According to an Audi America executive, Audi was able to boost customer loyalty by 7.5% from 2009-2013, but how? The answer is simple, redefining the customer experience by first redefining the employee experience. The geniuses over at Audi designed a simple yet effective three step process.
First they strove to instill a sense of importance and passion in each employee. They wanted their workers to take pride in what they do each day. Audi headquarters established a word to title this process, “Kundenbegeisterung”. Since this word only loosely translates to English, Audi of American changed it to “Creating Audi Fans”.
The next step in this three step process was making this new slogan a universal company message. To do this they needed a way to show the employees how to instill their values in customers. They achieved this goal by establishing personal connections. Audi executives traveled around the US giving speeches and talks about what their company means to them. The result was precisely what they wanted, employees themselves began to feel more connected to their company and this connection and passion began to transfer onto their customers. According to Jeri Ward, direction of customer experience at Audi of America, “Through this we brought together an experience that was personal, emotional, genuine and fun, we needed to immerse our employees in an experience that is replicable at the customer level.”
The third step was simple, keep moving forward. During the reinvention of their company Audi wasted no time in continuously working to beat their competitors. Keeping with that theme Audi has invested $5 billion in to renovate and expand. They hope that these renovations as well as additional showrooms will “boost the brand’s presence in North America.”
So far Audi’s plan seems to be working; they’ve increased customer satisfaction and reached 29 consecutive months of record sales, two things that many companies struggle with. The end result of this long process remains to be seen, however based on their progress to date; many years of Audi success are definitely on the horizon.
