Global Digital Transformation Partner

Offline to online, a shift to digital channels

Kyowa Co., LTD. (Kyowa) offers the No.1 anti-aging skin care items under the fracora brand, which pursue cutting-edge beauty products. In March, 2020, Kyowa drastically changed its marketing policy and exited from television commercials, its long-term pillar for acquiring new customers. The company considered that it must shift to online from offline, in particular websites and web marketing to capture women in their 40s to 60s as its main target customer base. To achieve this goal, Kyowa kicked off a project to make a shift to online from offline, setting the year 2019 as DX Year 1.

At that time, the majority of customers made inquiries via phone calls. So, it was essential for Kyowa to build a base for making customers embrace digital channels and tools. Recognizing the need, transcosmos offered three digital shift initiatives that help Kyowa shift its customer communication channels to digital.
* Source: Cosmetics Marketing Directory 2021 2020 results, FUJI KEIZAI CO., LTD.

Activate customer communication with three initiatives toward achieving a digital shift

1. Organize inquiry flow and enhance channels:transcosmos launched a concierge customer service using visual interactive voice response (V-IVR) technology. With an intuitive user interface, the concierge-style service guides customers who are not familiar with online channels to service information and website user guide pages. In addition, to bring greater customer convenience, transcosmos expanded customer communication channels, adding agent chat and chatbot to the existing channels, call and email.

2. Guide to the concierge customer service via digital channels:transcosmos made the most of digital channels to offer more convenient services for fracora customers. For example, for inquiries that are difficult to serve over the phone, transcosmos utilized short message service (SMS) to inform callers of a URL to a detailed information page, which gives customers easy-to-understand answers to clarify explanations given by call agents. For after business hour calls, transcosmos used automated messages to guide callers to the concierge customer service. In addition, with the aim of bringing more existing customers to digital channels, transcosmos put a QR code on member’s magazines, e-newsletters, product delivery boxes, and on detailed statements. Moreover, to make the customers try and experience chat services and promote the channels, transcosmos planned an agent chat service experience campaign, and carried it out with Kyowa. During the campaign, customers who had used the agent chat services could get Fra Coins, which they could exchange for fracora brand items and experiential rewards. After executing a variety of initiatives to drive digital channels and enhance user convenience, customer inquiries via agent chat services increased by 4.5 times since the project kick-off.

3. Utilize VOC and fine-tune chatbot scenarios:transcosmos also planned and conducted a customer survey to continuously elevate digital channel customer convenience. transcosmos first carried out a research on customer requirements on agent chat and chatbot services, then analyzed the results of the survey as well as customer inquiry data accumulated in the contact center. Building on the findings, transcosmos then drastically revamped chatbot scenarios, thereby successfully increasing the channel usage rate.

Inquiries via digital channels rose to 40% in two years, bringing greater customer convenience

Before launching the project, the rate of customer inquiries via digital channels stood at only 6%, the majority of which were via emails. Now, after providing multichannel service options including agent chat, chatbot, SMS and V-IVR, the rate reached over 20%. What’s more, by constantly fine-tuning chat scenarios and extending the scope of chat services, the rate kept rising and reached 30%, achieving the Year 1 goal. transcosmos didn’t stop there, but continued to carry out initiatives to raise digital channel awareness and boost customer convenience even higher by redesigning chat windows and updating V-IVR based on the voice of the customers (VOC). As a result, the rate rose to 40% in two years, approximately sevenfold of the initial rate. In addition, the initiatives lowered the call channel usage, contributing to Kyowa optimizing its operational costs.

Future initiatives

Now that Kyowa has achieved its digital shift, the company in partnership with its contact center aims to grasp real customer needs. To achieve that goal, Kyowa will continue to analyze VOC and web behavioral data collected throughout the customer journey from pre- and post-purchase to the cancellation phase. Making the most of the findings, Kyowa aims to enhance its marketing strategies such as running more effective advertisements than ever before. transcosmos will continue to help Kyowa create and deliver an even more effortless customer experience, assisting the company from all aspects from deploying and managing tools to carrying out plans to achieve greater results.

Services for Kyowa