RETRAITES POPULAIRES – Starting from the customer experience to redefine the multi-channel strategy

A historical and recognized brand

Since 1907, Retraites Populaires has been a public law institution whose mission is to facilitate access to pension provision for all. Active in life insurance, occupational benefits, real estate, loans and pension fund management, the institution provides individuals, companies and institutions with a platform of expertise and know-how.

As a major player in the Vaud economy, Retraites Populaires‘ policy is to give priority to investments in the local economy, in accordance with its asset allocation and with the same risk/return ratio. True to its history as a mutualist, it devotes its income to the interests of its clients and partners.

Our client base is diverse, serving individuals, companies and institutions alike,” says James Ingram, Head of Digital & Data Marketing at Retraites Populaires. In addition, since our products are relatively complex, providing personalized support and a simple customer experience is essential.”

The competitive market is encouraging Retraites Populaires to increase its visibility and the value of its products and services in order to retain and attract new customers.

The chosen approach: building a target vision of the customer experience

The coaching process was then launched with the objective of defining a target vision of the customer experience that would meet the company’s business challenges, align with new customer expectations and exploit the full potential offered by digital technology.

In particular, the aim was to identify ways to:

• Simplify and streamline the customer experience
• Capture new customers seduced by the promises of digital.
• Leverage customer and prospect knowledge to increase proactivity and personalization.
• Gain visibility with customers by taking their requests into account and improving communication
• Experiment and implement new channels. Respond to the need to improve the handling of requests and reduce the number of calls.

The analysis of the customer journey as a starting point makes sense. “We analyzed two emblematic paths: the subscription path for the Modulo product, which targets a young clientele, and the path dedicated to our annuity products. We integrated the interview established on a panel of customers on the 2 paths in order to have the ‘voice of the customer'”, continues James

The multi-trade project team includes advisors, managers, IT and the digital team. Activeo orchestrates interviews, workshops, builds the roadmap and ensures relevance and value at each step. The Pyramid of 7 fundamental needs in terms of experience is integrated into the process to facilitate the identification of hard points and root causes.

A roadmap and an action plan for continuous improvement

“This cross-functional and participative approach has given a real boost to our transformation plan and endorsed the value induced in the projects to be carried out. We have a well-documented roadmap and operational action plan. This project roadmap is part of a global internal dynamic and reinforces awareness of customer relationship issues.”

Among the actions already taken are:

• The experimentation of chat via the website,
• The use of video-conferencing for certain customer interviews
• The implementation of the IVR to direct the call according to the request, to improve the handling, to reduce the waiting time and especially to broadcast in an automated way informative messages in order to reduce the volume of calls to be treated (reception of mails, of certificate of providence for example)
• The implementation of consent management (opt-in)

This approach has also allowed us to feed the reflections carried out in projects already launched such as the creation of the customer portal and the optimization of the website.

Today, we are continuing to work on the target customer experience. In the future, we will focus on projects related to data quality and governance, the creation of a relationship program and the use of marketing automation. We also want to strengthen the use of our digital channels to offer personalized services and thus improve customer loyalty,” concludes James Ingram.