SITUATION
AP Pension wanted the most loyal customers in the market

AP Pension had been working on a strategy process with the goal of being at the top of the industry for customer satisfaction. According to a general industry-wide measurement of customer satisfaction, AP Pension had already achieved that goal for multiple years.

AP Pension then decided to raise the bar even further with a new five-year strategic plan designed to secure the most loyal customers in the market among commercial pension companies. Kim Blandfort Christensen, Marketing Director at AP Pension at the time, explained:

“We are very aware that satisfied customers are not necessarily loyal. Our goal is to create loyal customers who trust us, want to stay with us and recommend us to others. There is competition for the position as customers’ preferred pension company, so we must not let our good customer satisfaction results make us complacent.”

Increased competition required a focus on customer loyalty

The goal of becoming the best at customer loyalty required AP Pension to have detailed knowledge of its customers at a 1:1 level. The company therefore chose to carry out a project in collaboration with Loyalty Group to gain insight into how decision-makers experienced AP Pension and what impacted their loyalty. Kim Blandfort Christensen said about the collaboration:

“It is crucial for us to gain knowledge about decision-makers at a 1:1 level so that we can prioritise the initiatives that have the greatest impact on customer loyalty. We need to be able to base our decisions on concrete measurements, not just gut feeling.”

“We chose Loyalty Group because they have specialist expertise in customer loyalty in the B2B market. Loyalty Group also already knows our business, so we can get straight to the point – namely, how we get more loyal customers.”

AP Pension also needed to track the development of customer loyalty over time so that it could assess whether its initiatives towards customers had the desired effect. The project with Loyalty Group formed the basis for ongoing measurements of customer experiences.

SOLUTION
Preparation was a prerequisite for success

AP Pension’s management defined the specific framework and goals for the project in close collaboration with Loyalty Group. As part of this work, Loyalty Group helped map AP Pension’s touch points with customers and the organisation’s need for customer insight. Kim Blandfort Christensen said about Loyalty Group’s role:

“Loyalty Group’s thorough preparation before collecting customer insights has been crucial for us. This is where the foundation was laid for which areas we should ask about, and how deeply we should ask. That is a prerequisite for ending up with customer insight that is as relevant and useful as possible.” 

Customer insight as a basis for decision-making
For 7+ years, Loyalty Group was responsible for defining and collecting the necessary insight about decision-makers’ experiences and loyalty. Loyalty Group also helped interpret the results and put them into perspective in close collaboration with AP Pension’s management team.

An overview was created of the factors that have the greatest effect on customer loyalty, and Loyalty Group made specific recommendations for initiatives towards customers.

Kim Blandfort Christensen said about Loyalty Group’s role in interpreting the results:
“It has been of great value to us that Loyalty Group can help interpret the results and challenge our own perception of our initiatives towards customers. We have gained the insight we need into our customers, and at the same time it has become clear to us where we should focus to achieve the greatest impact on loyalty.”

“Loyalty Group was quick to understand where we stood and what we needed. They managed the project efficiently to completion, with great commitment and empathy. There is no doubt that they wanted to reach our goals just as much as we did.”

RESULT
From customer insight to increased customer loyalty

AP Pension now translated the new customer insight into specific initiatives towards customers that would impact loyalty the most. Loyalty Group’s advice and recommendations were incorporated into action plans that described the specific initiatives towards customers.

As a next step, AP Pension integrated customer loyalty data with its CRM system in collaboration with Loyalty Group. This ensured that employees had up-to-date knowledge about individual customers in their day-to-day work – and thus the best conditions for strengthening the customer experience.

AP Pension were also considering launching a number of new initiatives to explore customers’ experiences in depth at the specific touch points that have proven to have the greatest impact on customer loyalty.

Kim Blandfort Christensen said about the outcome of the collaboration with Loyalty Group:
“We could not be in a stronger position to achieve our strategic goals for customer loyalty than we are now. The customer insights Loyalty Group has given us is an important prerequisite for reaching our goal of having the most loyal customers in the market.”

“At the same time, the collaboration has strengthened our focus on customer loyalty across the company and given us a shared point of reference in our further work with customers. Our initiatives are far more targeted and coordinated than they have been before.”