Principles of care Tools for quality communication with customers and finding systematic solutions for Dodo Pizza customer service specialists.
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We trust everyone all the time. Customers, employees, partners — everyone we interact with. This is our key principle. Trust allows us to build good relationships and help effectively.
Things happen. Did you find an oven glove in a sealed package? Did you discover a melted marker in your pasta? These are real cases that we were able to solve because we trusted our customers.
A customer told us there was an oven glove in the sealed pizza box. It sounded surreal, but the team went on to double-check everything.
Turned out, the staff was actually one oven glove short. The team talked to the shift personnel, but no one had seen anything strange. They checked the security cameras logs and saw that the oven glove indeed had fallen off the hook into the pizza box. An employee hadn’t noticed it because at that moment they had turned away to say something to the cook.
Of course, after discovering that, we made a new pizza and provided the customer with a promo code. Fortunately, they had a laugh at the whole situation with us.
Trust is a vulnerable position. “What if they make things up?” It surely happens. But that’s okay, we are only moderately vulnerable. With algorithms, we can detect the misuse. People do lie, but it’s actually quite rare. So it’s more profitable to believe everyone than to suspect everyone.
The method is simple: we’d rather face a lie than not believe a customer — and lose them.
In order to find the most effective, fair and systematic solution (and we love such solutions), we need to understand the problem in its core, to study it thoroughly, like true detectives.
Galina ordered a takeaway pizza and found a 10 millimeter metal nut in it.
We contacted the pizzeria. The team watched the security cameras logs, checked the equipment — it turned out that the nut had fallen off the pizza cutter. We immediately apologized, provided a promo code for the next order and refunded the money for the pizza.
Then we made a call to the partner and the pizzeria manager and conducted a thorough and impartial investigation. No fines or charges, but a really detailed understanding of how this could have happened.
As a result, the team gained a full understanding of the situation and was able to set a new safety rule — to regularly check tools and equipment.
It’s not enough for us to just solve the complaint, we want to be sure that the problem won’t pop up again. That’s why we look for systematic solutions.
A customer tripped and fell on a slippery staircase in winter while walking up to a pizzeria. We apologized and refunded the money for medical treatment. We investigated and learned from the team that this hadn’t been the only complaint. To prevent the problem from recurring, the team added a new item on their to-do list — treating the stairs with an anti-icing compound in cold weather.
Sometimes, regular actions and changes in processes are necessary for improvement — this is a common situation. We are not afraid to suggest that teams and partners adjust their routine to enhance the quality of our service.
If we don’t turn requests into systematic solutions, the pile of problems will continue to grow. Our goal is not just satisfied customers, but also business that can learn from mistakes. It depends on us whether people in the company can learn from their experience.
The customer specialist’s decisions affect not only clients, but also franchisee partners and the management company. It is crucial for us to balance the interests and responsibilities of the parties.
A customer complained about blue cheese being bitter, which made the pizza inedible. We looked into the matter.
We contacted the pizzeria team on this issue and found out that there had been a lot of other reviews like this. So we a decided to investigate the problem. We analyzed similar complaints about cheese bitterness; new customers were asked to describe the taste and smell of cheese in detail; we compared the descriptions with government standards, organized a cheese tasting in the pizzeria; and finally found out that the problem with cheese was on the supplier’s side. As a result, we found a new supplier of delicious blue cheese for the franchisee.
We could just provide a promo code for every new complaint. But the cheese would still be bitter, customers would stop ordering this pizza, and the partner would have losses due to low sales and constant promo codes giveaways.
We don’t hide anything from the customer. We always tell them how the processes in the pizzeria are organized, how we solve the problems, and when we will come back with an answer. It is important to us that people see all of our work, not just a small fragment of it.
A mum customer texted the support chat and complained about the condition of the playroom in a pizzeria. Her son was playing in the ball pit. The net enclosing the pit had a tear in it, where the child got stuck and scratched themselves.
