Webhelp expands footprint in Americas with OneLink
Global BPO Webhelp Acquires OneLink to Expand Operations in the Americas for Customer Experience Services and Solutions
Complementary CX brands bring a game-changing, holistic approach to CX in the digital world, creating modern customer experience journeys for client brands.
PARIS — July 13, 2021 — Webhelp, a leading global provider of customer experience (CX) and business solutions, has announced its intent to acquire OneLink, an innovator in digitally-enabled CX, BPO and technology services supporting tier one brands throughout the United States, Europe, and Latin America. OneLink clients include progressive hyper-growth technology brands in areas such as shared mobility, e-commerce, fintech, fitness tech and payment apps, etc. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Following the acquisition, which is subject to approval of the relevant regulatory authorities, Webhelp will have revenues in excess of U.S. $2.4B, with 190 locations across 55 countries and more than 90,000 employees globally.
“Webhelp and OneLink share a similar culture and challenger mentality. We both create disruptive experiences in the digital world that position our clients as customer-focused organizations, helping them build brand loyalty and create revenue,” said Olivier Duha, co-founder and CEO of Webhelp. “Together, our combined value will offer clients access to additional locations and extended customer service and support capabilities, as well as the strength of our combined innovation in digital and technology-driven customer experience solutions.”
Webhelp continues to expand its global footprint and service offerings through organic growth and M&A activities, including 13 acquisitions in the past five years. The company recently acquired Dynamicall, now Webhelp Peru, expanding operations to support the U.S., LatAm, and European markets. Adding OneLink offers a significant expanded footprint across Latin America, an attractive best-shoring mix, and top-level nearshore capabilities for the U.S. market, as well as next-generation in-house technology solutions.
Key to the Webhelp-OneLink deal was a complementary solutions portfolio and a focus on creating exceptional human experiences aimed at driving success for clients. Both companies have built a culture of imaginative, passionate people, who are driven to build value for clients across challenging industries such as consumer tech, industrial, e-commerce, health, and finance. In a world that’s increasingly digital, both organizations are keen on leveraging the positive multiplier effects from bringing together people and technology to create incredible, seamless customer journeys. In addition, both organizations are founder-led, creating a like-minded approach to growing a global business based on the strength of an empowered workforce.
“We’re very proud of our team of Incredybles who have driven our success over the past eight years. We are all excited about joining forces with the Webhelp family,” said Eduardo Salazar, CEO and co-founder of OneLink BPO. Combining our strengths opens up opportunities to continue making real impact for our clients, our people and the communities where we work, driven by a shared ambition of creating inclusive and sustainable value.”
According to Sandrine Asseraf, Webhelp’s Group Managing Director North America, the natural fit of the companies and teams was clear from the first conversation. OneLink’s purpose-focused approach is closely aligned with Webhelp’s. Both brands are driven by a mutual and ambitious people-first culture dedicated to making a real impact for employees and clients by challenging the old ways of engaging and supporting end customers.
For Webhelp, Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE served as exclusive financial advisor while Latham & Watkins LLP served as legal counsel. For OneLink, Rothschild & Co served as exclusive financial advisor while Greenberg Traurig, LLP served as legal counsel.
About Webhelp
Webhelp designs, delivers, and optimizes unforgettable human experiences for today’s digital world – creating game-changing customer journeys. From sales to service, content moderation to credit management, Webhelp is an end-to-end partner across all B2C and B2B customer journeys. Its 80,000 passionate employees across more than 50 countries thrive on making a difference for the world’s most exciting brands. Webhelp is currently owned by its management and Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (Euronext: GBLB), a leading global investment holding, as of November 2019.
About OneLink BPO
OneLink provides digitally enabled CX, BPO, and technology services to leading North and Latin American clients through a comprehensive portfolio of complex front, middle & back office, chatbots, AI, and various other automation services.
OneLink operates 17 centers in Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Colombia, and Brazil and employs over 14.000 people – the Incredybles. The company has grown since inception at a +30% CAGR. The company is currently owned by New York based private equity firm One Equity Partners (OEP) and current members of the OneLink management team.
