Customer 100% at the core of Carglass® through truly effective marketing automation
Case study
Carglass® has been the market leader in the windshield repair and replacement industry for years. However, this market is gradually shrinking in the Netherlands. How do you maintain your market leadership in a declining industry while also addressing various market challenges?
The goal of this project
The goal is to maintain and expand the market leadership by prioritizing high customer satisfaction and increasing retention. Retention is defined as adhering to the commitments made. It was also crucial to reduce costs while increasing revenue in this context.
What does the GLAS project entail?
Carglass® already held a strong market leadership position and had high customer satisfaction. What was lacking was insight into customer journeys to quickly and easily implement optimizations. To address this, we collaborated on the GLAS campaign, a fully digital customer journey.
After analyzing customer journeys, several crucial insights emerged. For instance, it was discovered that customers experienced windshield damage more frequently than initially thought. Prior to the project, there was an assumption that, on average, a customer faced windshield damage once every six years. This interval turned out to be shorter. Based on all these insights, desired customer journeys were mapped out—completely digital customer journeys. Preferences and pain points in the customer journey were also identified.
Setting up and integrating the marketing software
Once you know where you want to go, you can devise how to get there and determine exactly what you need. The journey had to be entirely digital, and manual processes needed to be automated. To enhance marketing automation, Carglass® had to adopt different software. Years ago, a new martech setup was established. One of the initial steps was configuring their new platform, Selligent, and implementing a Customer Data Platform (CDP). To work in a fully customer-centric manner, integrations were built between Selligent and Carglass®’s existing backend systems and other marketing software (such as the CDP). Since the older systems remained intact, ideas for marketing automation could be swiftly implemented.
As a result, all data related to a booking from various touchpoints (such as the website, advertising, emails, and the voicebot) flows into Selligent. Using this data, the first processes were automated, and the initial automated email campaigns (and SMS campaigns) were developed and sent out.
The results after 5 years
Carglass® has achieved significant results in the past five years with the GLAS project, leading to improvements in customer relationships, as evidenced by the following outcomes:
The percentage of customers making appointments digitally has increased from 35% to 70%. This is partly due to more customers becoming accustomed to handling tasks digitally. However, a significant portion of customers was already engaging digitally. The online appointment process was simply not easy enough, leading these customers to call customer service for appointments. With the process significantly improved, the online share has surged, contributing to an increased market share.
A substantial increase in online appointment bookings (from 35% to 70%).
Reduction in cancellations (a 5% decrease) and an increase in returning customers (a 40% increase).
Improved productivity: a 50% decrease in calls to customer service regarding unclear aspects of appointment scheduling.
Higher customer satisfaction, reflected in an NPS of 7.7.
One of the most noteworthy results is that the GLAS campaign in the Netherlands serves as a pilot market for Carglass®’s parent company, Belron. Over the past five years, Carglass® has gained numerous learnings from this project, which now serve as a foundation for international projects within Belron in other countries. In the Netherlands, the digital team consists of only two individuals, supported by internal and external specialists and the right partners, including us, 100procent. As a result, scaling up is highly achievable, and running pilots is easy for the digital team, providing valuable learning experiences.
Optimization is an ongoing process
Step by step, existing customer journeys have been enhanced, and new journeys have been developed. These adjustments and additions are consistently based on feedback, including:
- Results from ongoing campaigns
- Customer feedback (received through the call center and emails)
- Feedback from colleagues
In addition to using the results for further optimizations, the outcomes are also shared internally, both within Carglass® and internationally within the Belron group. This generates traction, facilitates subsequent steps, and serves as an example for other organizations under Belron.
Thanks to successful marketing automation, a completely new and digital way of working and communicating (around an appointment) has emerged. This has opened up numerous possibilities for Carglass®.
2x
as many digital appointments
7,7
NPS score
40%
increase in returning customers