BEST SUPPLIER CUSTOMER SERVICE

Samsung

Samsung is proud to offer a broad range of industry leading initiatives to enhance and improve customer engagement so that consumers are guaranteed to feel valued and secure in their purchase decisions. We believe in offering a 360-customer support experience and are proud that every customer has access to unlimited free lifetime support with our unique customer support offer – ensuring customer satisfaction extends far beyond the warranty period.

Industry insight tells us that customers want to put in as little effort as possible in their search to receive support, and this acts as a primary factor for customers to remain loyal to Samsung. The Samsung Support team of Samsung Experts continually focuses on minimizing customer effort by providing superior support both in-store and through other forms of communication. For example, where customers have chosen to select a Samsung walk in support centre, the high level of customer service in-store can help Samsung realise an 87.3% retention rate.
Samsung’s targeted STARS programme is offered to premium customers who have either upgraded from their Samsung or switching from other OEM devices. Samsung Experts at the end of the phone can help with everything consumers could need, from transferring data from their old device to taking stunning photos using Samsung’s smartphone cameras. The STARS team can even remote dial into the customers mobile and help them set up and ensure everything is working just fine. Results included a +14-point increase on NPS 60 to 74 versus BAU.

Alongside the STARS programme for mobile, Samsung offers innovative support across its TV range. With its cutting-edge Remote Management Control Service, the Samsung Experts can revoke and take control of TVs externally to expedite troubleshooting and address technical issues. No problem is too big for the Samsung Experts and through Remote Management Control, Samsung Experts can even help educate customers on ways to maximise their TV controls. To date, this service has recorded a staggering 95% resolution success rate, with 95% customer satisfaction.

Where Remote Management Control isn’t accessible, such as with domestic appliances, the Samsung Support team also offer Visual Support, enabling the Samsung Expert to see what the customer sees in real-time. Giving them the power to then troubleshoot technical issues seamlessly, this platform not only saves valuable time for customers (eradicating lost time waiting for an engineer visit), but it allows the Samsung Experts to engage with customers through interactive highlighting so that it is easier for them to understand the problem and gain guidance on how they may fix it. This tool is not kept as in In House solution and is shared with other retailer customer service teams, so that they too can look after Samsung customers, to reduce downtime without the need for an engineer to visit.

Should the Samsung Experts miss anything, this technology is also shared with our service network, who can use this tool to enhance their upfront triage, which increases the probability of achieving a First Time Fix.

The DA range is not the poor relation, by any means and the Samsung Experts have the use of a simple video tool, that allows customers to share the problem they are having, allowing the team to quickly understand the challenge and reach a resolution.

Another example of Samsung’s commitment to customer support excellence was the opening of its new state of the art customer contact centre in Leeds in January 2019. The centre is dedicated to delivering a premium, world class level of low effort, personalised, customer experience in every customer interaction. Since the centre’s opening, the team of highly engaged staff has been able to achieve NPS of +65pts and CSAT of – > 90%.

How is your organisation increasing customer loyalty and a culture of service excellence?

Samsung is the only manufacturer to have its Repair Service Centre Network for home appliances approved and verified by Which? Trusted Traders. By going above and beyond industry standards, and having the backing of Which? Trusted Traders, Samsung customers have the total reassurance that they are receiving the most reliable assistance possible at all points of the support journey.

This network receives all its training direct from Samsung and strives to repair TV and DA product within the customer home and as such they have been kitted out with all the tools needed to enable the repair within the home, to avoid the inconvenience of removing the product. This may be portable tables and ESD equipment on TV, to diagnostic tools and the equipment needed to look after a customer’s property on DA. These engineers are only too happy to let the customer know what they are doing, to give that peace of mind and re-assurance.

Samsung’s overriding objective is to deliver a premium, world class level of low effort, personalised, customer support with every interaction. The Samsung Support message is that ‘no one knows your Samsung like we do’, which is emulated from initial contact right through to at-home consultations, this level of support has no restrictions and works regardless of the age of the product. So, whether customers have a technical issue or are seeking education or setup support, Samsung strives to assist and resolve issues in every situation.

