How HelloFresh Turned Customer Feedback into New Product Revenue Streams, Growing to a €7B Business

Challenge: Customer retention and delivering excellent experiences using customer feedback analysis

Associate Director of Global Product Strategy and Analytics Stefan Platteau has been with HelloFresh since 2019, witnessing rapid growth and product expansion. His team now focuses on retaining existing customers and applying a customer-centric mindset in new markets.

"The biggest challenge for HelloFresh is customer retention. We operate in a subscription business, so we need to keep our customers happy on a constant basis. We strive to understand customer needs by actively seeking feedback across all touchpoints - from their initial sign-up to recipe selection and post-cooking experiences," Stefan said.

With thousands of comments every month, uncovering actionable insights and making informed product decisions in a highly competitive space can be daunting.

"We receive both - ratings, which provide a quantitative view, and text-based feedback, a rich but complex data source. The quantitative approach is a bit limited. We can understand how a recipe scores, but if it scores poorly, the team would want to address it.”

“When it comes to text-based feedback, the issue is that without feedback analytics, it would be impossible for us to sift through thousands of data points and derive actionable insights to inform our product strategy.”

Solution: Customer feedback analytics designed for revenue growth

HelloFresh gathers data from NPS surveys and in-app reviews to thoroughly examine customer feedback on their recipes, cooking experience, and ingredient quality. They use Chattermill to uncover customer pain points, objections, and desired outcomes.

"We have various feedback channels at different touchpoints in the customer journey. This text data goes through Chattermill, where we categorize feedback into different categories. For the menu, we analyze whether there were any issues related to the variety of recipes or convenience. For recipes, we similarly assess what customers liked and didn't like and whether there were any issues related to the quality, flavor, or ingredients we used."

By analyzing both qualitative and quantitative feedback, Chattermill helps identify trends and actionable insights that shape HelloFresh’s product strategy.

"The team planning the menu can better understand our customers' preferences. Do they need more quick and easy recipes? Or perhaps they'd like to see more healthy options available? Our Culinary Teams review each recipe, identify learnings, and ensure any issues are addressed. They also aim to enhance recipe quality so that the next time we send out a box, it meets our customers' expectations."

To foster alignment and a customer-centric culture, the team uses various Chattermill dashboards to share valuable insights company-wide, enabling informed decisions.

"Many teams at HelloFresh find the Chattermill dashboards highly valuable. These include Operations, Product, Culinary Teams, and Procurement. Our goal is to provide them with actionable insights specific to their area so they can make more informed decisions."

Lastly, the team uses Chattermill’s Impact Analysis reports to identify key NPS drivers and uses them to justify decisions, make improvements, and prioritize new product ideas.

"Impact Analysis helps us understand which themes and categories affect our NPS score. It's invaluable for creating a business case - if we know the monetary value associated with changes in NPS, we can easily quantify the impact of improving that metric in a certain category."

Result: 7 new brands introduced in their portfolio since 2018

Customer insights often drive strategic changes at HelloFresh, leading to the expansion of product offerings and the creation of new revenue streams. A standout example includes the launch of GreenChef, tailored for customers focused on clean eating and healthy lifestyles.

"In the past, we received feedback indicating that our vegetarian offering wasn't exactly fit for purpose. Over time, we've expanded our menu significantly, particularly in the vegetarian category. We've also introduced new brands, such as Green Chef, specifically tailored to meet the needs of customers with vegetarian or vegan preferences. We initially launched Green Chef in the United States, and over time, we've expanded its availability in European countries such as the UK and the Netherlands."

Following its initial success, HelloFresh swiftly expanded its product offering to appeal to new customer segments. Since 2018, HelloFresh has introduced in total 7 additional brands to its portfolio to serve different customer needs.

The team also addressed customer concerns about convenience and longer cooking times by optimizing recipes to deliver a more efficient experience. 

"Over time, we've optimized more recipes to achieve shorter cooking times and introduced concepts like "extra quick" or "one-pot" meals. These changes have largely stemmed from valuable insights gathered through customer feedback. If you examine the feedback we receive regarding convenience and cooking times, the negative sentiment has significantly reduced over time."

Finally, through customer feedback analysis, the team identified a demand for more variety. They expanded the menu and implemented strategies to enhance up-sell and cross-sell opportunities, boosting the average basket value.

"We've expanded our menu over time - from offering approximately 10 to 20 recipes weekly to now providing 40 or 50 recipes. Additionally, we've introduced several new concepts such as 'surcharge recipes,' where for a small fee, customers can enjoy top-of-the-line recipes with the highest quality ingredients. We've also launched HelloFresh Market, which allows customers to purchase products beyond their subscription as add-ons. Many customers are opting in to get some of these add-ons, which is increasing their basket value."

Stefan emphasizes that maintaining a customer-centric approach has been crucial to their success.

"One of the main reasons HelloFresh has been so successful is that we have tried to maintain customer centricity as one of our core values. Arguably the best way to understand your customers and stay customer-centric is to talk to them and find out how they're experiencing your product, and that's where Chattermill played a pivotal role."

In addition to business metrics, the team also observes improved productivity and operational efficiency.

"I definitely think that Chattermill has a significant impact on the team's productivity. We serve 18 markets, and we're a relatively small team of three. By automating the process of gathering and categorizing feedback, Chattermill helps us spread the customer's voice across the business so everyone can access relevant information and make informed decisions. The platform has created a lot of efficiency in terms of how we work around customer feedback."

Stefan highlights the value of customer feedback analytics for companies handling large volumes of data.

"If you're a company that collects a lot of customer feedback, Chattermill is a fantastic way to ensure you understand that feedback in depth without having to dedicate excessive resources."

See how Chattermill can help you leverage customer feedback to improve product quality and create new revenue streams.