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VoC-Driven SMB Relationship Marketing Program

Overview

  1. The ever expanding international SMB market represents substantial growth opportunities.

 

  1. Marketplace and competitive factors keep raising the stakes to better serve the SMB market.

 

  1. A majority of Microsoft product sales in Small and Medium size business segment come through a channel partner (e.g. Value Added Reseller, Retailer, Original Equipment Manufacturer).

 

  1. SMB customers are mostly transactional (gather information, trial, purchase and disengage).

Customers feel they have no relationship with Microsoft.

  1. Past Small Business Voice of Customer (VoC) Research indicated that most customers would welcome a direct and omnichannel relationship with Microsoft.

WORKED WITH

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Lisa Clawson, Senior Marketing Manager Microsoft Corporation

Lisa launched the first U.S. Microsoft Small Business Relationship Marketing program. The VoC research-based program has consistently driven a 2X increase in volume licence revenue and a 7x increase in response rates and increased customer satisfaction.

 

Results

Sustained Increase in volume licence revenue

2x

Increase in response rates and customer satisfaction

7x

Email opt-in rate increase greater than

95%

Volume license renewal rate
increased

8pts

 
 

SMB International Relationship Program Goals

  • Increase customer satisfaction scores.

  • Increase licensing renewal rate.

  • Improve customer engagement.

  • Deliver the most relevant content and communications.

  • Improve marketing efficiencies by establishing direct and omnichannel relationships

 

Pillars of the Online Relationship Program

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Voice of Customer helped answer key questions

From 1 - 500 employees, what type of training, support, community and communication can drive deeper engagement?

How to establish direct and omnichannel relationships.

How to improve the value and usage of training.

How to improve the support offerings to provide greater value.

How customers define a value added community.

What are the value propositions to motivate people to opt-in and self-profile their SMB preferences.

 

We listened and learned

  1. Omnichannel Relationship Program Value Must be Obvious and Differentiated

Make it easy

Must provide easy site navigation. 
Use lay terms / user friendly (non-tech) key word searches. 
Provide access to information and business solutions from every part of Relationship Program.

Keep it focused

Online Resource Center value: 
One stop, convenient resource for SMB customers.
Clearly different from other resources. 
Every facet of the user experience must prove this.

 

Deliver wins

Make the initial interactions engaging by offering a quick training.
Help users by providing industry, business and technology info.
Partner with non-MSFT experts for valuable content. 

We listened and learned

  1. Personalize the Experience per Business Needs, User Level, Size, Industry and Products

Focus on Needs

Develop from the user's perspective, not MSFT. Request user feedback at every touch point.
Use feedback to evolve the experience, provide relevant content / communication.

Support

Alleviate pain by using simple terms as self-help key words.
Highlight common problems and provide quick access to solutions. 
Leverage peers for additional support.

 

Satisfy Different levels of Needs

Target content based on start-up, segment, business needs and user level. 
Offer ways for 3 different user types (Learners, Connectors, Collaborators) to engage. 

We listened and learned

  1. Tie Training, Support and Community into a

  2. Differentiating Relationship

Training

As a key benefit, users should be introduced to training early on.
Follow-up training to encourage the next interaction.
Offer user-defined categories for easy access. 
Make training easy to share.

Support

Alleviate pain by using simple terms as self-help key words.
Highlight common problems and provide quick access to solutions. 
Leverage peers for additional support.

 

Community

Peer interaction must be facilitated across a variety of demographic and businesses areas.

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Points of interaction include:

  • Level of knowledge.

  • Common Problems.

  • Forums.

  • SMEs / Moderators.

 
 

The value of
Opt-In

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Customers actively engage expecting something of equal value in return.

Your Opt-In list will help you achieve greater relevancy, marketing efficiency, and ultimately customer lifetime value.

Apply a progressive profiling strategy, reducing the need to ask all questions at once. 

 
 

Opt-In relationship

VoC insights guided development of the appropriate questions to ask: 

Name; Email; Primary role in company (i.e., sales, marketing, finance); Microsoft software usage/ownership; Number of employees; Industry; Primary customer business need; What is the biggest challenge facing your organization today?; Number of PCs; Number of servers.

 

Omnichannel SMB relationship program at-a-glance 

 
 

MICROSOFT BUSINESS RESOURCE CENTER OVERVIEW PERSONALIZED EXPERIENCE

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Telephone Customer Service (Tier 1 & 2 only).
Support - free online chat tech support.
Training - software training and computer based training is key.
Community.
Library (info).
Dashboard. VoC Objectives

 

CUSTOMIZED COMMUNICATIONS

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Personalized Communications based on Opt-in Data.

  • Welcome email.

  • Monthly personalized e-newsletter.

  • Ongoing personalized emails.  

 

Benefits of the value exchange

    Customer Benefits

    • Personalized Service
    • Customized Communication and Information
    • Ease of Use?
    • Relevancy

    Microsoft Benefits

    • Opt-in Profile information to drive relevancy in web site content and communications

    • Ability to analyze click and usage behavior

    • Marketing efficacy
    • Cross sell/upsell opportunities