Expert

Expert, a Netherlands-based company founded in 1967, has an expansive network of more than 5,000 consumer electronics and appliance retailers across 22 European nations. Each store is owned by an independent, local entrepreneur, which lets Expert give customers expert advice and personal service from someone they know and trust — built on lasting, one-to-one relationships.

That personalized interaction between stores and customers was not translating as well as anticipated to digital communications. The buying experience felt fragmented and not on a level with what local store owners delivered. Customers had questions and needed help while browsing for products on the eCommerce store — when buying a big-ticket item such as a speaker, for example — but were not able to reach out to a local store expert for advice.

As Expert's customers gravitated toward the online store for purchases and chat for communication, Expert decided it needed a way to carry the warm, inviting, in-store experience to its messaging channels — especially in WhatsApp. Rather than hire an army of developers, the team turned to Bird for a fast, simple-to-implement, easy-to-manage, no-code way to integrate WhatsApp into their online buying experience and leverage its 225-plus agents.

To create an experience that was personalized and relied on its agents' expertise, Expert added a WhatsApp button to the Product Display Pages throughout its online store. With Bird's assistance and guidance, Expert built a new concierge service so each customer could get personalized, expert advice in real time from one of its 225-plus agents — the same advice as in a store. Three Bird tools bridged the gap between online shopping and WhatsApp.

“Adding a WhatsApp button on our webshop — with the quick engagement to the stores — really helps Expert retain its customers, differentiate itself, and refresh its brand image.”

Micha van den Akker, Business Process Analyst, Expert

When a customer clicks the button, it opens WhatsApp with a predefined message, and when they send it, the conversation is routed to the right store. With these conversations taking place on WhatsApp, Expert was able to transform the in-store customer experience into the familiar, personal context of a chat. An individual store can now easily reengage the customer on their preferred channel to provide the personal advice that sets Expert apart from its competition.

“When our customer clicks on the button, it opens WhatsApp for them with a predefined message, and when they send this message, it's routed to the right store.”

Micha van den Akker, Business Process Analyst, Expert

Working with Bird to adapt its in-store experience into online and messaging channels, Expert found a fast, simple way to give its 225-plus agents the tools they needed to keep communicating with local customers in a way that felt personal through WhatsApp. The outcome was a conversion rate of 80% to sales on inbound leads from product pages, and Expert's team now manages around 50,000 customer-initiated WhatsApp messages every month. As consumers' communication preferences evolve, Expert will continue to seek ways to leverage the versatile platform provided by Bird.