Case, STARK
“Your customer experience is a joker you can play – and wipe out other players”
Whatever interests our customers, interests us.
Company
STARK
Number of employees
21,500
Industry
Building materials
Established
1896
We have our customers’ backs
Customer focus has been part of STARK’s DNA since the company was founded 150 years ago. “We are close to our customers – not least those who come into our shops several times a day. They see our staff like a kind of colleague, and that helps to build loyalty,” underlines Jørn Fogh. It was precisely this focus on customer loyalty that kick started the STARK Group’s Customer Excellence journey.
Customer loyalty impacts on the bottom line
“In 2015, we began taking a serious interest in customer loyalty instead of customer satisfaction. Satisfaction may not rub off on the bottom line, but loyalty does. We had bought a CRM system and were exploring the market ready to team up with a partner who could deliver high-quality surveys, data, and reporting.”
“Customer loyalty is based on your customer experience. So, we set up surveys that periodically and continuously provide data on our customer experience throughout the entire customer journey – i.e. the pulse that is essential for our business. We quickly gained deeper insight into the drivers that are part of the customer’s value chain. And that is vital! Because whatever interests our customers, interests us.”
Live reporting
“The employees in our shops get real-time data with their customers’ responses. A negative response must trigger a call to the customer
within 24 hours, and a positive response within 72 hours. Our promise to our customers is that it must be easier and better for them to shop at STARK every single time. That’s why we make our customer experience visible everywhere, and an element of management anchoring is that management salary is partly determined by customer loyalty scores.”
The long haul has created a culture
The product of many years’ focus on customer loyalty and experience is that it has become a culture that generates business.
“For the past 13 quarters, at STARK DK, we have won market shares, and during the same period, we have also significantly increased customer loyalty. With our most loyal customers alone, we have raised “share of wallet” by 6 percentage points. Our vision is for our sales force to know their customers and their building projects so well that in their minds they become the customers’ personal purchasing resource.”
Solution
Periodic and continuous customer surveys (Big Loop, Small Loop, and Deep Loop) plus reporting and documentation for the management in the group’s five countries
Benefits
Expanded market share, as well as increased NPS to excellence (50+) and increased “share of wallet” by 6 percentage points across the whole of STARK