Where parts are needed, our industry leading supply chain, supplies the majority of parts to the network next business day nationwide, ensuring minimum disruption to our customers.

To help protect customer loyalty and to maintain a high-performing support service, Samsung has also introduced its proactive follow up service to check in with customers proceeding their initial query. This can take place 2 weeks, 3 months or 6 months after the initial query was logged or at a time that suits the customer. This proactive service also includes sharing support content such as ‘how to videos’ and full product guides to maximise the customers’ experience with Samsung.
Samsung also ensures customers are ‘never disconnected for more than 24 hours’, which is a constant aim and will be a continued focus in 2020. Samsung’s emphasis on ‘Care’ is constantly built into wider launch plans to ensure customers feel valued for their ongoing commitment to the brand, including unique membership plans for loyal members.

Samsung Support team takes full responsibility for all social requests/queries pertaining to Samsung products, services and brand experience, and it is a service that is available 364 days a year, 7 days a week. These social teams also feedback directly to the Samsung R&D team, resulting in enhancements and improvements to products i.e. new software updates including desired features as well as fixes to ensure customers are given the best possible experience.

As part of Samsung’s continued efforts to understand and improve its services, Samsung undertakes C-Sat, NPS and CES (Customer Effort Score) on a monthly basis. Coupled with Customer anecdote and VOC, this information is used to address any customer journeys that have fallen below par and could ultimately impact on customer retention. Samsung Support’s ‘raison d’etre’ is to ensure that support is a reason to buy or even stay with Samsung.

Why would your organisation claim to offer exceptional customer experience and resultant competitive advantage?

Samsung Support is unparalleled, to the extent that the annual independent competitive survey versus our main competition in CE (where 100 = equal) has showed that Samsung is now scoring in excess of 104 year on year and maintaining our “superior” status in this arena This insight shows the shortfalls as well and Samsung does not rest on its laurels and will look to remedy any areas deemed as insufficient, to maintain that position.

Every year Samsung hold a conference, where the key partners are invited. This is a two-way discussion and is a platform for Samsung sharing its ideas for the future, but also allows the partners to feedback and offer alternative ideas. Whilst these partners are 3rd parties, Samsung see them very much as an extension of themselves and listen and adapt where possible. These partners are looked after by a field team, who visit and provide support throughout the month, which is not an area supported by any other manufacturer.

Noted from the number of propositions launched and expanded on in 2019, Samsung Support is constantly changing to ensure demands and needs are met for consumers. This ranges from telephone, email, chat or social, to in home, express collect or high street locations which all offer a full complement of services that are convenient for customers.

All in all, Samsung’s intention for 2019 was to get closer to Customers and this will continue by evolving and adapting to the ever-changing tech and connected consumer space. Some examples can be seen below, and these will continue throughout 2020:

Samsung Come To You
• Nationwide In Home repair network across CE using a network of regional partners that know their area and more importantly understand the needs of the customers in their areas.
• Doorstep Repair – 1-hour appointments that repair at customers’ convenience without needing to leave home. Samsung is the first to bring this to market, with 90% coverage of the UK population in IM.

You Come to Us
• Walk in support – consumers can visit any of the Samsung 30+ high street locations that offer 1-1 consultation, helping consumers get the best from their device including; data transfer and software updates. In addition, if a Samsung device has any light damage, on-site repair within the hour is on offer
State-of-the-art Customer Contact Centre- Leeds, UK
• Dedicated support line – no IVR options, customers can get straight through to team member
• No limit in customer support – regardless of age of model or enquiry type
• Specialist support – for customers who require switch or setup support

Online support and repair journey – https://www.samsung.com/uk/support/repair/
• Technical troubleshooting
• The online journey includes FAQs, product video guides and options for ordering spare parts
• Track my repair – a simple platform that allows customers to track the repair status for their Samsung product
• Online repair request journey
• In-store support appointments for IM

Loyalty programme
• For customers with a product that may experience a fault, if the product is more than three years’ old, customers will be offered a unique discount to upgrade their product rather than having to pay to repair the problem.

On top of this, we have also increased our NPS average (Jan-July) from +32 in 2019 to +50 in 2020.