Braun / OralB - Better Service for More Customers 01getsatisfaction.com | 877-339-3997

THE NEED FOR CONVERSATION

With a strong reputation for technology innovation, the Braun & Oral B brands have built a passionate following, so it was natural for the P&G Consumer Relations team to establish the same reputation for their customer care strategy. Through community, they sought to reach more customers faster, and in a more cost effective way, by providing a captivating online experience for customers who are passionate about Braun & Oral B products.

Prior to community, customer service involved a two-pronged approach: resolving customer issues and questions via email or phone. Despite attempts to improve service, they were not able to fully satisfy customers as much on email as by phone. The one-to-one nature of these channels also limited the brands reach, because not all customers prefer these proactive channels.

The community strategy was to empower Braun & Oral-B customers by turning the customer service model on its head and introduce a community that:

• Brings customers together to share their passion

• Is built around content customers create

• Includes product advice from their customer service team

Community Results:

• Engagement with 19x more customers than via traditional email channel

• 10% increase in customer satisfaction/loyalty

• 98% customer self-service rate

• 61% reduction in the number of email contacts and a 67% cost reduction

THE COMMUNITY EFFECT:

“The best part is to watch customers helping one another, sharing their experiences and adding tips of their own or telling others how I was able to help them. The spirit is one of community, not Official Rep advising consumers.”

The Braun Community.

THE COMMUNITY EFFECT: MODERNIZING SUPPORT

Better Service for More Customers

02 Braun / OralB - Better Service for More Customers getsatisfaction.com | 877-339-3997

The Art: How It Works

To have the biggest impact, Braun & Oral-B sought to give their customers better information and to extend the benefit of this content to as many customers as possible. Get Satisfaction provides a platform where customers can talk about their product experiences, share their ideas, ask questions, raise any concerns with the community, and talk with Braun/Oral-B customer service representatives. This conversational content is very easy for other consumers to find through a Google search, on the brand site, or in Facebook.

Just as important, Get Satisfaction tools make it easy for the Customer Service team to join the conversation when appropriate and guide customers to existing conversations of interest without having to respond to the same question over and over again. Customers can express their mood by the use of emoticons that help the team recognize and tailor their engagement to the individual person or group of customers.

According to Justine Howarth, P&G Global Consumer Relations, “the customer service team really enjoys being part of the community. It gives them the freedom to engage in different ways depending on the tone of the customer, for example using humor when appropriate. All of this provides the business with insights and identifies opportunities for the brands to further delight their customers.”

The Science: Community Impact

To build the best customer experience, the Customer Service team worked with Brand Marketing to craft an implementation plan, as well as with Community Managers who take care

of customers on their Facebook Brand pages. The goal was to get a better understanding of how to respond in a very personal way to encourage conversation. Following initial pilots, the communities were launched via the brand’s website and Facebook pages, as well as on a handful of retail partner site.

Using Get Satisfaction widgets embedded in brand sites, they introduced relevant content (for example content about a particular product) from the community, allowing customers to learn more, ask a question, or share their opinion. According to one customer:

“You responded really quickly in way that was meant for me — that was really lovely to see, as I thought I’d just receive

a standard “thanks for your feedback” with nothing specific.”

As customers interacted with existing conversations and posted new one, P&G gained real-time intelligence into the most critical topics and used this knowledge to guide interventions.

The Braun’s Facebook page.

THE COMMUNITY EFFECT:

An extensive ROI study during the pilot demonstrated measurable cost savings and revenue improvement, returning more than $4

back for every $1 invested. This will increase further as the community continues to mature.

THE COMMUNITY EFFECT: MODERNIZING SUPPORT

Better Service for More Customers

“We wanted a system that would allow us to reach a large group of customers and that

would allow us to provide excellent customer service and all of this at the same or lower cost. That’s what we got with

Get Satisfaction.”- Justine Howarth,

Global Consumer Relations