Malz Domestic Appliances: How customer feedback increases motivation in the workplace

Retailer Joachim Malz is relaxed about receiving constructive criticism, since he has found this kind of feedback highly insightful for himself, but especially for his business. As an independent retailer for electronic appliances for over 25 years, his business stands for quality, service and tailored support – and nobody is better positioned to gauge this than his own customers. So for him, actively collecting customer feedback is essential. Maintaining a relationship with customers has a positive influence on customer behavior, but it also enables you to optimize the way you operate too. Joachim Malz knows that these days, a good online reputation is crucial.

Why do you use ProvenExpert?

I first heard about ProvenExpert at a convention. I was interested right away and decided to try it out. The deciding factor for me was that I am notified of all ratings that my company receives online. It's often difficult to keep an overview of each and every portal you're reviewed upon. When I don't know that feedback has been left, I can't respond to it. So that's why I decided to use ProvenExpert.

How did you collect feedback before you started using ProvenExpert?

Before using ProvenExpert, we just relied on Google and Facebook for customer reviews. It was harder to keep track of things on all the other platforms. Now, we're able to aggregate all our ratings into a single profile, which saves a lot of time too.

How do you let people know about your ProvenExpert profile?

I let people know about my ProvenExpert profile on my website. We've integrated the ProvenExpert seal into the page. Also, we mention the profile when talking directly to our customers and ask us to review us there.

How was the collaboration with the ProvenExpert team?

Working together with ProvenExpert was a very smooth experience. Since creating the profile, we receive a notification whenever someone leaves a review or rating. That's a big plus for me.

How do you respond to positive or negative feedback?

We answer both positive and negative comments and approach them in different ways. For negative reviews, in particular, we'll address the customer directly. When customers just rate us in terms of stars and don't provide a written comment, we rarely respond – unless they've only given us one star. If this happens, we ask the reviewer if they would like to leave more specific feedback.

In what ways does ProvenExpert give you the advantage over your competitors?

You can buy domestic appliances in bigger electrical chains, but these aren't our direct competitors. Our direct competitors are other retailers who, like us, specialize in various kinds of household goods. I've noticed that in contrast to ourselves, many specialist retailers don't maintain their online reputation, or don't have one at all, simply because they don't respond to comments and feedback from customers online. This might be because they are not even aware of the new comments that they receive. This is why I've chosen to use ProvenExpert – it notifies me of each and every rating and comment, so it keeps me up-to-date. With ProvenExpert, I'm more accessible to my customers and because of this, I have received noticeably more orders. I can say that we're now a step ahead of our direct competitors.

Do you use customer feedback for internal quality management too?

Firstly, I always direct the praise towards my employees. In this way, I use customer feedback as an active form of motivation for my staff. Thanks to ProvenExpert we know what customers think of us, but it's also a platform that lets us communicates directly with our customers, which is an even bigger advantage. By responding to comments and thus approaching customers directly, the end effect is that customers will go ahead and leave a review. On the other hand, this prevents customers from intentionally writing something negative, because they know that I will respond directly to their comments. This offers us the possibility of optimizing our service, while solving problems in a lasting way through constructive criticism.

Would you recommend our platform to other retailers, and why?

Customer evaluations are becoming more and more important and since there are now many options for rating a company online, the best solution to collect everything in one place. This is where ProvenExpert comes in. Also, it offers excellent value for money: I don't think any other portal offers the same service for this price. In truth, I would recommend ProvenExpert to anybody.