Fabian joined Miele X in 2021 after working for several international companies in CRM, customer loyalty and product management. He says one of the company’s major drives is to improve the overall customer experience. As a project manager, he has a key role in coordinating the rollout of the new customer engagement platform to Miele businesses in different countries and acting as their main point of contact throughout the rollout process.

Fabian explains that the platform will help Miele understand customers’ behaviour and preferences better, so the business can be more targeted and relevant in how they communicate with them. “Basically, it enables individual data-driven marketing,” he says. “We were using a different tool before, but it wasn’t integrated with the rest of the company, so there were a lot of data silos and there was only little personalised communication. Introducing this new customer engagement platform allows us to leverage data-driven marketing and bring it to a new level for Miele.”

He says the rollout is part of an overall strategy to create more relevant communications for all Miele customers – from home consumers to retailers and professional customers – through the entire customer lifecycle. “We’re laying the technical foundation for more customer-centric communications. Ultimately, we aim to give customers a better experience with Miele, because that’s how we want to stand out against our competitors as a premium brand.”

Many touchpoints

If a customer visits the Miele webshop, but doesn’t make a purchase, Fabian explains that the new customer engagement platform can send an email reminding him to complete his purchase. And if the customer does buy an appliance, this is another trigger for CRM to communicate with them - maybe to give them tips on how to clean their product. There are various so-called “use-cases” in place, some more oriented towards converting the customer to make a purchase, others towards service aspects and delivering a premium experience. “Of course,” he quickly points out, “Miele only processes this information if the customer has given their consent to use it for marketing purposes.”

He also points out that CRM at Miele goes beyond looking at customer behaviours in the online store. “Compared to many other organisations, we have a wider variety of customer touchpoints. A lot of companies will just have data from the offline or the online world, or they may be a click-and-mortar business with data from both. But at Miele, we have more than that. Miele appliances are built to last, so buying an appliance is only the beginning of the journey.”

As well as having physical stores and its online store, Fabian points out that Miele also offers a variety of aftersales services. Customers can buy consumables from the company, they may need a spare part at some point, or a Miele technician can come to their home to service their appliance. Customers can also contact the call centre at any time, or they can book an event with Miele to find out how to make the most of their appliance. “All of these are relevant data collection points that, with consent of the customer, can be used for marketing,” he says. “And it goes beyond the data that most other companies have. I think it’s unique to Miele, and from a marketing perspective it has a lot of potential.”

A positive experience

To make the most of this potential, the CRM team has already supported a number of Miele businesses around the world in implementing the new customer engagement platform. By the end of 2024, the platform will be rolled out in six additional countries, with a total of 22 markets operating with the new tool.

He admits that, although it’s mostly been a positive process, there have been a few challenges. “There was a varied set of pre-existing tools, knowledge and experiences across all the Miele markets,” he says. “And, of course, each market is unique and acts very differently.”

In addition to providing training and online learning resources, Miele X also has a dedicated team that supports the market teams after the new customer engagement platform has been implemented. “This means we stay close to the markets, which is much appreciated,” he says, adding: “One team said it was one of the best rollout experiences they’ve had”, which is a nice compliment and confirmation for the work we do.

A collaborative approach

To make the most of the new platform, his team liaises with a variety of other Miele X teams. These include the eCommerce team to implement relevant product information for recommendations, as well as the Data Analytics team, so the platform has access to all the relevant data to give customers the best experience. His team also works with the Miele X Country Success team, who are in regular contact with Miele businesses around the world. And to support the local Miele teams once the platform has been rolled out, he liaises with the Knowledge team to deliver online videos and articles for knowledge sharing. “So, it's a very collaborative process to ensure the new customer engagement platform adds maximum value in each country’s market,” he says.

Looking ahead

Fabian says working in such an international environment and bringing the benefits of the new platform to the whole Miele world is very rewarding. “I’ve always enjoyed working with people from different backgrounds, countries, nationalities and cultures and that’s what I found in this project.” And he says he’s looking forward to taking the project even further. As well as planning to roll the customer engagement platform out to more Miele markets, the CRM team is also looking at extending its reach to even more customer touchpoints: “There’s a lot of potential. So, we still have a lot on our plate in order to deliver an even better customer experience and, as we say, turn those touchpoints into trust points.”