We apologized and admitted the mistake. We found out that the child was practically unharmed and promised to fix the issue and contact the customer later.
To sort out what happened we had to address the pizzeria team, ask them to find the tear and fix the net. That was time consuming, therefore were talked the customer through the ongoing process so that she wouldn’t feel like her complaint was ignored.
We also told her how we were going to solve the problem systematically so that it would not happen again.
We try to be on the same page with the customer, catch their vibe and speak their language. If the customer is serious — we are indeed, too; if they are having a laugh — we can as well. If a chat message is long and detailed — we respond with the same amount of detail. If the customer sends emoji — we can also use them in a reply.
The customer texted the support chat and send a photo of their socks:
— Do you fancy my socks? There are flamingos on them.
The support specialist was not confused and just picked up the vibe:
— Cool socks! Where did you get them?
There are times when customers ask us to do something beyond guide lines and algorithms, such as to sing a song, recite a poem, or wish something nice to a birthday boy. At the same time, they don’t necessarily make an order. We can still go along and pick up the cheerful mood.
If a customer is rude and things get personal, we don’t mirror their attitude, we ask the customer politely to return to a respectful tone. Unfortunately, if they continue talking that way, we end the conversation, warning the customer about it.
We want to help with each and every issue and solve all the problems, but sometimes the only thing we can do is to say “no”. We always give the reasons for why we said so to ensure that the customer does not feel disappointed and we try to offer an alternative if possible.
Andrey’s address is outside the pizzeria’s delivery area. We explain why we can’t deliver pizza to his address, why the pizzeria has this exact delivery area and why we don’t deliver pizza by taxi. As an alternative, we offer to arrange delivery to the point, within our delivery area, which is nearest to Andrey.
Misha wants to order kebabs. There are no kebabs on our menu and we honestly admit it. But we can offer meat pizza instead of kebab, for example.
The alternative solution may not fully meet the customer’s expectations, but it is much better than a “no”. We don’t leave the customer alone with the problem and always demonstrate our care, even if we realize that we can’t be of much help.
A customer specialist handles over a hundred requests per day, and half of them are quite ordinary. The specialist knows them by heart. However, the customer views their problem as unique and extremely important. Therefore, we take it as seriously as we take our own.
When the Caesar Salad was introduced to the menu, the pizzeria visitors often asked why there were carrots in it. Those weren’t carrots, it was cheddar cheese. It’s just orange and grated, looking exactly like carrots. There were a lot of similar reports, and they quickly became a local meme. But each time we responded in the same polite and respectful manner.
We share the customer’s emotions and we are engaged in a conversation. We want
people to feel warmth, not to get a pre-set, robotic response.
We value the customer’s time and try to solve all issues as quickly as possible. We ask all the necessary questions straight away, in one text message, and don’t bother them with messaging several times a day. We don’t leave the chat for a long time, and even if we have to, we inform the customer of it, so that they don’t wait for new messages in the chat room and can go about their business. In short, we remain humane.
We strive to do more than what is expected of us. We look beyond and think ahead. By being proactive, we can help the customer before they even encounter a problem.
A customer orders a lot of pizzas, however, doesn’t ask anything about promotions — so, we offer them a suitable combo.
A customer inquires about a holiday order — we suggest using a delayed order feature the night before, as the pizzeria may stop taking orders.
We do know much more about Dodo Pizza than the customers do, so we can anticipate possible problems and offer solutions before we even receive a question.
Being attentive, responsive and kind is a big job that requires a lot of effort. Therefore, it is important to be able to take care of ourselves: get enough sleep, remember to have a meal, notice fatigue and take time off, ask for help.
Guys, I’m sick and I need a day off. Could you cover my shift, please?
I have a very complicated case; I don’t know what to do. Also, the customer is quite rude. Please help me figure out what’s the best thing to do here and what to say?
If you’re a customer support specialist, you know what it’s like to be empathetic with others. Don’t forget to be empathetic with yourself too. It’s impossible to take care of someone when you don’t take care of yourself.
