ao.com – (Appliances Online) It all starts with the customer

Yossi Erdman @yossierd Head of brand and social media ao.com @ao

Who Am I?

Usually at this point I present my self to the crowd, but it’s the slide share version… So I’ve attached picture of my team instead..

Who Am I?

Anyway, I’m Yossi Erdman, head of brand and social media for ao.com. I work here for 4 years now and love this company and the journey we’ve done in the last few years..

Who Am I?

If you prefer to watch this presentation instead of reading, you can watch this video: http://youtu.be/q1CAj6qwg00?t=24s

Who Am I?

Last note before starting.. If you have any questions or you just want to talk, feel free to tweet me: @Yossierd

Who Am I?

Last note before starting.. If you have any questions or you just want to talk, feel free to tweet me: @Yossierd

Or email me here: yossi.erdman@ao.com

Who Am I?

Try me, I’m not that scary..

ao.com is the UK largest Online White goods retailer. Founded in 2000 by John Roberts. Part of AO world PLC

Who are we?

What do we sell?

Products that will make your head spin..

Washing machines..

We sell:

Dishwashers..

We sell:

Fridge freezers..

We sell:

We sell:

Fridges..

We sell:

We sell:

Ovens and Cookers

We sell:

TV and home entertainment..

We sell:

Small appliances..

We sell:

Small appliances..

We sell:

It’s a social media presentation, We had to have a cat…

Social Media is essential part of the branded mix

1,610,000 fans

PR

TV advertising

Online videos

29,000 followers

Social media impact:

External (customers)

Internal: Culture / Customer service

External: What do we use social media for?

• Talk, listen and have fun • Products promotions • Customer service

Brand awareness

Let’s “Engage”..

On ao Facebook we try to colour our messages, And entertain our customers instead of just telling them what we do..

Delivering business Messages in a “fun” way..

Let’s “Engage”..

Cashback promotion.. How much cash have we “frozen” for you?

Delivering business Messages in a “fun” way..

The challenge: Cashback promotion..

Let’s “Engage”..

Delivering business Messages in a “fun” way..

The challenge: Cashback promotion..

So we created a competition with “Frozen” money. If you can guess how much money we frozen (same as the cashback we give), you can win the fridge. You can watch here: http://youtu.be/uL361QOuCHY

Let’s “Engage”..

We also tried money laundering

Let’s “Engage”..

“Ducks are the new cats.. “

Let’s “Engage”..

Engage with videos..

How many items of clothing are in the washer? Watch here:

http://youtu.be/jbQAf1qp_f8

Customers pictures..

Every Friday, as part of our weekly competitions live stream we ask fans to submit pictures.. Sometimes they are funny

Customers pictures.. Sometimes they are bit flattering

Live stream Every Friday, we are calling our winners, on a Facebook live stream – and let them know they won. We do it for more than 3 years now. Consistency is very important for us, it’s not a “one off” campaign.

Live stream

Every Friday, we are calling our winners, on a Facebook live stream – and let them know they won. We do it for more than 3 years now. Consistency is very important for us, it’s not a “one off” campaign.

If you fancy a sample – watch one here: http://youtu.be/KEo6NwcPy1w?t=33m24s

Let’s see some results

When Facebook was our only brand advertising tool..

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

140,000

160,000

180,000

200,000

-

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

1,200,000

1,400,000

1,600,000

08

/01

/20

12

08

/03

/20

12

08

/05

/20

12

08

/07

/20

12

08

/09

/20

12

08

/11

/20

12

08

/01

/20

13

08

/03

/20

13

08

/05

/20

13

08

/07

/20

13

08

/09

/20

13

08

/11

/20

13

08

/01

/20

14

08

/03

/20

14

08

/05

/20

14

FB fans V. Weekly Branded Traffic

National TV campaign FB Fans 6 per. Mov. Avg. (Total Branded Sessions)

Facebook activity has a big impact on brand searches and branded traffic

Let’s see some results

From Nov 2012 to Aug 2013: • AO Branded traffic up 154%

Branded = direct, ao.com searches

• Branded sales up %128

• Repeated customers up %20

No other branded activity was done in this period

Customer Service

Social Media team

Call centre team

Our call centre is now answering all customers’ queries on Facebook. Marketing team (4 people) is the creative behind the promotions and FB advertising

Customer Service

Basically, pretty boring stuff..

Website Integration

We added Facebook plugin to our site, with number of likes and customers feedback.

Website Integration

When a user is logged in to Facebook Boost conversion

Website Integration

Adding the plugin Boosts conversion

When people click the Feedback it takes them back to Facebook

Customer Service

Not just on our website.. This feedback was left

about one of our drivers,

How do we make them understand that customers

can write feedback about them immediately.

The customer service team

came with a surprising solution…

Customer Service

Drivers Feedback book

Customer Service

Drivers Feedback book This book is being published every 2 weeks and include selected feedback about our drivers that was posted on Facebook, trustpilot and other sites. We are posting it directly to the home of everyone who is mention in the book. Now imagine your wife getting a book when you have a bad feedback in. Pretty embarrassing, no? the impact is amazing.

Basically, pretty boring stuff..

Customer Service

Drivers Feedback book

Customer Service

Extremely detailed feedback.. As an immediate result of the book – we now see many drivers talk to the customers and ask them to post a feedback to Facebook. The drivers are giving the customers their crew number, so the team who writes the book will know to find them (the drivers) faster

Customer Service

Personal Letters

If a customer takes times and writes us an amazing feedback on social media, why shouldn’t we make an effort and thank them for that? Maybe we will even convince them to shout about us to all their friends and family..

Personal Letters

So, our CEO (John Roberts), decided he want to send a personal, hand signed, letter to everyone who writes a feedback on our Facebook. Our team writes the letters, and JR signs them.

Personal Letters

We are quoting the customer’s Feedback on the letter, so its very personal.

Customer Service

Personal Letters

The customers who get the letters are very excited – and they post them back on Facebook! Free content, huh?

Customer Service

Personal Letters

Customer Service

Personal Letters

By the way, we don’t send them another letter afterwards, it may create an endless loop…

Customer Service

Personal letters: also to employees who give good service

Apologise when needed

And keep it personalised..

We also send letters to applogise if we made a mistake. Again, the letter is personal and it has the error and the solution elaborated.

Don’t forget to try.. Even with your partners

We want to finish with a story that will encourage you to use your customers: The next video review was sent to us by a customer as part of a competition. We asked people to create reviews for their current kitchen appliances, for their chance to get a new one to review and keep. The result was unexpected, and encouraged us to keep trying, more and more new things Watch here: http://youtu.be/YkY2b-5nFqU

Yossi Erdman @yossierd Head of brand and social media ao.com @ao

Thank you..

Hope you enjoyed it! and there is much more.. If you have any questions, or feedback, feel free to drop us a note. Yossi.