“We look closer at that. We don’t always agree with the customer, and sometimes I contact her. We use good feedback in a positive way internally,” says Lina. 

She explains that the Maze app ensures that all employees are on it, including Lina herself. 

“I see that employees go in and check. They like and comment. The app engages employees at all levels. You get a boost from looking at the app, and everyone wants to know what happened the previous day. We humans like to receive praise. Everyone who works in retail needs feedback,” she says. 

The store manager shares best practice and reposts anything she wants the employees to focus on in particular. The chain’s executive management also use the app and post comments. She herself cannot always be in the store throughout opening hours.

“The tool simplifies my day-to-day work. I spend less time following up on my employees. I free up time that I can spend on our most important issues.

Focus areas

Lina says that you simply find the data you are interested in and are able to compare yourself with other stores. She has defined a level that she believes her store should attain, and everyone can see where they are.

“I’ve highlighted three other stores that I compare ours to,” she explains. As store manager, she selects three focus areas. Currently, these are:

1. Offering fast service

2. Asking about requirements and preferences

3. Giving customers advice and recommendations

In three months, she will move on to three other areas. Data from Maze have directly affected staffing at Barnas Hus in Lambertseter. The store has taken on a new full-time employee. “On the basis of these results, I was allowed more staff on the floor because we could see that there was a gap,” says Lina. “The right level of staffing has to be fact-based,” adds Retail Director Sebastian Lann. Lina explains that sometimes you also find that retail is just not the right workplace for a particular employee. “And the figures in Maze have helped us with that too.”

Direct link to sales

The store manager is confident that the significant increase across KPIs for the store in Lambertseter is linked to the growth in sales. 

“Those figures go hand in hand – without a doubt,” concludes Lina Öberg.