Metso

Customer expectations change rapidly in the new reality where digitalization enables the provision of new services and more efficient ways of working and interacting. Metso became aware that its customers had unmet expectations, which affected business performance. Dissatisfaction among customers could eventually harm the business and its collaborations if left unaddressed.

“Customers want to work with world-class partners, and that is what we want to be. For us, that begins with removing possible barriers that prevent our customers from purchasing and using our products and services. We can do so by better understanding customer expectations and the customer journey across its phases and touchpoints”, Keto continues.

“For this mission, we needed a partner with distinguished expertise and leading thinking in creating superior customer experiences and delivering value over the customer journey. That is why we chose Marketing Clinic”, says John Cullen, Vice President Global Marketing and Brand at Metso.

“Project management was crucial throughout the whole process. Each interaction with Marketing Clinic yielded clear insights into the fundamental issues under discussion. Simply put, we developed a better picture of the issues affecting our customer journey and approaches to improving it”, Cullen explains.

“Some of the greatest value in the project came from the links found between causes and effects, which provided our management with a solid understanding of the factors impacting our customer journey and our spare parts business. This was especially helpful in prioritizing and determining a course of action”, Cullen notes.

“Speeding up our quote process was one of the first opportunities identified. As a result, we implemented initiatives to accelerate quoting time. Similarly, initiatives to improve the availability of high-demand spare parts were made. Effective communications with our customers throughout the buying and delivery process are of crucial importance as well and support our renewed focus. Moreover, a broader customer-centric perspective has motivated us to realign our key performance indicators with the customer journey and experience”, Mikko Keto says.

Metso management also realized it also needed a thorough analysis of customer expectations and the customer journey across all business areas.

“We have already begun analysing the customer journey beyond our spare parts sales processes. It was important for us to recognize that this is not a one-time analysis. We now realize we must continually examine the customer journey and consider ways to improve the service we deliver across all our touch points — both online and offline. Most importantly, in this work, we achieved a clear outcome — identifying development issues and solutions”, Cullen states.

Recommendations to improve business performance and the customer journey were not only welcomed but also readily implemented by the Metso Services division management team.

“I would absolutely recommend Marketing Clinic for similar projects. The delivered output was extremely professional and of high quality. The team was also very competent and knowledgeable — they provided excellent insights on both structuring the work and interpreting its results. And their project management was efficient, which kept us on target and on schedule throughout the project. There are many consultancies, but in the context of marketing and strategy, Marketing Clinic is clearly one of the leading ones”, Cullen concludes.

The Outcome

Marketing Clinic Strategy worked together with Metso to broaden the company’s view of the customer journey, identify factors influencing the customer experience and define a clear action plan for improvements. This collaboration led to not only identifying development issues, but also providing efficient solutions — ways of improving Metso’s services across all touchpoints. The provided business performance and customer journey improvement recommendations were not only warmly welcomed, but also promptly implemented by Metso.