Our agency has been Samsung’s field marketing partner for over 13 years, providing field teams who work across all aspects of retail and consumer-facing engagement in the omnichannel.
A radical rethink was required in response to COVID-19’s rapidly changing consumer behaviour within the retail landscape. As a brand, Samsung adjusted to engage and communicate with its customers online whilst still pursuing an ambitious product strategy.
In 2020 and H1 2021, Samsung focused on cementing its position as the market leader in the 5G space, bringing to market a range of new 5G enabled devices in a time where online speed was vital.
To help our client Samsung and their channel partners to engage, support and convert customers in a challenging market, we devised new ways to continue educating and training the high street and contact centre retail staff who speak to and interact with customers.
We also focused our attention on creating new roles that would be deployed in newly important parts of the customer journey, e.g. online and contact centres.
Finally, we prioritised the health and wellbeing of our teams with increased investment, communication, and meaningful support as much as possible during an incredibly difficult period.
Evolving from a high street environment to a virtual and omnichannel world, our strategy for Samsung included several initiatives across the year. We aimed to engage Samsung’s target consumer and the retail teams that sell their products too; ensuring coverage across the moments that mattered in the customer journey.
In 2020 there was an unprecedented disruption to retail. Customers dramatically shifted their shopping habits, most notably leading to a greater reliance on online shopping as the world and the stores we service started to close. How could Samsung maximise this anticipated online traffic predicted to land on Samsung.com?
We considered our available resources and looked to retrain and redeploy some of our field team into online e-commerce focused roles.
As a result, Samsung launched ‘Video Chat Agents’, also known as E-promoters. This initiative was hugely successful, boasting a conversion rate of 16.1% (vs an industry average of 2-5% and Amazon benchmarks of 10-15%).
In Ireland, we worked with Samsung in creating a ‘Dark Store’ – a first of its kind project which delivers a new immersive online experience where customers can step into a dedicated Samsung store, view a wide range of products from Samsung’s ecosystem and receive tailored device recommendations based on individual needs.
Staff offer live product demonstrations, answer questions, and seamlessly walk customers through the purchase process.
This has brought Samsung closer than ever to customers and continues to delight them with that personal touch.
The Dark Store project was a great success for the client and its customers, hitting an average conversion rate of 20.6% and an average customer rating of 4.75 out of 5.
Another exciting evolution was the deepened partnership between Samsung and Sky. Our Samsung training team created three bespoke photography masterclasses focusing on Samsung devices, distributed exclusively through the SKY VIP Loyalty App.
Packed full of top tips on how to capture that perfect shot and create gorgeous videos, the masterclasses educated customers on how to get the best out of their Galaxy S20.
This was one of the first initiatives which connected the Samsung field marketing team to the retail customer in the comfort of their own home.
Historically, Samsung had a team of Samsung Product Specialists who visited contact centres to deliver face-to-face in-depth product training to advisors. In response to COVID-19, Virtual SPS was created. It’s a new digital programme delivering live, interactive training for contact centre sales advisors, and is housed on a dedicated microsite.
Helping to increase knowledge, the Virtual Samsung Product Specialists deliver online regular impactful content to upskill advisors on the latest Samsung products, providing expert knowledge and selling tips, so that they feel confident when on the phone to customers.
The Virtual Samsung Product Specialist platform builds relationships with advisors, acting as a support function, with always-on chat and regularly updated content.
Key Highlights:
An online epic knockout tournament exclusively for Samsung Elites, EGT combined the hype of a tournament with the opportunity to build community during a period of enforced isolation and tapped into a new way to train.
The new and exclusive Game Pass collaboration between Samsung & Microsoft Xbox had just launched, premiering a world-first hardware and software combo that had finally brought next-gen mobile gaming to gamers everywhere.
This and the undeniable rise of E-Sports inspired us to launch an Elite Gaming Tournament to drive retail engagement in a truly memorable way. To read more about this project please read the full case study here.
2020 brought unique challenges to which Samsung successfully responded, resulting in record-breaking completions on their online training platform, Backstage, and introduced ‘Backstage Live’.
It offered innovative live-streamed training sessions through social media before moving to Backstage. It also provided recorded On-Demand training sessions for retail staff to watch at a convenient time.
How do you create a virtual memorable training experience for over 400 field staff?
In July 2020, Samsung launched its most ambitious ecosystem – the powerful Note20 accompanied by Galaxy Buds Live, Galaxy Watch3 and Tab S7. The field team had the monumental task of virtually educating over 400 field staff simultaneously.
Rising to the challenge, Virtual Training Summit (VTS) was born. A vibrant, high impact digital experience, VTS was a live-streamed training conference in the style of a TV show.
Key Highlights of VTS: