IKEA

IKEA, the world’s largest furniture retailer, use SmartSurvey software to get instant feedback from consumers to improve long-term customer satisfaction.

Shopping habits have changed and consumers now use their mobile phones to search for products, read recommendations and purchase online. So IKEA found inventive ways to stay ahead of the trend when engaging with their customers.

The challenges they faced

IKEA carry out several thousand deliveries each day and survey their customers regularly. Customers fall into three main categories:

1. Happy Customers - who had a great experience and will become repeat customers
2. Unhappy Customers - who did not have good experience due to items being damaged or missing
3. Middle Group - customers who did not quite have a great experience

Business strategy is to communicate with the middle group, to understand their issue and identify a way to resolve it. By constantly appraising feedback, IKEA can reach potential detractors, re-engage them and keep them as customers.

Engaging with customers

SmartSurvey software allows IKEA to share results for further analysis with;

1. Transport partners
2. Other IKEA stores
3. Additional Stakeholders

IKEA use the data to identify parts of the customer journey that require attention and then take immediate action to offer the best experience possible for customers.

By identifying trends, we are able to develop connections with our customers and identify opportunities within our own sphere of control by analysing feedback. Customers’ expectations are exceeded by our responding to comments within a few hours of receiving them

Benefits of mobile surveys

IKEA has utilised SmartSurvey’s SMS feature, allowing them to deliver survey invitations via text messages. As soon as a delivery has been made, an automated trigger sends a survey link by SMS, allowing customers to give feedback at the point of experience.

This mobile-friendly strategy has four main benefits;

1. Increased engagement rates
2. Not restricted to one question per SMS (as it will send a survey link)
3. Feedback at the point of experience
4. Enhanced personal contact with customers

To increase awareness of the SMS survey strategy, IKEA is using leaflets in-store to explain the process, as they find that when people are made aware of marketing initiatives they are more likely to respond.

We have experienced really good results sending surveys via SMS and want to continue to build personal relationships with customers via this channel.

The importance of personalisation

Communicating via mobile responsive surveys allows IKEA to take a personal approach to customer service, which in turn, increases retention rates. When a customer responds to the survey after an unhappy experience, IKEA are able to proactively make contact with that customer, often on the same day. This ability, coupled with the detailed information gathered, allows for the individual customer to be recovered in a timely manner and a detailed root cause analysis carried out to solve any issues for the long term.

The results

The innovative SMS survey solution strategy allows for almost real-time communication. IKEA is currently experiencing huge growth and feedback from customers is overwhelmingly positive, saying they feel informed and engaged. As a result, IKEA’s Net Promoter Score has risen to 70 from 25 since the beginning of 2016.

The instant nature of the survey invitation being delivered to the customer helps to ensure that their feedback is completely relevant and accurate. Response rates continue to improve to be consistently around the 15% mark, up from 10% since the automatic invitation is sent immediately upon delivery completion.

Thanks to SmartSurvey, our communication strategy is making us stand out from the crowd. By using SMS, asking the right questions and acting on results, shows customers that IKEA is one step ahead of the competition.

Due to the success of using SmartSurvey software in the UK, IKEA is looking to increase usage and roll out the customer engagement programme into Europe.