Technology, Wolt and Social media

We are changing the world with technology. – Bill Gates

As Bill Gates has stated, technology has indeed changed the world and how we approach it. Technology has brought us closer together as a global society and further into the future as humanity evolves in an unprecedented manner – adapting to the changing world around us. As we realize more and more that time is very limited, things that were considered a trend yesterday is already fading away and people are constantly searching for ways to do everything faster and more effectively. People are looking for value in everything they do, even in simple tasks like ordering food. Being able to order from my favorite restaurant on my couch with just a click as always been my dream which many food ordering & delivery applications has made it come true – one, in particular, is Wolt.

“We all need to eat 3–5 times per day. Just in the U.S. alone, there is a $70 billion market in the takeaway and delivery food industry. Out of that, only $9 billion is online. We decided we can make people’s lives better by enabling them to get food every single day with less hassle and waiting,” Juhani Mykkänen, the co-founder of Wolt, told Geektime.

Founded in October 2015, in Finland, Wolt grew from having a small team to now expanding across the country and growing to its neighboring countries. Wolt has many competitors who are also doing food delivery and takeaway orders such as Delivery Hero, Just Eat, Take Eat Easy, Deliveroo, Grubhub, Seamless, Foodora, etc. But, each of them has their own approach in the market. So how is Wolt surviving in the market and growing rapidly?

 

 

There are many factors that play an important role for Wolt’s rapid growth; however, Wolt’s activity in social media will be discussed in this article. Underhood.co gave Wolt 5.6/10 reputation overview which is better than its other competitors. For its dialogue score (which measures the quality of interaction) Wolt received a good rating of 5.7/10. Wolt has a fantastic relationship with its audience in social media and replies well to their fans. On Facebook, Wolt has an average of 0.4 posts per day and the comments per post are 52.2 in average, which is considered excellent. Although tweets are not as active on Twitter compared to Facebook, Twitter activities are still upholding their own with 3 average shares per day. Moving onto visibility score, Wolt received the pretty good score (5.3/10) which tells how well the company has created a buzz on social media.

Wolt is an online application which means all its customers are online based. Therefore, being active on social media to reach out more customers online is essential for the company to grow.

Many companies would make marketing errors and fail to reach the customers; however, Wolt has seemed to make all the right turns and is proving to be doing very well in their endeavors.

Efficient Communication between offices in different countries in Wolt

 

 

It could be said that good communication keeps up the different franchises as one organization. It is vital to provide and support intercommunication between staff in different countries to enhance Wolt’s sense of oneness, even though they have their own unique environments in different branches. Poor communication becomes a strong obstacle when the primary goal as one organization is to build strong international connections. Wolt supports and arranges a communication structure between branches that helps enable a strong client approach from our services.

Wolt has built up branches in Sweden, Denmark and Estonia. Wolt offers a range of exceptional services to both merchants and customers within the region who uses the services in all countries. Although every Wolt office in each country is different, our priority on making an impact in our client’s lives remains the same. The four key communicational tools to approach intercommunication are:

• Mobile app
• Email
• Text messages & Calls
• Web conferencing

Mobile app can be a great way to help keep up with social networking and unite staff all over the world. Virtually all of Wolt’s staff uses smart phones because of the convenience of information that simultaneously can be provided with a simple click. It is also important to reach everyone in the organization.

It is likely to use email for internal company communications. Email allows branches to communicate professionally with proper documentation and accuracy. Text messages and calls are for urgent matter by allowing quick and fast responses to reach out the staff in Wolt.

Web conferencing is frequently supported as video conferencing. It enables the communicators to deliver real-time messages wherever you are in the world with maximum efficiency. These internet-based platforms permit fairly straightforward communication and eliminates unnecessary meetings. By leveraging the right platform,

Wolt can drive communication and productivity to its full potential.

When franchisees are connected closely, it reinforces Wolt’s vision to meet the customers’ needs. Wolt organises all the different branches into one group to support our model of becoming a most loved food delivery app to the user. Bringing employees together from all over the world will form a strong bond that helps build and develop a structure for food delivery market. Wolt communicates worldwide to provide better services from 700 restaurants in the Nordics to the users!

Wolt’s customer service and courier guidance

 

 

Customer service is one of the most important aspects of any business. It instills the customer experience in its entirety. For any business who solely focusses on their product or service – it is best to takes notes from Wolt who has mastered both. It is their main mission to keep their customers happy and well fed.