Advisors to the deal
Webhelp
- Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE – Paris Branch / exclusive financial advisor
- Latham & Watkins LLP / Legal advisor
- Linklaters LLP / Tax structuring advisor and legal advisor on the financing
- KKR Capital Management & Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE – Paris Branch / financing provider
- Alvarez & Marsal / Financial and Tax due diligence advisor
- Roland Berger / Commercial due diligence advisor
- Auctus Advisors / IT Technical due diligence advisor
OneLink Holdings
- Rothschild & Co / exclusive financial advisor
- Greenberg Traurig, LLP / legal counsel to OneLink Holdings and One Equity Partners,
- KPMG / financial and tax diligence support
[Testimonial] Why outsourcing has become a key part of Rue du Commerce's anti-fraud strategy
With online sellers increasingly embracing tools to combat fraud, fraud patterns have evolved and now affect more than just payments. Above and beyond payment fraud, the trends that are growing in pace are mainly friendly fraud, customer account spoofing and fraud involving promotions and returns. They are becoming more and more subtle, putting pressure on sellers’ fraud management teams, and require specific expertise and know-how. For more than three years, Webhelp Payment Services has been working with Rue du Commerce, a major player in French e-commerce, on its anti-fraud strategy.
With a target of achieving zero fraud, our teams are responsible for checking all suspicious activity, sometimes within very tight deadlines, especially during peak seasons (sales, Black Friday, Christmas etc.), whilst also minimising customer queries.
In this interview, Christophe Charrot, Fraud Manager at Rue du Commerce, tells us about the challenges involved in combating fraud and how outsourcing has become a key part of its strategy
Why did you decide to outsource anti-fraud management at Rue du Commerce?
Christophe Charrot: Quite simply because our resources and tools are not enough to prevent fraud. Initially, our anti-fraud department was based on payment fraud but we are realising that this is becoming increasingly anecdotal. Today, fraud has become “ingenious”; it focuses on fake documents, false statements about products not being received, hacking customer accounts, instalment payments, return fraud, etc. Given these developments, outsourcing was the obvious answer, allowing us both to maintain the highest level of quality but also to remain alert in an area that is constantly changing.
What are the key points for an outsourcing strategy when it comes to fraud management?
CC: Outsourcing doesn’t have to compensate for internal shortcomings but should be seen from a collaborative perspective. I would say that the first key aspect of a successful outsourcing strategy is to be surrounded by a brilliantly trained team, with whom we are constantly communicating and with whom there is a real sense of collaboration. As a client, we are an indicator for fraud trends, which means that the teams can be aware of exactly what they need to target and keep in mind with their anti-fraud strategy. On the other hand, outsourcing teams offer both the human and technical resources that we lack. It’s a real team effort.
The other key point in my view is the need to remain vigilant, to stay alert and be on the lookout for issues relating to fraud. Lastly, we need to demonstrate real agility if we want to be able to adapt quickly to changes when it comes to combating fraud.
In terms of figures, how do you measure success?
CC: Well, we haven’t had any unpaid invoices for 6 months from our manual reviews! And we know that we only had one or two unpaid invoices over the previous 6 months.
As far as manual reviews are concerned, we have also gone from 15% when I came to Rue du Commerce, to 4.5% now. It is important to reduce this review rate as it can have a real impact on the customer experience and cause friction.
Lastly, our rejection rate (transactions declined after purchase because they are identified as too risky) has gone from 30% to 12%, so this figure has more than halved.
How do you prepare for a peak season like Black Friday or Christmas?
CC: We start preparing for the peak season in advance with the Webhelp Payment Services teams to identify the key indicators that need to be monitored, as well as the fraud trends, and to optimise the manual review system as much as we can. The stakes are very high for the customer experience at this time of the year.
How do you see the future in terms of manual reviews?
CC: Payment fraud has given way to refund fraud. Today, the risks are no longer with bank payments but rather with credit or instalment payments. In legal terms, we are no longer talking about fraud but about unpaid debts.
Manual review must and will continue to exist. However, it will no longer focus on traditional payment methods such as bank cards, but on other methods like credit or instalment payments. In my opinion, we need to strike a balance between manual review (which will reduce in terms of volume) and artificial intelligence, which just keeps getting better.
What part does Webhelp Payment Services play in Rue du Commerce’s anti-fraud strategy?
