AO.com is one of the UK’s largest online retailers of electrical goods, operating out of the UK, Germany, and Holland. They recognised that having a deep understanding of their customers would help them deliver better customer experiences. AO worked with Cheetah Digital to enhance their mobile communications programme and deliver better experiences across the entire customer journey.

Problem

App upgrade

AO wanted to move from a deliver and service-based platform to one that is fully transactional. The needed to re-optimise push from a marketing perspective, and look at the best journey for customers. Would the customer prefer to receive email, SMS, or push? Could their journey be optimised in terms of giving them the right content at the right time via the right channel?

Lack of insight

It was imperative that AO become a truly customer centric and provide a better service for customers. They wanted to develop full visibility into the customer journey and enhance mobile customer touch points.

“We’re using SMS to support our current email programme and fill in any gaps that we’ve identified is causing customers to call our Call Centre. Simple text reminders to say ‘we’re coming tomorrow, don’t forget to disconnect your washing machine [or] defrost your fridge/freezer’ have made a big impact within our operations team.”

Solution

The power of instant messaging

SMS messaging is a central element of AO’s customer lifecycle. It is being used in the following ways:

• One of AO’s key objectives is to decrease contact per order (CPO). They work with their operations team to identify customers’ main pain points and assess how SMS can help with additional communications. This service communications programme uses Cheetah Digital’s SMS capabilities to support their existing email programmes and fill in any gaps identified by customers calling to the call centre.
• Order confirmation and delivery messages are also sent by SMS so that customers are given an instant view of their orders and deliveries. A key part of AO’s delivery proposition is to give customers a time slot and the ability to track their purchase via a tracking app. Promotion of this app is facilitated via SMS with messages detailing the app’s ability to provide a 30-minute, real-time view of the location of a customer’s order.
• AO has also begun using SMS for service upsell. Customers who don’t purchase the premium service are reminded through SMS that they can have a fuller service (i.e. complete installation of their product on delivery).

Results

• AO has honed their pre-delivery journey and are able to ensure their customers get all the information they need — not just via email, but through SMS and push.
• The operations team has more visibility of communication issues. They can now immediately see what messaging a customer has received and tie that back to any delivery issues.