 

If you have experience in customer service, the basic rule of thumb is: “the customer is always right.” Applying this underlying ideology will inevitably lead any company to success. In addition, each interaction is unique to every customer, Wolt has established their own policies and guidelines for impeccable customer service.

In previous posts, there were discussions about the various apps and methods Wolt uses for B2C communication – in this article we will dive into customer service through the eye of the courier in more detail.

When customer dissatisfaction arises, various channels of communication are at their disposal in order to contact Wolt and vice versa – although the fastest and most common way is through the Wolt Customer Service in the Wolt app. When a problem occurs (i.e. the customer realises that there is missing food from the order) couriers are specifically instructed to apologise for the inconvenience and politely insists on contacting their customer support via the application. Virtually every inquiry a customer has is dealt with and resolved there. Customer support is the department which is responsible for solving any problem a customer has to ensure satisfaction, whether it be by giving refunds or other means necessary. Couriers work on the field and the customer support deals with the customer problems. The work is clearly divided between them.

 

Couriers receive a cool bag, warm bag, and Wolt clothing from the company. Customers want their food as it is supposed to be and Wolt enforces their customer gratification by delivering food as if it were to just come out of the kitchen. Cool bags are used to keep products cool (I.e. beverages and cold meals) while the warm bag is then used for keeping the food nice and hot. Hot and cold food are not be mixed in the same bag because it would ruin the food quality and defeat the purpose of having separate bags. Wolt reminds their couriers to handle the food with care and to deliver it to customers while still warm. When the meal arrives to the customer, Wolt reminds their couriers to smile and have a positive attitude towards the customer as they are representatives of Wolt and are the frontlines of first impressions.

Since couriers do nearly everything via their phone, another essential requirement for couriers is to always have enough phone battery. Either owning a Power Bank or using a phone charger gets the work done.

Wolt delivers food between 10.30-21.00 every day. The busiest time is during weekends when people have their days off. There are no specific peak times during the weekends as they are evenly spread during the whole day. But, during the weekdays the busiest times are around lunch and dinner.

By giving clear instructions to couriers and having a separate customer support to make decisions and deal with customer problems, this is how the company manages to keep customers happy and well fed.

Customer interaction: Wolt delivery vs. Restaurants

 

 

People go to restaurants for all kinds of reasons, whether it be to experience new tastes and different cuisines, or perhaps to remain within the confines of routine and go to the usual place to have their favorite burger every Friday. However, cannot these reasons be fulfilled by ordering from Wolt, you ask? Well, there is something else involved when eating out: the level of interaction.

With the case of Wolt, the amount of time spent communicating with the customer is minimized to maximize efficiency. The simpler the interaction is with ordering food to your home, the less communication errors there will be. With just a push of a button, you will get your meal delivered to your doorstep within a reasonable time.

Wolt’s delivery courier usually greets you, confirms your restaurant, receives the food, and says goodbye. Moreover, with the rising number of foreign couriers, it may be somewhat awkward for some Finnish people to interact in English. That’s about all the human interaction you get with Wolt, and that is alright because the point is not to have deep conversations with the courier, but to fill your stomach with delicious food.

The concept of a traditional restaurant is different. You would step inside the establishment and a waitress will greet you and guide you to a free table. Afterwards, menus are provided and the host may ask for drink orders while you browse the menu. When everyone has made up their mind about their desired meal, a waitress will arrive, write your orders down, thank you and disappear into the depths of the kitchen. While you are waiting for the meals, there is a great opportunity to socialize with the company or browse your social media.

After an appropriate period of time, the waitress appears again, hand-delivering said meals. The waitress wishes you, “bon appétit” and leaves you to enjoy the food. Waitresses usually stop by tables to ask if you are enjoying the meal and to make sure that all is well, while using the opportunity to refill any beverages. After everyone is finished, the waitress comes to collect the dishes. Then it is time to discuss if there is still room for dessert, otherwise it is time to pay the bill.

You should feel well served and happy from the restaurant experience when leaving. The level of communication is deeper in the restaurant scenario than just receiving the food from a courier. A good waitress encourages a bit of small talk and situational humor.

Every aspect in a restaurant that makes a meal enjoyable is to personalize each experience, the same way a presentation should be made for the audience, not to the audience. But then again, there are also fast food restaurants where the amount of interaction is minimized, to ensure fast quality products, just like Wolt’s delivery service.