CC: Webhelp Payment Services clearly plays a key role. Internally, for example, we will never have the capacity to compensate for peak seasons because this would require recruiting employees, purchasing equipment, expanding the premises, etc. Outsourcing is “the key”. Especially in an environment in which we will need to learn a new trade and adopt a system to deal with return fraud.
I have every faith in the Webhelp teams to adapt to the new challenges that lie ahead. We also have plans to launch a debt collection service together in the near future.
How would you rate your partnership with Webhelp Payment Services?
CC: 100% satisfied. It’s a real pleasure. Today, we no longer have a “client / supplier” relationship: it’s no longer about people who work “for” us but rather “with” us. I particularly enjoy working with the teams in Romania, with whom we have developed a real climate of trust that means we can work with real peace of mind.
There’s just one thing that I can’t wait for, and that’s to be able to go back to Lasi in Romania after a year and a half of being in a long-distance relationship!
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The creative process behind Webhelp’s sponsored bear
In just a few days’ time, the bears will hit the streets of Sheffield for this summer’s sculpture trail. Ahead of the launch on 12th July, we caught up with Eleanor Young, the artist of Webhelp’s Pastel Pattern Patchwork Bear to learn more about our bear sculpture and the creative process behind the design.
First of all, tell us a little bit about your background as an artist?
I’m a designer maker based in rural Perthshire, where I run my design studio Fun Makes Good. Having studied textile design at Glasgow School of Art I now specialise in contemporary patchwork, creating bold, bright, design-led interior products and upholstery as well as large scale bespoke textile pieces for commercial spaces and the public realm. Although primarily specialising in textiles I’ve enjoyed evolving my practice to include murals and pieces of public art too, all in my signature colourful graphic style.
How did you come across the call out for artists to design a Bear for the trail?
I was privileged enough to be asked by The Children’s Hospital Charity’s team to submit a design as I was already working on a project with Sheffield Children’s Hospital. I jumped at the chance, as it seemed a nice way to develop on the work I was already creating for them, bringing the work out of the hospital and into the wider city for people on the street to enjoy.
How did you feel when your design was chosen by Webhelp?
It’s really lovely to have a company behind it who feel passionate about the cause and want to support the sculpture trail. I’m delighted my design was selected!
What inspired you to choose the patchwork theme for the bear?
I chose to create a design that takes direct reference from the textile work that I had been working on for Sheffield Children’s Hospital. I’d recently been making bespoke cushions for seats and seating areas in the hospital that featured soft patchworks of flowing shapes in ice-cream colours. I wanted to use the same colour pallet and reference the same pattern but as if the shapes continued on into one large patchwork, that could wrap around the bear. It was nice to expand on the design and take it into a 3-dimentional space!
How many weeks did it take you to complete the sculpture, did you hit a creative block?
It was very good timing as the bear arrived just days before the very first lockdown last year. It provided me with a very calming activity to work on whilst everything else seemed to be so uncertain. It was really lovely just taking the time to work on it bit by bit unpressured.
Fun Makes Good has created work for unusual and interesting places, what has been the most memorable place?
One of my favourite projects actually took one of my pieces out on tour, to help promote live performance across the Highlands and Islands. I upholstered some theatre chairs in bespoke digitally printed velvet. The chairs travelled across country on the top of a yellow car and were placed in some of the most beautiful locations across the Highlands including beaches, hills and beside lochs. It was such a fun idea!
Can you tell us about your collaboration with Artfelt when you created bespoke textiles and interior decoration within Sheffield Children’s Hospital?
I feel very privileged to have worked with Artfelt, the charity arts programme at Sheffield’s Children’s Hospital, on a few different commissions after meeting Jade Richardson the Arts commissioner at a Christmas Market at the Hepworth in 2018. After seeing my cushions at the market I was asked to make some in a hospital suitable material, that could add an element of ‘home’ and comfort in some of the seating areas. Working with healthcare grade vinyl, I made a number of patchwork designs that tied in with the existing interior decoration.
From there, I worked on designing a whole scheme for one of the parent’s rooms, bringing together textiles with hand painted murals and wall art. It was a fantastic experience and I received great feedback from the staff who were all involved in the design process, making sure all the elements were right for the space. I also really enjoyed the experience of coming into the hospital to paint, as I was able to meet some of the parents who would be using the room and could see how much they appreciated having an area designed for them.
