Good news for retailers – the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reports product recalls are at their lowest level in 16 years, with only 241 recalls. Even better, digital recall response can drastically reduce processing times and resources dedicated to recall management. Learn the 7 KEY REASONS TO DIGITIZE YOUR RECALL MANAGEMENT PROCESS.

Digital recall response management involves a dedicated customer relationship management (CRM) platform. This database makes it easy to categorize, track, and execute a digital product recall in a streamlined manner. Overall, your business becomes more efficient at responding to crisis situations. This is important, because even though recalls are down overall, they’re not completely gone.

In fact, a non-partisan report from the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) reports food recalls grew 10 percent from 2013 through 2018. You could get hit with a recall at any time, and it’s an expensive process that shouldn’t be overlooked.

Here are 7 key reasons to digitize your recall management process with an on-demand SaaS solution.

1. Ease of Tracking Customers

It’s easier to track customers in a digital database than through paper, or even disparate spreadsheets. Manual processes lead to errors, and you quickly fall behind on real-time understanding of important information, like which consignees have been contacted already.

With a digital recall management solution, you’ll have at-a-glance access to see exactly where everyone is in your workflow. This helps with setting deadlines and organizing contacts in a dedicated, on-demand CRM that won’t bottleneck or confuse your other processes. Best of all – it scales with you, using cloud technology.

2. Digital Alerts Are Faster, Cheaper, and More Efficient

Digitizing your alert system optimizes your product recall response process. We do everything online these days, so why should your recall process still be done via snail mail?

With digital recall response management, you can set up a dedicated URL for customers to input their contact information and receive updates. Internal notifications ensure the proper stakeholders can immediately respond to any issues and follow up throughout the recall process. Communication is crucial to executing a successful recall.

3. Accurate Reporting

It’s not just a consumer response either – the government will require regular reports on the recall status. This reporting needs to include very specific information. For example, the FDA requires:

  1. How many people have been notified, when, and how.
  2. How many people responded.
  3. How many people didn’t respond.
  4. How many products returned or repaired.
  5. Effectiveness checks.
  6. Estimated completion dates.

Your dedicated recall management solution should be able to easily account for these fields with a robust reporting system. It’ll be easy to download and send to whoever needs top-level or in-depth reporting. This information could never be at your fingertips through a manual process.

4. Pre-Built Templates

The best part of an on-demand digital recall management system is the pre-built templates and seamless GUI/UX. You can easily launch your recall straight out the box by simply adding your information and importing your customer contact data. From there, you’ll have access to a real-time dashboard, e-signatures, and more.

And there’s no bloated software or complicated contracts when using SaaS solutions like Trievr. Simply conduct your recall with free training and setup, then cancel the service until you need it again. We’re here to keep you in business, not the other way around.

5. Enabling Automation

Not only does a digital recall management solution bring you into the modern era, it future proofs your company against evolving technologies. Far too often, organizations get stuck in long-term software contracts that prevent upgrading or adapting. This allows nimbler competitors to disrupt the market and take their share.

With a digital product recall, you’re leveraging on-demand automation in the cloud. Use what you need and let us deal with the expense of upgrading to ensure the latest, most secure technologies are always used. These scalable solutions grow with your business to handle any size or number of recalls.

6. Reduced Errors

Manual processes are rife with errors. Even the most well-trained human will get fatigued and make mistakes. Automation gives you real-time access to all information while event triggers and notifications ensure all stakeholders are involved at the right times. Checks and balances are in place to reduce or even eliminate errors.

7. Continuous Improvement

Because recalls are special exceptions, your company has less data on how they’re handled. This makes it hard to optimize processes. With third-party recall management, you benefit from the collective experience of recall specialists.

You want the best for your business, and using a digital recall management platform gives you the benefit of working with the best in the industry. This ensures you complete what would have otherwise been an expensive and lengthy recall process. The Takata airbag recall, for example, was a multi-year process to replace over 28.8 million airbags in the U.S. alone.

Recalls happen, but it’s important to always learn from prior mistakes. A digital recall platform is the most efficient way to launch, execute, and track a recall from start to finish.

MockRecalls’ sister company Trievr Recall Management offers a SaaS based recall management solution

If your company is currently making calls and using manual processes to conduct and track your product recalls, STOP. With legal risks and regulatory reporting, there’s just too much on the line – consumer safety and your company’s welfare!

If you are overpaying for software with features you’ll never use, when you’re just trying to conduct a product recall? STOP. Let TRIEVR Recall Management online solution come to your rescue! Our intuitive and easy to use SaaS based recall management system can get your recall started in minutes. Find out more about Trievr Recall Management with Trievr’s Live Chat. 

Need Mock Recall Training?

Optimizing a Product Recall Plan & Recall Readiness

The FDA recently published its final guidance outlining steps companies should take to develop recall policies and procedures that include training, planning, and record-keeping to help significantly reduce the time a recalled product remains on the market.

The FDA guidance describes an array of best practices for creating, testing, and executing a recall plan. Because of the FDA’s heightened expectations, along with the greater risk and complexity involved in today’s recalls, training – including regular mock recall exercises – has become an essential part of the recall preparation process.

It is imperative that your organization plan, train and test for a product recall.  This includes developing and executing mock recalls at least twice a year.

MockRecalls is a mock recall training and consulting program to test your recall readiness. We are purely focused on protecting your product investment by working with you to create a new recall plan or analyze your current recall plan and then put it through a mock recall or recall simulation test to insure you are prepared for a possible product recall.

Looking to test your product recall readiness? MockRecalls will help create and/or test your recall program. Click here to learn more or call us!