Customer Experience in the Machinery Industry: Advantages and Strategies

The customer has always been a king — but only until he makes a purchase. However, more and more B2C companies are realizing that the customer experience is more than just exchanging money for goods. This is why the topic of customer experience (CX), has been on their agenda for some years now.

Customer Experience vs. Customer Support

The customer experience is the sum of all customer experiences that arise during interactions with a company. All of the touchpoints that existing and potential customers have with an organization along their customer journey are included: Every contact with marketing and sales, every support ticket, every invoice, every online review, and every advertisement, as well as your company's website, shape the CX of your customers.

But what is the difference between the customer experience and customer support? The CX is created through interactions — and that includes the use of customer service. Customer support is therefore part of the customer experience. And this part should not be underestimated: Unlike advertisements or online reviews, customer service is a direct interface with customers. At this interface, the support staff can respond specifically to customer requests and excel by means of excellent service.

Customer experience in the technical machinery service

Digitalization, among other things, has changed end consumers' expectations regarding service. A single negative service experience can be enough to drive prospective customers to the competition. A positive customer experience, on the other hand, can make all the difference and be the cornerstone of a strong customer relationship.

B2C industries such as e-commerce have recognized this and are making their customer journey as convenient as possible. To do this, machine manufacturers are using all the available tools of the digital transformation: self-service in digital customer portals, artificial intelligence in the form of chatbots, tailored content on various digital channels, and automated processes.

Developments in the B2C business are serving as a model for more and more B2B companies. Offering plant operators the same convenience that end consumers are used to from online stores can be challenging for mechanical engineers, but critical to success. This is because competition in plant engineering is strong, costs are rising, and the mechanical engineering business is stagnating. Fluctuations in turnover can only be expected in the area of technical machinery service, whose goal should be a good CX.

Advantages of a good CX

A positive CX not only ensures greater customer satisfaction but also has the following effects:

Image improvement: Satisfied buyers are happy to recommend your company to others.
A competitive advantage: Competition is fierce in many mechanical engineering sectors. A strong CX helps to differentiate you from the competition, even if the competition may be cheaper.
Customer loyalty: If customers feel they are in good hands with your service team right from the start, they will remain loyal to you for a long time and generate sales time and time again. This increases customers‘ lifetime value.
A reduced workload: A good CX means that customers are provided with all-round information and services for their machines. This reduces the number of support tickets and calls to the service hotline, and your aftersales team has more time for areas such as cross-selling or the further development of services.
Cost savings: Relieving the pressure on your service team means a reduction in service costs. A good CX also reduces the cost of acquiring new customers.

The positive spinoff: You achieve a positive customer experience by means of efficiency and networked data, and that in turn increases the satisfaction of your employees and the overall success of your company.

Fields of action for machinery and plant engineering companies

Customers who purchase industrial machinery want their systems to run optimally and faults to be prevented or rectified efficiently. They expect customized service instead of off-the-shelf solutions. The strategies and processes required for this are summarized under the term Customer Experience Management (CX Management).

The customer is at the center of a company's efforts. In order to know the customer better, customer experience management requires a 360-degree view of his challenges and needs. This requires data: What machines does the customer use, what spare parts has he ordered in the past, and what information does he need in the case of a breakdown?

Collecting and processing this customer information is an important CX field of action. The customer information, which is often already available in an ERP or CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system due to digitalization, forms the basis for communication, marketing, sales, and the improvement and development of new services.

Improving CX in the machinery industry with digital tools

The following digital tools can help industrial companies to improve their CX: digital customer portals that enable users to provide self-service, and digital twins that provide manufacturers and operators with a better understanding of machines and systems and serve as a central data platform in a digital ecosystem.

And that’s exactly what Quanos InfoTwin offers. This digital information platform links the areas of aftersales and service with technical documentation and enables providers in the mechanical engineering sector to create an all-round digital and networked CX.

CX Success Story: Getting a 360-degree customer view in the machinery industry

The use case from KAMPF GmbH shows how customer experience management works in practice. This medium-sized company manufactures high-tech slitting and winding machines with a huge number of supplier parts and a complex spare parts system and technical documentation.

As part of CX management, the Digital Customer Solutions team at KAMPF has therefore developed the IIoT service platform the@vanced. It combines PDM, CRM, and ERP data in a central self-service portal. Customers can find spare parts catalogs, service information, and a store function there. Dashboards and machine information from the Quanos system are also available.

Users can see at a glance which spare parts they should keep in stock for their machines and which have already been ordered. Missing parts or recommended spare parts kits can be ordered quickly at the click of a mouse. The data from the various systems can be accessed with just one login. Users generally do not notice that they are navigating through different databases, and they experience a seamless and convenient customer journey that ranges from searching for information to ordering in the store.

The data is also available to internal departments and serves as the basis for customized customer communication. This brings KAMPF a big step closer to its goal of a 360-degree customer view and a holistic and sustainable CX.

You can find more best practices in our case studies.

Summary: Get the best out of your customer information

The aim of customer experience management in plant and mechanical engineering is to make data available — to machine manufacturers and machine operators alike. In most companies, the necessary data is already available. With Quanos InfoTwin, you have the opportunity to collect this data and prepare it in a way that enables your service teams and customers to work with it easily.