Around the same time, I was commissioned to design some large-scale cushions to be fitted into internal windows within the newly completed ward. The scale of the large internal windows provided an opportunity to create a space within the corridors for seating. These individual pods could provide semi private, quiet spaces for waiting and contemplation and I designed some complimentary soft seating pads.
Will you be visiting Sheffield to see the Bears?
Yes! I’m very much hoping to make a trip later in the summer with my family as my wee boy has been asking ‘where has the bear gone’ and I know he’ll love hunting out the others across the city.
If you’re interested in finding out more about Eleanor’s designs check out Fun Makes Good amazing product selection here.
As proud sponsors of the trail, Webhelpers across our three Yorkshire sites have various actives planned to raise funds for Sheffield Children’s Hospital. We can’t wait to see what they have in store!
In the meantime, let the bear hunt begin #PatchworkBear.
Protect dealers and buyers on classified ad platforms
Consumer content is instrumental in influencing both purchase decision making and the popularity of online businesses.
The trust and safety of users online is crucial in today’s digital world. Classified ads platforms like gumtree and craigslist are increasingly popular for users to publish ads to share or gain information, or sell unwanted, used and new items to generate an income. Therefore, the trust and safety of users on these platforms is significant.
To ensure users are provided with a safe and seamless journey, it requires a balance of technology and human intervention to manage content at each step.
This paper looks at some of the pain points in the classified ads space, highlighting the typical industry reactions and insights into how Webhelp can offer a comprehensive and game changing solution with expert content moderators.
Learn more about our Digital Content Services for Content Moderation.
Author
Thomas Japy
Digital Content Services Business Analyst
Bears of Sheffield
In support of Sheffield Children’s Hospital Webhelp are sponsoring our very own bear in this summer’s Bears of Sheffield sculpture trail. With so many restrictions over the past year, it’s a pleasure to be part of this art exhibition to unite the city.
We are proud to be sponsors of the Bears of Sheffield for 2021 coordinated by The Children’s Hospital Charity. With less than 3 weeks to go until the hunt begins, we can bearly contain our excitement.
Between 12 July and 29 September, 60 big bears will be showcased around Sheffield, including our very own Pastel Patchwork Pattern Bear designed by Fun Makes Good, a Scottish design studio founded by textile designer Eleanor Young. The bear is a continuation of some of Fun Makes Good’s previous work, having collaborated with Artfelt to create bespoke textiles and interior decorations for various spaces within Sheffield Children’s Hospital. There will also be 100 little bears in the trail designed by local schools, and painted by professional artists.
The bears will raise funds to transform the Cancer and Leukaemia ward at Sheffield Children’s Hospital. Patients going through treatment will often stay in the hospital for weeks, so the vison is to have rooms with space, privacy and natural light.
Our Webhelpers across three Yorkshire sites are busy planning activities to generate funds for this amazing cause. The countdown is on until the bears come out to play, and we can’t wait to find them all!
“Sheffield Children’s hospital is a fantastic cause that is very close to many of our colleagues’ hearts across our Yorkshire sites, and one that we have been proud to support through various events with The Children’s Hospital Charity over the years. I am thrilled to be part of the ‘Bears of Sheffield’ event, and can’t wait to see them out and about in Sheffield!”
Nathan Woodhams, Operations Director, Webhelp
New shape, new face, new pace - the future of risk
Faye Sadler-Clark examines how Risk functions can shift from standing in the way of change, to leading the way.
Change is a given part of any business, with Transformation programmes allowing businesses to their offerings for customers. With so much change comes a need for organisations to adapt in order to deliver faster, and at a lower cost. However, functions such as Risk & Compliance are traditionally slower to adapt and often cannot keep up with the pace and skills required by the teams they are supporting – to the point where they come to be viewed as an obstacle to change, rather than working to facilitate it.
When organisations look to deliver cost savings, to work smarter, and to develop more agile ways of working, Risk teams are not typically an obvious target. As a result, many organisations are operating with a Risk function geared to support the organisation ‘as was’, rather than one which reflects the organisation’s current ‘as is’ demand. This is akin to running a website that is not optimised for mobile browsing, knowing that the majority of your customers transact through their mobile phones.
Critically, these historic, functional Risk models also represent an untenable cost base. It’s time for change, so what does the future face of Risk look like? What are the key things that organisations need to be considering?
