Everli cuts time-to-convert by 80%

More than just a delivery driver

To find the most professional, adaptable, and responsible Shoppers, the Everli team requires their job candidates to endure an involved and time-consuming hiring process.

“Most people tend to confuse our Shopper job with the drivers [of other grocery delivery services], but our job is much more complex,” said Aloisia Lalli, Marketplace Operations Manager at Everli. To fulfill orders accurately and thoughtfully, “they need to select the product, and if they don’t find it, they need to find a substitution. They also need to provide customers with clear and timely communication about the products they picked, substituted, or are missing from the order.  

“They also need to learn how to use our app. That’s why our [hiring] flow is much longer—it’s more complex.” 

Their time-to-fill was made even longer by requiring in-person interviews.

“This last step was the one that mainly caused the delay in our conversion rate,” Lalli said. “We used to meet our applicants to explain the job and let them ask questions and clarify some doubts they might have. As you can imagine, it was pretty challenging from an organizational point of view because, in Milan, we used to have an office, so we could meet our applicants here. But in all the other cities around Italy, we had to book a place where we could meet the applicants.”

This step added considerable time to the process since resources didn’t allow them to have these meetings often. As a result, their time-to-fill for open positions was an average of 15 days.

When measuring Everli’s success with onboarding Shoppers, Lalli considers high conversion rates and short time-to-fill to be their most valuable metrics, all without sacrificing the quality of their Shoppers.

“We want [the workflow] to be fast because if our demand grows, we need to be fast,” said Lalli. “Otherwise, it means that we cannot deliver all the orders that our clients want and it means we are losing money.

“But at the same time, we need to be sure that we train them appropriately, that they know how our app works, and they know how to speak with the clients.”

Pandemic demand leads to applicant surge

When asked about their average time-to-fill of about 15 days Lalli said: “That, of course, was something that we had to change, and that was one of the main reasons why we decided to look for some external tool.”

Everli had tried to make some changes to the process in-house, but the lack of customization opportunities meant that most tasks still required manual involvement. 

The Everli team decided to search for a tool that would allow them to onboard a large number of Shoppers—one that used automation to accelerate processes to help decrease their time-to-fill. During their research, they learned a similar company in the market had been using Fountain Hire with success. 

“We tried another kind of provider, but we didn’t like it at all,” Lalli said. “So in the end we thought, if the other players in the market are using Fountain Hire, it means that it’s valuable and we can use it as well.”

While they were evaluating this new hiring solution, the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Italy. The sudden surge in demand for same-day, at-home grocery delivery overwhelmed their existing operations, and they needed to ramp up faster than they anticipated. 

“It was something that we were planning to do, but we didn’t plan to do it so fast,” said Lalli, referring to the adoption of a new system. “But with COVID, we had to accelerate somehow because we weren’t able to manage so many applicants with the current process.”

Lalli and her tech team were able to implement Fountain Hire quickly and, for the first time, had a system they could customize to meet their needs.

“Before, everything was done by technology, so we didn’t really have [manual] access,” Lalli said. “We couldn’t create questions or change them when we wanted to.” But with Fountain Hire, “we started becoming autonomous and independent in doing whatever we wanted,” such as testing the order of tasks and deciding which order would be the most optimal for their candidates.

Lalli commented that the speed with which her team was able to adapt was a welcome bonus: “It was pretty fast to adapt due to the ability to access all the dashboards in Fountain Hire,” she said. “Everyone can have access to all the details, all the candidates’ information. So after the quick training, it was pretty easy.”

By having everything live within Fountain Hire, Everli was able to eliminate the in-person meetings that used to be a major roadblock to their efficiency. 

“Now everything is online, so there are no human blockers,” Lalli said, referring to candidates’ newfound autonomy and ability to self-pace through the hiring process. “So it’s much easier—candidates can go through the flow by themselves.”

One platform, multiple integrations

Fountain Hire’s integrations have enabled Everli to automate tasks that previously required human involvement. Operating in several regions within Italy means there is a need for effective communication and information sharing among “squads.” With Fountain Hire, Everli is able to track everything within one platform.

One example of this is Everli’s use of an e-shop where Shoppers can order their kits. These kits, which require a deposit, provide Shoppers with everything they need to be successful in their role. With Fountain Hire’s integrations, Everli can manage kit orders and distribution all in one place. 

“It would be crazy to send the candidates outside Fountain Hire and then back to Fountain Hire,” said Lalli. “It would be really confusing for them, so it’s great that we can have everything within the same tool and the same flow.”

To improve their chances of increasing conversion rates—one of their main goals—they maintain consistent communication with Shoppers through WhatsApp, an app used by nearly 100% of the country and one that is integrated into Fountain Hire.

“One of the issues that we have is no-shows at the calls that they book,” Lalli said, referring to informational calls between applications and Everli operations experts. Messaging through “WhatsApp is the best way to make sure candidates can continue within the flow or make sure they don’t miss the call. Reminding them about this call through a channel they’re familiar with and that they use all day helps us increase the show-up rate.”

When asked what Fountain Hire integrations Everli uses the most, Lalli responded: “The ones that help us make the flow as smooth as possible.” One such integration allows for the upload and signing of documents.

“Having candidates sign the contract outside Fountain Hire or order the kit outside Fountain Hire would have been a huge problem,” Lalli said, alluding to the risk of candidate drop-off. “If we had this kind of integration outside Fountain Hire, the conversion rate would probably be much lower.”

Managing applicant fluctuations with ease

With more integrations and less friction, Everli has seen dramatic improvements in the way they communicate with and onboard quality Shoppers.

“During COVID, we saw 600% more applicants,” Lalli said, but her team felt confident in managing such a high volume of applicants now that they were using Fountain Hire. “We could manage a larger amount of candidates in a shorter time,” she said. “This was fundamental for us.”

Since implementing Fountain Hire, Everli’s time-to-fill decreased from 15 days to as low as three days. 

“In cities where we need a lot of Shoppers, the time-to-convert is around three days, which is a really great improvement.”

With Fountain Hire on their side, Everli hopes to expand to other European countries. 

“Having Fountain Hire as a main tool for all countries helps us to have the same process everywhere we hire,” said Lalli, adding that with Fountain Hire, Everli will be able to make location-dependent adjustments to their workflows based on local legal requirements.

But continued growth and a higher conversion rate in Italy is still Everli’s main objective: “We want to focus on growing in Italy. A good percentage of the candidates who land on Fountain Hire actually start working for Everli, so we want to be sure that we can do it faster and with the highest quality.”