Digital business models and internet-connected devices will change how you interact with customers, and what your customers expect. For proof, look to D+M Group, which spotted and fixed a recent technical issue with its HEOS wireless speakers—with almost none of its customers ever knowing there was a problem.
D+M built its reputation over decades as a pioneer of high-end home stereo equipment, with its Marantz receivers and Denon hi-fi components. Today, the company is building on that reputation with a push into the growing wireless speaker business, creating its new HEOS by Denon product line. HEOS lets customers use a smartphone app to manage and control their home speaker network—such as synchronizing the same song playing in multiple rooms, or playing different music on speakers in each room. With this Internet of Things and smartphone-centric technology shift, and a demographic shift of its customer base that comes with it, D+M is changing its approach to customer service to be more proactive and offer more self-service options.
HEOS by Denon speakers allow customers to use a smartphone app to manage and control their home speaker network. (Image courtesy of D+M Group.)
For example, based on one or two customer calls, D+M’s customer support teams recently discovered a performance issue with a particular speaker that could cause speakers to lose their connection to the music source. As a customer support pro took the call and registered the problem, a record was automatically created in D+M’s Oracle Service Cloud system, which serves as the hub for all D+M customer information. The system let D+M provide those reports to product designers; D+M engineers narrowed the issue down to a chip problem, and developed a diagnostic that could use the HEOS app to find units that might have the chip flaw.
Zero Lost Connections
It found that only a sliver of its products even had the problem—less than three dozen out of all units sold. Of those D+M contacted, only one customer had yet encountered any problem, so the company was able to repair or replace the units before people ever lost their music connection.
“It’s much better than waiting for the customer to call upset when they’re about to have a party or some major event” and are having an equipment problem, says James Flatt, D+M service operations and facilities manager, who manages the company’s customer service efforts. “This is really about being proactive.”
D+M’s proactive customer outreach shows the upside potential of today’s digital business models. Because customers are connected with the HEOS app, they had registered their products, and D+M knew who had a model with the potential problem. But this connectivity also shows the challenge, in that customers will increasingly expect that when they download an app or otherwise connect their product to the internet, that the seller understands them and can personalize service to their product and even to their usage patterns.
D+M is using cloud-based customer service apps to meet these expectations from its new generation of customers, and also to support customers of its traditional product lines.
Two Generations of Customers
In fact, D+M supports two generations of customers with very different patterns. Owners of its long-standing brands, such as Marantz and Denon, generally prefer phone support. Its newer customers for HEOS wireless speakers expect more digital support and self-service options, from online FAQs to email and chat, with phone support also available if the former channels don’t meet the need. Oracle Service Cloud is the customer information hub for all of those modes. For example, HEOS owners can submit a support question through their app, which gets routed directly into the Service Cloud environment, and D+M aims to answer within 24 hours.
For its phone support, D+M can make sure each customer interaction is tracked, so that if someone calls back after a troubleshooting session, they can pick up exactly where they ended. “A bad customer experience is to start from scratch,” Flatt says. “A great customer experience is to be able to pick up from where they left off.”
Customer-service reps also have the 20 most-common answers loading in the background as they take a call, so that information is more easily and quickly available. That information comes from a rich knowledge base, such as all the known connectivity issues between wireless speakers and a given TV model. With HEOS, D+M is exploring how to put that kind of information online as well, perhaps in app form, so people can search for their own answers, since many HEOS customers prefer a self-serve option. Already, it has “guided assistance” on its core products website, providing step-by-step directions that result in better-than-60% resolution rates for AVR products, Flatt says.
Next in D+M’s evolution into a more digital company is ramping up its analysis of its customer interactions, with a focus on providing the best experience possible. That emphasis on total customer experience shows a shift of mindset for D+M, Flatt says. The company in the past has focused intensely on its product engineering. Now, the company is more open to the fact that, even when a product is working perfectly, the fact that customers nevertheless search FAQs or call in with questions could indicate an opportunity to improve the instructions, or the product packaging, that could provide the information they’re after.
“Every customer interaction is a symptom of a deeper issue. We can spend our time handling them on a case-by case basis, or use business intelligence to identify emerging trends so we can address root causes,” Flatt says.
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