Risk management as an enabler
Organisations need to change the narrative from risk management as a barrier to progress to effective risk management being an enabler – positioning Risk as a value creator, used to drive organisational performance.
To do this, organisations need to think more strategically when it comes to risk management, making better decisions for better risk-return outcomes. Risk identification, assessment, control and mitigation remain fundamental, but there is increasing appetite from C-suites of progressive companies to push boundaries and look at the upside potential of considered, strategic risk taking.
Less focus on the rear-view mirror
The Covid-19 pandemic and the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) introduction of the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR) have played a key role in driving business leaders to focus more energy and attention on getting ahead of the key risks facing their organisation. This typically involves boards having closer oversight of the risks for which they are accountable, and developing a deep understanding of the fundamental drivers of the systemic vulnerabilities and make-up within their identified risk profiles.
We can still learn from risk events and control failures, but a view on both horizon and real time risk enables agile decision making and timely risk management. With the growth of advancements in data analytics, machine learning, and AI there is plenty of scope for real-time risk monitoring, though simply bringing together the right people with the right skills and knowledge at the right time to manage risk events can be equally impactful.
Risk Teams: smaller, flexible, and more nimble
Organisations face continuous disruption, whether through operating model transformation, the threats (and opportunities) from emerging technologies, or external factors such as increasing competition or the ever-growing threat of cyberattacks. Flexibility and agility become hygiene factors for high performing Risk teams. They must be able to pivot quickly to effectively support their organisation in responding to, and protecting against, both existing and emerging threats.
This points away from large, potentially slow moving and siloed Risk functions, and towards smaller and stealthier teams ready to deploy when it matters most.
Risk Professionals: digitally equipped all-rounders
There is increasingly high demand for risk professionals with analytical and digital skills who can draw meaningful insight from risk data, as well as effective communicators who can bring risk to life, working and influencing cross-functionally at all levels of the organisation.
Skills and experience aside, behavioural traits can underpin the success of modern Risk teams. When considering your Risk function, top of the list should be seeking out people with insatiable curiosity for understanding key developments in the business, the industry, and the evolving regulatory landscape. Risk professionals who keep pace with their organisation’s evolving operating context are able to engage in productive dialogue, relating risk management to their audience and engendering strong working relationships. This can lead to true risk partnership, which is crucial when focusing on risk-based decision making, which can only be of benefit to the organisation.
‘What got you here won’t get you there’
Post-adjustment to the ‘new normal’ following the Covid-19 pandemic, many businesses are turning their focus further towards developing operational resilience, managing third party risks and shoring up their cyber defences. With no sign of things quieting down any time soon, now is the time to consider how your Risk function can better support the strategic objectives of your business and deliver real value.
You may be considering how aligned your Risk and Compliance function is to supporting the delivery of your business strategy. We can support organisational design review to drive performance and reduce cost through use of our holistic model, accredited by one of the UK’s leading business schools.
If you’re interested in how we may be able to support you as you take the next steps on your risk journey, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Faye Sadler-Clarke
Head of Risk, Compliance and Innovation
Webhelp’s growth in the BFSI sector earns recognition as a CX leader by NelsonHall
16th June, 2021
Major international analyst firm NelsonHall has designated Webhelp, the leading global customer experience (CX) and business solutions provider, as a “Leader” for its offerings and abilities in CX services in the banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sector.
Recognized for delivering seamless execution and innovation, the group was placed highly across all four market segments: overall BFSI, revenue generation capability, CX improvement capability, and cost optimization capacity.
Ivan Kotzev, NelsonHall CX Analyst, said,
“The banking and financial services industry is undergoing rapid evolution of CX with demands for the redesign of customer journeys. Webhelp’s innovation framework and resources to rethink the customer-brand interactions and dedicated capabilities in KYC, payment processing, and fintech scale-up are essential elements in a comprehensive approach.”
The recognition Webhelp received validates its ability to deliver value to clients in the BFSI sector through innovative digital enablement and analytics-driven design leveraged to drive transformation. Webhelp, together with its dedicated consulting firm, Gobeyond Partners, has invested heavily to create innovative frameworks and drive the CX transformation agenda.
