Simple and seamless – for the customer and the service employee
The singular goal for our customer GSP (Global Service & Parts) was to create a better experience for the workshop or service customer.
With our minimum viable product (MVP), we tested the assumption that our end customers would see a ServicePass for the Wallet app as a useful information medium and make use of it. It would expand the existing customer communication channels and be seamlessly integrated into the existing ecosystem, once the product decision was made.
All Info about service appointments
On the one hand, the ServicePass for the smartphone Wallet app is a digital information medium for maintenance and repairs, and on the other hand it’s a communication channel. The garage can use the ServicePass to send appointment changes, status updates and reminders.
The test phase ran from March to July 2019 at the Mercedes-Benz branch in Bremen. Altogether, almost 900 ServicePasses were generated during the minimum viable product period.
In July, for example, 70.8 % of the automatically generated passes could be sent over a system-generated text message to customers with service appointments. 12 % of these passes were installed by customers on their own smartphones, and 90 % of them were used, i.e. called up and clicked. Average customer satisfaction was 5 out of 5 stars.
Three questions for
Project Manager Florian,
Mercedes-Benz
Consulting
What about the project was challenging for you?
The biggest challenge was moving the design, the PowerPoint slides and the test Wallet passes into the real world and piloting them at the Bremen branch. At the same time, that was naturally the best part of the project, when you saw the sketch of an idea become an actual product used by real customers.
What is the takeaway for you personally?
The After-Sales business unit is highly motivated toward the Digital Shift, for integration, testing and expanding digital services and products. Wallet is just one of many threads. It was incredibly fun to blaze new trails in appointment management with our colleagues. I was especially proud of the thoroughly positive customer feedback and the ever-growing use of Wallet at the Bremen site.
What does the future have in store?
It ain’t over till it’s over, as they say. Our minimum viable product was accepted very well by all stakeholders, from Daimler headquarters to the branch to the customer.
This year, the northern sales network will adopt the ServicePass developed for Bremen, including its features and push notifications, and implement it in Hamburg and Hanover. Moreover, in Hanover a terminal for fast service check-in has been installed. Here customers scan the QR code on the first page of the Wallet pass, and once digital registration is done, they just throw their car keys into a locker. This saves the customer time and provides a special customer experience.