How basic increases customer- and employee satisfaction with Honestly Feedback Terminals

The Munich-based company specialises in the distribution of fair and affordable organic products. From food to baby products to cosmetics: The range consists of 12,000 items, all of them subject to strict organic standards.

Founded in 1997, the company now has 34 branches and around 950 employees. Since then, the corporate philosophy has remained unchanged:

“Making organic food attractive at fair prices in a competent shopping atmosphere for more and more people and thereby promoting the sustainable food industry”.

Yet, what does “attractive” mean to the customer?

“It is difficult to read the customer's mind when it comes to problems, worries, wishes or suggestions they might have”, , reports Katrin Iwanow, director at basic.

But it’s precisely this discovery of customer needs that is of immense importance to basic:

Those responsible quickly realised that a timely solution was needed in order to take on this challenge and to continue making the purchase of sustainable products appetising to customers in the future.

The anonymity and simplicity of the solution were decisive for the decision against high time expenditure and for the introduction of the Honestly Feedback Terminals.

“The customer gives feedback weekly and we can process it immediately at the head office. We used to spend a lot of time researching and organising things - today I save precious time in this way”

This pleases headquarters - and the customer:

The quick operation and the protection of anonymity removes the hurdles for the customer to actually express constructive criticism. After the introduction of the Honestly terminals, it became apparent that the plastic packaging of a baby product was a thorn in the side of many customers. The persons responsible at basic could react and search for alternatives. The result: cooperation with a company that recycles plastic waste. Swings and slides will be produced from the packaging in the future. “Without feedback from customers, this would not have been possible. We would never have known how much this bothered our customers.”

Honestly’s biggest advantage?

“The easy operation. I can extract feedback on each market, every regional manager monthly via the feedback from individual markets - it starts with the presentation of data on the dashboard already.”

Even for people with little technical expertise, feeding in new surveys is no problem. This allows Ivanov to adapt the questions independently and depending on the situation - without having to contact the Honestly customer support.

“If technical difficulties do arise, I always get great support from Honestly Customer Support. They are very helpful and nice. It's really fun to work with Honestly.”

After all, it’s not only criticism that’s provided: “For a year now our employees have been much more relaxed and content.”

After all, it’s not only criticism that’s provided: “People also leave very nice comments. Local employees are praised by name. That motivates them tremendously and gives them a real push forward again.”

“We always look forward to new features and will continue to make intensive use of this channel in the future.” Because criticism doesn’t scare basic, according to Ivanov. basic knows how to deal with criticism in a way that benefits basic.