The company’s integrated BFSI platform, which builds technology-enabled solutions by mapping end-to-end customer journeys, was highlighted as a significant competitive advantage. The report also nods to Webhelp’s dedicated payment services and regulatory and compliance service offerings focused on laying a solid foundation for clients through a proprietary Know Your Customer (KYC) journey approach.
The company’s people-first culture, collaborative way of working, and end-to-end digital transformation solutions are what make Webhelp’s client experience stand out, especially for those businesses looking to retain customers and build long-term loyalty.
Matthieu Bouin, Group Managing Director, Webhelp, stated,
“NelsonHall’s recognition is a huge honor for us because we know the BFSI industry is undergoing a complete transformation. This is why we’ve strengthened our transformation capabilities together with Gobeyond Partners. Thanks to their extensive knowledge in the banking and financial services sector, we’ve worked together to design and deliver transformative customer journeys while supporting our clients’ to generate revenue and optimize costs.”
Webhelp’s program, The Nest by Webhelp, dedicated to supporting start-ups and scale-ups during their growth journey by building a hand-in-hand customer experience process, was recognized for its work with fintech and insurtech clients.
With plans to double growth by the end of 2021, the BFSI sector is an essential part of Webhelp’s geographic expansion strategy.
The NelsonHall NEAT vendor evaluation study assessed the performance of 13 major players delivering CX services in the banking and financial services industry. Webhelp’s position as a Leader is the highest category based on capability, performance, cost optimization, and revenue generation, amongst the other quadrants classified as Innovators, High Achievers, Major Players.
To read more about NelsonHall’s NEAT evaluation for CX Services in BFSI for Webhelp, we invite you to download the full report below.
Emotional connections matter
Helen Murray, Chief Customer Solutions Officer for Webhelp UK, takes us through what emotional connections can do for your brand in 2021 and beyond.
When it comes to Customer Experience, research has shown time and again that emotional connection is key.
We’ve previously looked at how emotional connections can be hugely important for brands at a time in which many of us have never felt more disconnected. In our Emotions white paper, we investigated how brands can develop emotional connections with their customers.
In this article, we explore the ways in which emotional connections can directly impact brands’ relationships with their customers, specifically the impact to three fundamental customer success metrics:
- How likely is your customer to buy more products from your brand?
- How likely are they to develop stronger loyalty?
- How likely are they to recommend you to others?
What is emotional connection?
Before we move on, it’s worth qualifying what we mean by “emotional connections to a brand”.
We define emotional connection as the feelings that come together to form a bond between the customer and a particular brand. When customers have an emotional connection to a brand, they feel positive feelings towards the brand that goes beyond simply ‘liking’ it – behaviours such as being willing to show loyalty, to buy more products, to pay attention to marketing and communications, and to recommend the brand to others, are all more prevalent.
“People need to believe, which is easier to do when the brand has a strong purpose and values. A bond – or a genuine emotional connection – is more easily created and retained when these are conveyed by a person. Technology can be a powerful enabler, but it’s really people that are key to emotional connections.”
David Turner,
Chief Executive Officer, Webhelp UK Region
Emotional connections in 2021
In 2020 and 2021, we contributed questions to the Ryan Strategic Advisory: Front Office BPO Omnibus Survey, with an interest in both occasions in understanding the role emotional connections can play in helping organisations build lasting relationships with their customers.
The 2021 report collated the views of 628 enterprise executives, each of whom is responsible for strategic decision-making over contact centres in their respective organisations.
The results were interesting:
From the data, it’s clear that the survey respondents are of the firm and consistent belief, year on year, that consumers who feel a strong emotional connection to your brand are more likely to buy more of your products, they’re more likely to stick with your brand, and, significantly, they’re more likely to act as advocates for your brand.
What’s also interesting to note is, looking at the data between 2020 and 2021, there’s been a negligible difference in the results, strongly suggesting that the impact of Covid-19 across the globe has had no discernible impact on how customers view their relationships with those brands with which they feel an emotional connection.
A couple of other significant takeaways from the report:
- With a score of 3.53, the area that respondents suggest is least affected by emotional connections is that of price. What this essentially means is, it’s less likely that customers would accept price hikes purely because they have a strong emotional connection with the brand.
- Almost half (47%) of businesses surveyed recognise that emotional connections with customers is vital, and have a strategy in place to support this goal. This is an increase of 6% year on year.
