In the store “Goodbye” - in the inbox “Hello”
Discussions with customers and prospects dominate the daily work of many employees — in retail stores and call centers, in field service and sales, at trade fairs and at many other customer contact points. There are often two aspects that provide room for improvement:
1. The direct dialogue between provider and consumer — whether in a retail store or over the telephone — comes to an abrupt and definitive end as soon as the shop leaves or the telephone is hung up. There is no further, systematic communication as long as the customer does not actively seek contact with the company again.
2. The dialogue at the point of contact reveals relevant information that is often not collected at all or only partially and unstructured. During such conversations, employees almost always receive important information about a specific customer or prospective buyer. Viewed in sum and correctly evaluated, the overall knowledge distilled from many individual cases is in turn highly relevant for strategic business decisions.
Building a bridge from “offline” dialogue to online dialogue is basically possible with the simplest means: with web forms! It doesn't matter here that they are usually a communicative impediment in the lead nurturing process: put in front of users online, they often lead to an interruption of communication. But in the hands of employees at the point of sale, at exhibition stands or in call centers, web forms can be true communication catalysts! Thanks to them, valuable business information and customer data can be recorded, consolidated and made available again in a structured way — while ensuring seamless communication across various channels. Here we show you how this works and what benefits it brings.
Use Case 1: trade fair appearance
A sales representative talks with prospects and customers and can use a web form, which replaces the paper-based lead entry form, to immediately enter all relevant data on his tablet and initiate subsequent e-mail communication.
Advantage: The use of form-based online solutions for communication and data collection is not tied to a specific location or device. Employees can also send professional emails from mobile devices with just a few clicks. From anywhere
Follow-up — targeted and measurable
The dialogue at contact points usually ends with a “goodbye”. If you take the requirement of “cross-channel” communication seriously, this “reunion” with products, companies and brands should take place the next time you open your e-mail inbox. There, for example, it could be followed up directly if a prospective buyer ends a consultation without having decided to buy the product — for example because he would like to find out more about competing products on the web. Continuing the dialogue promptly through a personal email can further promote sales here.
If a shop employee or consultant can use a web form to send a personalized email to the prospective buyer directly after the conversation, this offers a whole range of advantages:
Saving time despite personalization: The fact that employees write a personal e-mail to the respective interlocutor each time after a sales call in the shop, after a conversation at the exhibition stand or referring to a telephone call in the call center often fails because the next caller or visitor is already waiting impatiently. A combined solution of web forms and an email platform can solve this problem. The form is used to flexibly select predefined elements — text blocks, graphics, free text fields, signatures, etc. — and integrate them into the email. For information that cannot be predefined by default, some areas should also be editable retrospectively. This allows a highly personalized email to be created within a few seconds and virtually at the click of a mouse — tailored precisely to the recipient's needs and interests.
Corporate identity — corporate design — branding: By using a professional email marketing platform, emails can be created that fully comply with corporate identity and corporate design guidelines. Text modules in the appropriate wording can be stored. Depending on the business context, a pure “text email” with very subtle or no graphic elements at all can be sent, or even a beautifully designed HTML email in which products or services are presented visually from their best side — in line with the defined brand identity.
Seamless communication across all channels: Customers and companies benefit from seamless online-offline integration. Once they have begun at the customer contact point, customers can seamlessly continue their interaction with the company online. Thanks to excellent traceability of customer interaction, companies benefit, for example, from the opportunity to follow up by telephone in the event of a purchase cancellation in the online shop — or to qualify a prospective customer who is at the beginning of a lengthy decision-making process in an automated lead nurturing campaign.
Measure and compare success: The central and structured storage of data and integrated tracking mechanisms across all channels makes it very easy to compare the effectiveness of the selected communication measures and the efficiency of the individual contact points. In addition, tests can be carried out regularly to constantly improve processes and communication.
Provisioning: Sales representatives may not be particularly enthusiastic about the idea of feeding sales-relevant information about “their” contacts into a central database and sending downstream communication from there — they sense the risk that a prospective customer will then complete the purchase via another channel and that they will lose their sales commission. However, by integrating tracking parameters into the sent email, it is possible to assign a deal in the online shop to the original sales representative.
Use Case 2: retail store
A potential customer is advised by an employee in a shop. However, the consultation does not end when the interested party leaves the shop, but is continued through an individual follow-up email to the desired product. If the interested party later makes a purchase via another channel, e.g. in the online shop, the transaction can still be assigned to the shop employee through user-related tracking.
Advantage: The solution prevents potential buyers from being “left alone” in terms of communication after a visit to the store — and calmly turning to a competing product. Plus: The competition between online shop and offline store has finally come to an end. Regardless of where the customer ultimately prefers to shop, companies can precisely track the customer's conversion journey — and allocate commissions accordingly.
Capture data — structured and integrated
The use of web forms at customer contact points is also useful because it allows data to be recorded in a structured way and fed into a database. Forms are usually easy to create and can be easily adapted or extended as needed. However, when introducing a form-based solution for data collection at customer contact points, some basic considerations should be made in advance. Because the more carefully the solution concept is initially thought through, the greater the benefits of the solution for the company later on — and the lower the ongoing maintenance and adjustment costs of the infrastructure. In particular, the following three analysis steps are necessary:
Current analysis of customer contact points and the existing database infrastructure: What customer contact points are there? Is data already being collected and/or stored there? What data is this and how is it collected? Which databases and data processes in general already exist in the company?
Target definition of the future data process: Which data should be collected at which customer contact points in the future — and in what form? In which existing data processes can, should or must this data be integrated? Which new processes need to be introduced?
Legal aspects: What is the legal framework for collecting and storing the desired data?
On the basis of the analysis results, the appropriate solution can then be developed. In some cases, it proves useful and possible to completely integrate the new data process into existing systems. In other cases, it is more advisable to use a standalone system.
Use Case 3: Call center
Every day, call centers receive tons of different types of inquiries — from product inquiries to service requirements. In this case, web forms help to process frequent inquiries quickly and efficiently. By selecting a few fields in the web form, employees can create a suitable response email that summarizes the desired information.
Advantage: The solution can cover a wide range of different inquiries. Oral communication by telephone can be supported at the same time by visual elements via e-mail: For example, call center employees can send emails with product images to interested parties. For frequent support inquiries, technical hotlines have the option of sending emails with step-by-step explanations including illustrations in addition to oral explanations — or, for example, provide the complete user manual for a device.
On the forms, ready, go!
What does communication and data collection look like at your customer touchpoints? What are your experiences and challenges? From our experience, we can report that it is worthwhile to start with small projects and maintain flexibility. Focusing only on communicative follow-up at the beginning has the advantage of gaining insights within a manageable time and budget — including the acceptance of the solution by employees and customers, the expenditure of resources and the benefits for each customer contact point. With the knowledge gained, the next steps can be effectively planned — such as the further optimization of web forms and emails, the expansion of integration into existing data systems or the expansion of the solution to further application scenarios.
