Trusted Shops

Growing demands

Trusted Shops was founded in Cologne more than 20 years ago. The company offers services to online shops and their customers, such as seals of approval, buyer protection schemes and customer ratings systems. In 2014, these comprehensive consultancy services were expanded to include legal services, thereby offering online shop owners protection against legal challenges, among other kinds of assistance.

Solution for complex issues

Initially, these legal services were offered as legal advice in conjunction with law firms. In the process, each legal issue had to be examined on an individual basis, and the limits of what was feasible – and what was economically viable – were quickly reached. All the more so as recurring processes increasingly demanded simpler, standardised solutions, even with regard to complex tasks.

In search of a suitable tool, they first came into contact with SmartDocuments in 2015. It quickly became clear to Frieder Schelle that he had found the right provider – one that was able to program building blocks for texts concerning complex legal issues in such a way that online protection could be made legally compliant. This ensures that shop owners are able to successfully defend themselves, for example, when it comes to cease-and-desist letters.

As Frieder pointed out, Trusted Shops felt that “they were in good hands right from the start”, because SmartDocuments very quickly understood their complex requirements and were able to translate them into simple solutions.

Efficient work processes

What impressed him the most: After just two intensive days of training in the basics by SmartDocuments experts, Trusted Shops employees were ready to get to work. “The training was top-notch”, Frieder asserted and went on to explain: “We learned very quickly how simple and logically the usability aspects are structured. The effort needed in our day-to-day work was reduced by more than half when it comes to some of the documents we require on a regular basis. This not only saves our staff from having to do tedious, repetitive tasks, but also helps save costs. Using SmartDocuments also automatically leads to a common standard, which is constantly being improved upon. All of the employees who work with SmartDocuments are able to add notes in a centralised location regarding potential improvements to the documents, helping them work together toward achieving better documents. This allows us to give reliable expert advice at any time and successfully assist our customers.”

Continuous support

The fact that Trusted Shops can offer its own customers legally binding expertise – with the help of the solutions from SmartDocuments – was a huge step forward in expanding its consultancy services. And it was not the last, because the support offered by SmartDocuments goes far beyond just one-time implementation, software training and technical support.

In terms of content, there is also continuous collaboration concerning additional solutions which need to be created in order to address constantly shifting and expanding industry requirements. This is necessary to continue meeting demands in the future in a flourishing market.

“In 2019, we had a very long discussion with the support team”, explained Frieder, “where we defined points to consider regarding solutions to additional challenges we may face. It was great to see how extensively and promptly our contacts at SmartDocuments responded to our situation and how they were able to make suggestions for expanding our services after only a very short time. This is how you imagine a solid, goal-oriented relationship to be with true service providers.”