Examples of emotional impact in different sectors
Judging from these results, it seems clear that brands who invest the time in creating real emotional connections with their customers can expect to see results.
Let’s take a look at some real-world examples of how emotional impact can build strong customer ties:
Consumer trust in TransferWise is sky high
TransferWise (now Wise), a London-based money transfer platform released 5,600 balloons outside Westminster. Each balloon, representing one million of the £5.6 billion pounds lost by British consumers in hidden bank fees in just one year, was tagged with a personal story from a consumer, outlining how much that individual person had lost in hidden bank fees.
AirBnB show their travel cards
While the 2018 US travel ban was dispiriting to many, it had a particular direct effect on travel and hospitality firms, including AirBnB. The holiday firm decided not to rest on their laurels, and – echoing the frustration of people around the globe – made their position clear on the matter. Their decision to speak out on what was widely considered an immoral judgement was backed up by their donation of up to $150,000 to the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP).
Samsung (literally) provide Good Vibes
As one of the foremost manufacturers of mobile devices in the world, Samsung know a thing or two about communication. But they also proved they have a strong consideration of their customers’ needs with the launch of Samsung Good Vibes, an app which allows deafblind individuals around the world to communicate with anyone via their smartphone. Developed in association with Sense International India, the app uses a Morse Code-based vibration system and is free to download from the Galaxy Store.
These are all strong examples of how brands can directly create strong emotional connections with existing and potential customers. But how can organisations be sure that the connections they’ve built have real staying power? What can they do to embed those connections more deeply into their customer experience?
Well, that’s where we come in.
How we can help
Like any other relationship, these emotional connections with customers need to be nurtured and maintained. They also need to exist on a bedrock of customer service and experience. In other words, there’s no point in trying to build strong emotional connections with your customers if your existing customer experience is poor.
We can help you to shape the ideal customer journeys for your business. We leverage industry-leading technology and data to continually optimise performance, and to help you scale and grow your business in a cost-efficient way, while quickly adapting to new and changing customer needs.
In short, we can help you build amazing experiences for your customers.
Victor Sundén appointed CEO of Webhelp Nordic
7th June 2021
Victor Sundén, Chief Commercial Officer and Deputy CEO at Webhelp Nordic, will be promoted to CEO of the Webhelp Nordic region as of August 23, 2021. Victor joined Webhelp in early 2020 to drive strategic growth in the region.
Victor will succeed Terje Andreassen, who has served as the CEO of Webhelp Nordic for the past five years. Terje has been with Webhelp Nordic and former GoExcellent, now a part of the Webhelp Group, since 2009, and after a long tenure of twelve great years of service, he has reached a point where he would like to focus on his role as Chairman of the Webhelp Nordic Board. He will continue supporting the expansion of Webhelp while maintaining a key focus on customer relations.
Victor has extensive experience ranging from strategy consulting and advising clients in Europe and the U.S. to building and scaling internet businesses, primarily in e-commerce. These experiences provide Victor with a solid foundation for raising Webhelp’s presence in the region.
Victor Sundén stated:
“I am honored for this opportunity to assume the CEO role during such a pivotal period of development. Like all the Webhelpers here, I am passionate about the company’s success and am committed to driving innovative customer experiences for our clients. With Terje’s support, I plan to continue executing the strategy while maintaining a significant focus on empowering our people and unlocking growth as we continue to scale. On behalf of the entire Nordic team, I want to thank Terje for his enormous contributions to Webhelp, his guidance, and his mentorship throughout this transition. Terje has made great strides in his commitment to the company’s success while helping to cultivate phenomenal culture. We’re lucky to have him serve as an advisor moving forward.”
Terje Andreassen said:
“It’s been a great honor to be a part of the Webhelp Nordic team as Webhelp has undergone a crucial period of transformation, partnering with new clients to deliver innovative CX solutions. Although I’ll be reducing my day-to-day involvement in the management of Webhelp, I will continue to serve Webhelp as a strategic advisor and building client relations as chairman of the board. I couldn’t be more pleased to see Victor transition into this new role as CEO. I am very proud of what we’ve accomplished together.”