It is up to the customer to choose what kind of experience and level of interaction they want. The idea that no matter what the underlying objective is, whether you want the full restaurant experience or have that restaurant quality product in the comfort of your own home, Wolt provides choice. Imagine waiting two hours for an expensive dish in a fancy restaurant, when you could have just wanted something quick delivered to your door with the same restaurant quality.

Business to business communication in Wolt

 

 

Wolt is all about bringing businesses closer to customers. The success of Wolt is a result effective communication with not only its customers but with other businesses as well. The main objective of Wolt is to enhance food experience and make delivery possible for many restaurants across the country and growing to its neighbouring countries. For this to happen, Wolt needs merchants (restaurants) from which the customers can order food and deliver via Wolt.

 

HOW?

Any restaurant can become Wolt’s Merchant by filling in the form given on the official website. So far Wolt works with huge amount of different genres of restaurants, include Asian, Korean, Sushi, Oriental, American, Nepalese, Indian, Italian, Vegan, Organic/Vegetarian, Soul food, Healthy Food, Gastro Pub, Fine Dining, Bakery/Cafeteria, Sandwich, Pizzeria, Street Food, Relaxed, Juice or smoothie bar, Hipster restaurant and other.

 

 

COMMUNICATION MEDIUM

Merchants can choose the medium they would like to use in order to be contacted by Wolt which is either by Email or by phone.

 

WHY?

Wolt functions efficiently with the simplest and most effective ways of delivering food to their destinations. Restaurants are becoming more aware of this service and are using Wolt as a platform to increase their sales and reach out to their customers.

 

REVIEWS

Due to Wolt’s effective B2B communication, more than 700 restaurants are already in using Wolt to deliver food to their customers. The exponential growth in merchants along with positive reviews tell us that Wolt has lived up to its word and provides exceptional service to its merchants as well as its customers. The following are a few of many reviews by Wolt’s merchants:

 

(Source: https://wolt.com/merchants)

 

The apps behind Wolt’s success

 

 

Have you ever come home on an empty stomach, only to notice that the fridge is empty and you couldn’t care less to go grocery shopping? Have you ever wondered why there was no way of ordering from your favourite restaurant because they don’t deliver? Well, worry no more, Wolt has you covered with its very own Wolt app.

 

 

As you are probably already aware, Wolt delivers meals from restaurants around Helsinki right to your doorstep. The service is very convenient and helpful and could not be done without the Wolt app. From all available restaurants, to the dishes’ estimated time of arrival – the app itself is very clear and provides all the information the customer needs. A new feature is also added which allows you to pre-order your meals so you can receive them whenever you want.

After all dishes are selected, just you press send order and pay with either credit card or Wolt funds if you have some. Gift cards are also available in the Wolt shop within the app. After paying, the app confirmation and details of the order. You can see when each step is done and when the food will arrive. Tracking details are very accurate that you can even see the Wolt delivery car on the map so you know when to go to the front door. Then you and your friends can enjoy the restaurant quality foods at home.

Wolt doesn’t rely solely on the Wolt app that the customers use. Wolt’s workers and management use plenty of other apps to communicate, such as Telegram, OnFleet, and When I Work. These apps are installed on the delivery courier’s devices and the dispatchers’ PC’s in the office. Dispatchers manage the deliveries and communicate with both the couriers and the customers to solve their problems.

 

 

Telegram is a messaging app with a focus on speed and security, it’s very efficient, fast, and simple. Telegram can be used on all your devices simultaneously — it is cloud-based and messages are sync seamlessly across any number of phones, tablets or computers. In Wolt, Telegram is used for live chatting between all the employees. Couriers and dispatchers use it as the most effective way to communicate with each other. One of the most common reasons couriers contact dispatchers are when notifying them if a restaurant is late or there are technical troubles that need to be resolved as well as any other issues that need to be addressed, such as: a transportation vehicle breaking down or a courier getting lost and is unable reach the customer. Altogether, Telegram is a suitable choice for any form of communication within the company.

 

 

Onfleet is used by couriers and dispatchers to manage orders. Every courier must be inside the delivery area to switch himself online. Subsequently, he can receive, accept and complete deliveries through the app. If the courier doesn’t have a shift, he can switch online whenever he wants and start accepting tasks from the dispatchers. Onfleet also shows the map with picked locations so the courier can find an easy route to the restaurant or customer.

