”… we are not satisfied with an NPS score alone – we want to understand what lies behind the score so we can act and maintain or change behavior when required”

Jan Askholm, CEO, BMW Group Denmark

winner of AutoIndex (Denmark)

interviews

Questions

years of collaboration

BMW Group Denmark is the Danish importer of BMW and MINI and part of BMW Group AG, one of the world’s most renowned premium car manufacturers. As a brand, BMW has a strong focus on both quality and customer experience and works ambitiously and systematically to strengthen customer relationships throughout the entire ownership and service journey.

For nearly two decades, Loyalty Group have helped bring the blue and white propeller closer to customers’ hearts – and BMW Group Denmark, BMW Group Norway (see separate case), as well as the largest dealer groups in both markets, have all been close collaboration partners.

While the challenges have varied, the core task has largely remained the same: to understand customers, translate their feedback into actionable insights, convert these into unique and prioritized action plans for both the importer and dealers, and ensure a follow up structure that enables effective implementation.

BMW and Loyalty Group – in brief

Our collaboration with BMW goes back nearly 20 years and began with the national AutoIndex surveys in 2007. In 2016, we intensified the collaboration with BMW Denmark and, in addition, began conducting dealer specific surveys.

This meant that all customers who had either purchased or serviced a BMW at an authorized dealer or workshop in Denmark were contacted. The extensive insights collected through these surveys were analyzed and translated into workshops and action plans at dealer level.

The action plans identified the most important challenges and pain points and provided specific jobs to be done.

The collaboration quickly proved successful, and when BMW Denmark won AutoIndex for the 10th consecutive year in 2021, BMW in the other Scandinavian markets recognized the potential. BMW Denmark had significantly higher customer satisfaction than Sweden and Norway – and satisfaction levels were also improving at a faster pace.

SITUATION

For many years, BMW Denmark has had a clear ambition: to deliver the best customer experience in the automotive industry – across sales, aftersales, and the entire dealer network. With increasing competition, a major green transition, and a more competitive market for car dealers, BMW Denmark faced a need to strengthen its understanding of customer expectations, increase the strategic anchoring of customer insights, and ensure an even more consistent customer experience across the entire ONE BMW family (Importer, financial services and dealers).

At the same time, both the importer and the Danish dealer groups wanted a more data driven and action oriented approach that could directly link customer insight with structured and prioritized execution and deliver measurable results – not only in customer satisfaction but also in employee engagement and financial performance.

BMW therefore needed a structured and scalable approach to customer insight that could provide a deep and nuanced understanding of customer experiences, ensure shared prioritization across importer and dealers, support action and change in daily operations, and document the business value of CX initiatives.

SOLUTION

After nine years of collaboration on the national AutoIndex surveys, BMW Denmark decided in 2016 to intensify the partnership by establishing unique dealer specific customer surveys in addition to the national AutoIndex study – and the standard transactional surveys initiated globally by the manufacturer BMW AG.

This meant that all customers who had purchased or serviced a BMW at an authorized dealer or workshop were systematically invited to provide detailed feedback.

Loyalty Group developed a comprehensive VoC (Voice of Customer) program for BMW Denmark, combining strategic advisory services, deep customer insight, and systematic implementation at both importer and dealer level. The work was anchored in a strong executive commitment and a shared CX business case that documented the value of placing the customer even more firmly at the center of the business.

Based on this foundation, the customer journey was mapped in detail, target groups and relevant transactional customer data were defined, and questionnaires and reporting were developed for use across both national AutoIndex surveys and dealer specific measurements. This enabled a strong combination of relational surveys and baseline analyses, together providing a holistic view of customer experiences – both during purchase and vehicle servicing.

Customer insights were subsequently translated into concrete improvement plans through workshops, prioritization processes, and action planning initiatives with each dealer group. The systematic Closed Loop process made it possible to follow up on critical customer experiences and use them directly in organizational development.

The focus was consistently on what lies behind the score – not the score itself – enabling BMW and its dealers to change behavior, optimize processes, and preserve what already worked well.

