Customer questions
This service standard measures the percentage of customer queries per item. Learn more about how we measure this service standard and what you can do to improve your performance.
Customer service
Explainer video
This video was made for international partners.
The target value
Customer queries have a dynamic target value, depending on the product category. A dynamic value means we take the type of items you sell into account. For example, if you sell electronics, you may have more customer questions and returns than a partner who sells office supplies. The target values align with this, so the score remains fair and relevant.
General information
To offer customers the best possible service, it's important to keep them as fully informed as possible – for example, about item features or the status of their order. This helps prevent customer questions. If you do receive questions, we monitor the number of customer questions as a service standard. For the number of customer questions, a personal dynamic standard is applied across the total number of orders. This information is based on the items you sell and can be found on the ‘Performance’ page in your seller account.
The expected percentage of customer questions based on your sales is your personal ‘dynamic standard’. If you exceed this standard, you'll receive an email from us so you can adjust. Currently, this service standard does not yet count towards your performance score calculation.
We see that partners who receive many customer queries are less popular with our customers. This is understandable, but not all customer queries can be prevented. That’s why we filter out customer queries that are not related to a bad customer experience. For example, a request for a VAT invoice.Customer questions during the GrowStart period
The percentage of customer questions is one of the service standards by which you are evaluated during the GrowStart period. For this, as explained above, we look at your personal "dynamic standard". This standard depends on the product categories you sell in. How this works exactly is explained with the calculation example below.
Calculation example
Please note: The following example contains fictitious figures.
Suppose that during the GrowStart period, you dispatched 100 orders with the following distribution:
- 40 orders in the Bluetooth Speakers product category, where the standard for this product category is 5%.
- 30 orders in the Baby Food product category, where the standard for this product category is 3%.
- 30 orders in the Sports Bags product category, where the standard for this product category is 6%.
The average standard for these 100 orders would then be: 0.40*0.05 + 0.30*0.03 + 0.30*0.06 = 4.7%.
Because new partners are still learning during the GrowStart period, more leeway is given, and this standard is multiplied by 1.125, making your personal dynamic standard in this case 0.047*1.125 = 5.28%.
In addition to a personal dynamic standard, for each phase in the GrowStart period, we also apply a minimum of 3 customer questions and a maximum personal dynamic standard of 15%.
Want to calculate your own expected personal dynamic standard? You can! Once a month, you'll find the standards per product category on this page.
Please note!
The standard for a product category may vary monthly, but generally, it doesn't change much. Calculating your personal dynamic standard yourself therefore provides a good estimate of what your standard will be at the next evaluation.
The standard per product category
* Last updated on July 3, 2023
Not achieving the target value
Currently, we only use this service standard during the GrowStart period. The expected percentage of customer questions based on your sales is your personal ‘dynamic standard’. If you exceed this standard after 100 orders, your GrowStart period will be extended, and we will review another 100 orders with you. You can find more information about the GrowStart period here.
Your performance on this service standard also counts towards your quality score. The quality score shows how you perform on bol and identifies opportunities for improving your quality. Read more about the quality score here.
How to improve your score
- Determine your FAQs.
Consider which questions you could have prevented beforehand and adjust your information for future customers. - Ensure complete and clear content.
Provide a realistic overview of the item and answer frequently asked questions in the product description.