Olivier Duha, Webhelp Co-founder and CEO shared:
“The Webhelp community have a lot of appreciation and respect for Terje’s role as Nordic Region CEO. Victor’s experience and drive will no doubt lead to a continued success for this region, and I very much look forward to seeing what greatness the team delivers.”
Benefits of integrated Content Management for Retail
Fierce competition, fostered by the necessity for shoppers to go online during the consecutive lockdowns across the globe, calls for key differentiators and operational excellence for ecommerce, marketplace, and classified ads platforms.
These now well-established players, ruffled by constant newcomers, aim to provide the lowest prices to their customers, but low profit margins do not allow them to always reach a lower selling price than their neighbors. Another key pillar for them to stand out is offering an even smoother online user experience. But how is it possible for the users to live an experience that is comparable to an in-store purchase, once they have been attracted to their website?
At first, Content Management seems to be a relatively simple concept, especially when applied to retail: it is important to have consistent information on products shown to the clients, in the right place at the right moment. If a customer is not able to find it on one marketplace or ecommerce platform (this can also happen to classified ads, to a lesser extent), but they are able to find it on a different one selling it for a similar price, they would not bother returning to the original website to make that purchase. Therefore, it’s important to retrieve all product information from different sources by skilled and industry-specialized content managers who are also able to run promotions or discounts, update prices, and take down sold-out products. This is what is commonly called catalog management.
This enables retailers to be efficient at organizing their products by ensuring consistency and quality information is displayed across different channels. Moreover, the combination of dedicated software with skilled content managers facilitates a collaboration between the advisor and retailer for a smooth online experience.
These three software tools significantly refines this whole process:
- Digital Asset Management: These tools will help different teams across an organization to easily operate together in an organized way, and modify media files such as images, documents, and videos.
- Product Information Management: They centralize the details that customers, platforms, or employees need to know about the products they are selling. Syndication allows the data to be shared across all sellers, channels and languages. Managing it well is a lever to the localization of your catalog.
- Content Management Systems: These are essential to create consistent online user experiences. Their collaborative features support the organization of workflows and queues, as well as the ability to create, store, edit and publish web content. Moreover, they allow to put this online content into context.
With the three of these software tools combined, it is possible to offer a smoother online experience that is closer to in-store. It facilitates teams to have an exact idea of their stocks, a close connection to their CRM, and flawless ad equation between online and offline stocks for the whole organization. By using this data, it enhances the customer experience by being able to analyze and forecast trends.
The three immediate impacts:
- It is possible to show more relevant recommendations to any specific customer
- Avoids huge disappointments when a product that was displayed as available on the website – has just been sold or ordered in a shop
- The retailer is able to have an integrated view of the performance of its products to then act upon it.
Automation and tools play a critical role in this process, but reactive content managers with the ability of retrieving information in an ad-hoc manner if the software is missing information is key, as one will not be able to work as efficiently as you would want it to.
This strategic stock management, that can only be allowed due to integrated Content Management, can be pushed even more when a retailer is present across different markets with different languages. To offer a best-in-class experience, customers need to feel close to the company’s values, which are mostly embodied by marketing strategies and the salesperson who is selling the product to you in a shop.
Online, this can be done through an accurate localization plan following trends analysis, based upon which digital asset works, in which context (placed by the content manager at the right time).
Thinking about its Content Management strategy as unified and collaborative, making use of the right combination of tools and the right people to enact it, is a lever to gain competitive advantage in a space that is getting more and more saturated. Consumers are searching for companies they resonate with, that are capable of not only understanding their needs but also predicting them.
The link to CRMs makes even more sense when the retailers know that a product lifespan is about to reach its end, and then offers to renew its purchase for example. Those smart ways of engaging with customers, which can only be facilitated by integrated Content Management – should be the go-to for any online platform aiming to remain competitive in the market.
Finding a partner like Webhelp, who is conscious of the different technologies available on the market and is able to find, train and nurture the right profiles that fit to your brand, with the ability to develop your digital strategy, is becoming more important than ever. Whether you are a retailer selling your products across multiple platforms or you are a platform yourself.
Talk to us today about how Webhelp’s Digital Content Services can help you deliver best-in-class online experience to your customers through designing the best mix of technology and people.
Learn more about our Digital Content Services for Content Moderation.
Author
Thomas Japy
Digital Content Services Business Analyst