Who are they?
PortugeseProducten.nl is a WooCommerce webshop and food wholesaler, specialising in Portuguese products for both consumers and business customers. With a compact team of more than ten employees, they process over 200 webshop orders per week from their location in Barendrecht. Clear and effective customer communication is essential to them, but it also needed to remain scalable within a small team.
The challenge
Before implementing NexReply, keeping up with customer inquiries was a significant challenge. With a limited number of people in the office, there was simply not always enough time to manage the inbox in a structured and efficient way.
Recurring questions in particular put pressure on the team, such as: when an order would be delivered, where an order was, and what to do if a product was missing from a shipment. Customers initially received too little information about the status of their order, which led to additional emails and repeated questions.
Responding to these emails took one and a half to two hours per day on average, often spread across multiple team members. This caused unnecessary coordination, interruptions, and less time for other important tasks.
The solution with NexReply
PortugeseProducten.nl deliberately chose not to use a chatbot or a fully autonomous AI agent, but instead selected NexReply as a smart support layer for their existing customer service.
With NexReply, they work with clear templates for frequently asked questions and AI-generated reply suggestions based on their own information and previous responses. At the same time, full control remains with the team: every reply can be easily reviewed and adjusted. No chatbot, but a practical tool that enables faster, more consistent responses in their own tone of voice.
Usage and implementation
NexReply is used daily to handle customer inquiries via email. The most commonly used templates cover topics such as delivery days and shipping costs, track & trace, changing or cancelling orders, product availability (yes/no), pickup versus delivery, and complaints or damaged deliveries.
Where handling emails was previously divided among multiple colleagues, it is now largely handled by a single person — clear, focused, and without noise. What previously took one and a half to two hours per day has now been reduced to 20–30 minutes per day.
Results
- 75% of recurring questions automated
- Response times reduced from 2–3 business days to 0–24 hours
- 5–8 hours of time saved per week
- More focus and less stress within the team
- Consistent and clear communication with customers
KPI overview
| KPI | Before NexReply | With NexReply |
|---|---|---|
| % of questions automated | 0% | 75% |
| Average support response time | 2–3 business days | Within 1 business day* |
| Time spent on support | 1.5–2 hours per day | 20–30 min per day |
| Support hours saved | – | 5–8 hours per week |
*PortugeseProducten.nl uses NexReply in review mode. Replies are prepared automatically, but always reviewed before being sent. This ensures communication remains personal and aligned with their tone of voice.
Highly recommended. At first, we doubted whether the AI would really understand our way of responding, but that truly surprised us. The replies match how we communicate. In the end, all we need to do is review them.