Regardless of your industry, consumer safety and satisfaction are paramount, especially for those in the service sector. Reacting to product recall actions quickly is important for legal and safety reasons but also as part of your after-sales support offering, not to mention the damage a poor experience can do to brand reputation!
When a client and well-known high street retailer contacted us with an urgent need for a lightweight, self-service, product recall and serial number checker tool, we understood the gravity of the situation immediately.
This wasn’t just about addressing a technical challenge. It was about ensuring the safety of customers, while also trying to limit impact to the brand and reputation through good support.
The Challenge
The biggest challenges were time, huge amounts of units and potential customers affected. They needed to act quickly. The nature of the problem required immediate attention, and the volume of products involved was substantial.
Our client was facing quite a significant issue: Due to an unforeseen issue with one of the products they sell, they needed to check over 26,000 units of a large kitchen appliance for precautionary recalls.
Handling this manually or through traditional customer service channels was simply not feasible. They needed an automated, self-service solution that could efficiently manage the task and provide clear, actionable guidance to their customers.
The Solution
We understood the urgency so, in the early hours of the evening, our team sprang into action. We had to develop a robust product recall management tool that would allow customers to quickly and easily check their appliance’s serial number against a database. Then receive precise instructions based on the results.
The goal was to create a user-friendly interface that could handle high traffic and deliver accurate information in real-time and – like with many deadlines – it was needed ASAP.
Key Features/ Requirements of the Product Recall Tool
- User-Friendly Interface: The tool needed to be intuitive and easy to use. It also needed to remove unnecessary technical data and ensure that customers could navigate it without difficulty.
- Real-Time Database Check: It was essential to have a reliable database that could be queried in real-time, providing instant feedback to the users.
- Variable Instructions: Depending on whether a product was affected by the recall or not, the tool needed to deliver specific instructions. Guiding the customer on the next steps to a resolution.
- Scale: Given the potential high volume of queries in a short space of time. The tool had to be able to be resource efficient and robust to maintain performance under heavy usage.
- Flexibility: We also ensured the service would be portable and flexible enough to handle multiple queries and products simultaneously.
- Security: Ensure data was ring-fenced to selected datasets and client preferences. For use between different brands, the tool was also built in a modular fashion. This ensured customisation could be given to retailers needing to support similar product checks under different branding.
- Branding: The user interface also needed the flexibility to style any specific brand requirements.
Development
Initial Planning and Development
We started with a rapid planning session to gather all the requirements and constraints. Collaborating closely with the client’s hastily assembled team, we mapped out the essential features and functionalities. We knew that the data required, and the potential appliances affected, could change. That’s why we took a flexible approach from the outset.
Rapid Development
Thanks to our experienced development team and their alacrity shown towards a new challenge, we were able to move quickly from planning to execution. We chose a stack that allowed for fast development without compromising on quality or security. After a mad few days, and several late-night sessions, our wonderful team had something to work from: the bare bones of the program, the rough interface drawn up and functions being written.
Database Integration – Product Recall List
A critical component was integrating the tool with the client’s existing product database and ours. We ensured that the database was first assimilated into our product database, then optimised for quick searches and warranty-related checks in line with our client’s policies.
User Interface
Our design team focused on creating a clean, straightforward interface. We conducted usability tests to ensure that even non-tech-savvy users could easily use the tool. Content, both written and visual steps were created alongside the Serial Checker to ensure users were confident in what they needed to do.
Testing and Deployment
Despite the tight timeline, thorough testing was (and will always be) essential. We performed UA testing to identify and fix any issues. Checks were also made to ensure the tool could handle the potential heavy load of product recall requests, without lag.
Pleasantly no bugs were found, partly due to the wonderful development team (thanks again guys!). And partly because we use our own bespoke tech systems and software, meaning we are in control with no middlemen or agencies.
Once we were confident in the tool’s reliability, we moved to deployment into a sandboxed but live location for our client to verify and sign off. At this point, small alterations were still being fed in by the client, and an action plan began for V2!
The Outcome – A new Product Recall Tool is born!
In a matter of days (yes, days!), we delivered a fully functional self-service product recall checker tool!
An email could now be sent to all customers potentially affected. The client’s support website issued a recall notice on the product and the tool sat poised waiting to spring into action.
With the link and access, customers could now enter their appliance’s serial number (or even partial serial number) and immediately find out if their product was affected by the recall.
If a product recall was needed, the tool provided clear, step-by-step instructions on what actions to take next, ensuring safety and compliance.
From our side, each contact was tagged, flagged and the serial number captured. This allowed us to easily report back to our clients with stats on total visits, engagement rate, numbers of devices and outcomes of these.
This data was crucial to understanding the source and full scope of the issue, having this to hand made it far easier to identify potential faulty batches of product.
The response was overwhelmingly positive. The client’s customer service team saw a significant reduction in product recall-related inquiries, freeing them up to handle other essential tasks. More importantly, customers appreciated the quick and easy access to important safety information, reinforcing their trust in both the retailer and the brand.
Conclusion
The TMTI Product Recall project was a testament to our team’s ability to deliver high-quality solutions under tight deadlines. By understanding the client’s needs and leveraging our technical expertise, we were able to create a product recall management tool that not only solved an immediate problem but also added long-term value to the client’s operations. In the world of product recalls and the service sector, speed and accuracy are crucial, and we’re proud to have provided a solution that met both requirements effectively.
If you have a challenging product return or product recall that needs a swift, reliable solution, we’d love to help you. We’re here to turn your urgent requirements into successful outcomes. If you know what you need for your product returns, great! If you don’t know where to start, we’re here to help with that too!
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