 

 

Since all the Wolt’s couriers are basically freelancers, the company uses the When I Work app to manage working shifts. Through this app, it is easy to arrange the shifts, so there will be no misunderstanding who will be working. The app is also used to distribute pre-booking hours to ensure that there are always enough couriers during the busiest periods for each day (i.e. 10:30 – 14:30 and 17:30 – 21:30 on weekdays).

 

 

Wolt is one of the only companies in the Nordic countries that utilise various apps to guarantee an efficient, joyful, and prosperous working environment. Prior to the grandiose advancement of globalisation through technology that has connected everyone at a more instantaneous rate, companies had to rely on their own internal enterprise resource planning software and develop their own apps from scratch, but now there are millions of apps available for everyone to use. It will be interesting to see how apps and business will grow together in the future.

Let us know your favourite app you use at work in the comments!

Business to consumer communication in Wolt

 

 

In our on-going search towards finding how companies effectively communicate in the business word, we primarily focus on one of the essential forms of providing goods and services. If a company is seeking for any sign of success, communication would be a vital role and should be the top priority.

Today’s topic is business-to-consumer (B2C) communication in Wolt. How are they communicating to consumers who are the end-users of its services? As it was mentioned on their official site, it would be impossible to deliver with Wolt without communicating together. Communication is the key link to Wolt’s success. There are three methods that are mainly used with guidelines on how to handle certain situations:

1. Live chat
2. Calling
3. Email

Live chat is the best way to speak directly to the end users and it can be used with In-App Messaging in Wolt app. Engaging in mutual communication allows for fast feedback which can be accomplished through in-app messenger or Telegram messenger where consumers can contact them immediately on inquiries that need to be dealt with. Live chat is used mostly for delivery matters. Wolt provides a guideline for couriers on how to formally diffuse customer complaints along with some real-life scenarios where couriers have properly dealt with consumer inquiries (i.e. food being late or technical difficulties). Therefore, most communication made with Wolt involves live chat. The following communicational methods are for urgent (calling) and non-urgent (email) matters.

We would also like to mention one of our team member’s experiences with how Wolt handle with customer’s feedback. Being given a personal experience this real-life scenario provides immense insight on the proceeding guidelines, allowing us to see for ourselves whether their communication effectively works throughout the company. In this case, the communication involves the live chat included in Wolt app messenger.

“We ordered 2 burger meals from a restaurant via Wolt app and the app said that it will take 45 minutes to arrive. However, after an hour the meal had not arrived with the app indicating they’ll be there any second. I decided to complain to the customer support using in-app messenger and the person in charge told me there was a technical difficulty. The customer support made sure to get the meal to me this time. They also funded the total amount of the meals, so we were able to buy another meal for free, to compensate our bad experience.”                                                            

Teemu. (20 February 2017). Personal interview.

Wolt has developed a quick and easy way to communicate efficiently between the company and consumer who are the end-users of its services. They immediately responded and gave us the compensation without request. Using live chat system is how Wolt can get back to the customer in an instant. This is how Wolt goes straight to the customers effectively!

Effective communication in Wolt

“When I started university, the top three career choices for a young graduate were to work: for McKinsey; for Nokia; or as an investment banker in London,”

Miki Kuusi, Wired Magazine, 29 July 2015

Now the 27 year-old startup enthusiast is CEO and founder of the food app Wolt.

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Hello!

We are a team of International Business & Logistics students making a blog project for our course in Communication for Global Business. Our primary objective is to find out different ways companies communicate effectively both internally and externally. We decided to write about Wolt, a company which has an app that allows customers to order food and bring it to their doorstep. We will be posting different business communication-related information about the company.

Prior to the existence of Wolt, Miki Kuusi, the founder and CEO of the company realized an opportunity of revolutionizing the metropolitan city food business. He wanted to create an app that allowed consumers to discover, order takeaway or home delivery on a single app. Wolt opened its doors for consumers on the app market in 2014. The app is available in Helsinki, Turku, Tampere, Stockholm, and Tallinn with now over 300,000 users. Wolt has won Apple’s editor’s choice award in the app store and Wired has listed the company on Europe’s hottest startup list.

We brainstormed many various companies and decided to move forward and write about Wolt because of its fast growing pace and distinct way of communication through apps. Shown below is the first part of our brainstorm throughout the project.