How Decathlon’s Customer Service Became a Scalable, Transparent, and Automated System with Salesforce

Unified customer management became crucial for Decathlon’s customer service, where Salesforce helped build a transparent, scalable, and fully automated platform. This not only improved the customer experience but also made internal processes more efficient.

The Starting Point: Too Many Channels, Too Much Information

At Decathlon’s Hungarian subsidiary in 2019, it became clear that customer service processes were fragmented:

• Different stores, central customer service, logistics, and finance teams operated on separate systems and channels.
• Emails got lost, and information was not searchable.
• Customers often had to repeat their complaints multiple times, leading to frustration and dissatisfaction.

Complicating matters, weekend store hours meant store employees were often unavailable on weekdays, so unfinished complaint cases had to be handed over to others.

The Goal: A Unified, Searchable, and Legally Compliant System

Customer Service Manager Eszter Fináczy first encountered Salesforce at an Attention CRM Consulting conference. It quickly became clear:

Salesforce is more than just technology—it’s a mindset shift that helps keep all customer data and interactions in one accessible, transparent place.

The objectives were immediately clear:

• Full transparency of customer service processes
• Guaranteed legal compliance for every complaint
• Unified reporting and performance measurement
• Later: chatbot integration and scaling online customer communication

The Solution: Customized Salesforce Service Cloud

Experts from Attention CRM Consulting developed a unique customer management model based on Salesforce Service Cloud functionality that:

• Included legally compliant complaint templates
• Automated the entire complaint intake process
• Prevented saving cases with incomplete data, reducing fine risks
• Generated PDF documents sent both to customers and back office
• Made all data searchable and accessible in a unified format

“Today, not a single incorrectly filled or missing field can occur — Salesforce won’t let a case close if something is missing.” — Réka Tóth, Project Manager, Attention CRM Consulting

True Omnichannel Customer Service

Salesforce completely transformed the customer service workflow:

• Colleagues see in real time if a customer has a previous complaint
• Chatbot and live agents communicate on the same platform
• Every customer interaction is traceable with full case history
• Email, chat, returns, and complaints all managed in one system

Reporting and Performance Measurement—Taken to a New Level

One of the biggest breakthroughs was unified reporting. Today, Decathlon can accurately see:

• How many cases come in nationwide or by store
• How long each response process takes
• Which employee handles what types of cases efficiently
• Where time is lost, repetitive tasks exist, and what skills need development

“Based on reports, we not only optimize processes but also offer real growth opportunities for our colleagues.” — Eszter Fináczy

Challenges During the Pandemic

During the first wave of COVID-19, Salesforce proved critical:

• Online sales surged, increasing customer demands
• Staff from other departments (HR, marketing) quickly learned Salesforce after short training
• Integrating chatbot with order management allowed instant answers, e.g., “Is size 42 running shoe available?”

Chatbot + Salesforce: The Future of Customer Experience

The system now starts every customer interaction with a chatbot, but behind the scenes:

• Customer service agents see conversations in real time and intervene if needed
• Pop-up alerts notify new inquiries
• All communication, reporting, and responses happen on one platform

Key Outcomes

• Legally compliant complaint handling on every channel
• Unified system across the entire organization—from logistics to finance to customer service
• Reporting, categorization, and retrieval all on a single platform
• Improved customer experience—no more “telling your story for the third time”
• Colleague support through structured, error-free case handling

Collaboration That Works

The ongoing collaboration between Attention CRM Consulting and Decathlon was characterized by continuous feedback and flexibility. The system brought not just technical but also business mindset change—now an integral part of daily operations.

“Today, everyone knows how to use the system. Salesforce supports not only customer service but the entire organization.” — Eszter Fináczy

Summary

Decathlon’s customer service became not only more efficient and transparent with Salesforce but created a truly customer-centric, scalable system. Thanks to the unified platform, colleagues manage inquiries quickly and compliantly, while the customer experience has greatly improved. This transformation can serve as a model for other companies facing similar challenges.

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