RESULTS

The collaboration between BMW and Loyalty Group has, over nearly two decades, delivered documented improvements at both customer and business level. Year after year, BMW Denmark has achieved the highest customer satisfaction in the industry, inspiring other markets to adopt the same approach.

Danish dealers have gained a deeper understanding of both strengths and weaknesses across their customer journeys and have worked purposefully on concrete focus areas such as delivery time, advisory quality, and “fixed right first time.” This has resulted in significantly higher customer satisfaction, stronger employee engagement, and improved profitability.

The systematic approach to customer insight has also created a shared decision making foundation across importer and dealers, where priorities are based on data rather than gut feeling. Clear follow up structures and the continuous translation of feedback into action have ensured sustained momentum and continuous improvement – even in a market characterized by pressure and change.

The result is an organization with high CX maturity, stronger execution power, and a documented link between customer experience, employee engagement, and business performance.

Services Delivered

Executive anchoring

CX business case (Monetizing CX)

Design of VoC-program (Voice of Customer)

Mapping of customer journey / touchpoints
Clarification of customer insight and reporting (output)
• Definition of target groups (respondents)
Definition of respondent data (existing data)
Definition of questionnaires
Definition of reporting and success criteria
Definition of follow up structure

Data Collection

Baseline analysis (Blueprint)
Relational customer surveys

Analysis & Reporting

Driver analysis
Descriptive analysis
AutoIndex study
Business analysis
Critical customer processes (Closed Loop)
PowerPoint reporting

Implementation

Results reviews
Results workshops (prioritization)
Action plan workshops
Follow up workshops

Training & education

CX Master Professional / Practitioner

Organizational motivation

Organizational kick off

For us, it is crucial that we understand the reasons for both customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction – we will not settle for a number in the form of an NPS score – we want to know what is behind the score so that we can act and maintain or change behavior when necessary.

With Loyalty Group, we have gained a strong, data-driven foundation that translates customer feedback into clear priorities and concrete action plans for both the importer and each individual retailer.

The result is a stronger customer orientation, higher employee engagement and a more robust business.

After almost two decades of collaboration, I can still highly recommend the collaboration with Loyalty Group; it has made us better, more focused and even more true to our ambition to deliver a premium experience every time.

– Jan Askholm, CEO, BMW Group Denmark

At Mindline, we apply AutoIndex on all the educations and pieces of training where they are available to us from the NSC. Our experience from the training where it is used versus where it is not, is that there is a clear effect on the participants’ understanding of why there is a need to develop and improve the customer experience.
This simply means that the effect of education and training will be far greater and thus more value-creating for both the NSC and the dealers who send their employees on training and invest both time and money in this.
The AutoIndex reports are for Mindline as a trainer, a fantastic tool and a simple way to present facts and inspire behaviour change so that customers get the optimal experience. It saves us a lot of time on the courses and makes them significantly more efficient and relevant for the participants.

– Jørgen Faddersbøl, CEO, Certified external BMW trainer, working with BMW Northern Europe since 2003

The AutoIndex results allow us to pressure test our own processes at the department level. Thus, it makes our ambition to always make things smarter and better possible.
Loyalty Group has helped our organization to recognize our shortcomings and thus motivate us to do something about it.
Working with Loyalty Group can sometimes be a bit challenging because Loyalty Group’s approach is very direct. It can at first sight be perceived as an attack on our current working methods. After several years of collaboration, however, the conclusion is that this approach is solely due to Loyalty Group’s sincere passion to create the best customer experience for our customers.

– Troels Nielsen, COO & Michael Rasmussen, Director of Sales, Jan Nygaard A/S

Since 2016 Bayern AutoGroup has worked in depth with Loyalty Group and the AutoIndex results in the ONE BMW family. More specifically, Bayern AutoGroup has had a specified AutoIndex analysis prepared each year for its own customers on store level.
The work has resulted in changed business procedures, updated guidelines and a general optimization of Bayern AutoGroup. The result is indisputable – Increased customer satisfaction, increased employee satisfaction and increased earnings at Bayern AutoGroup.

– Søren Vinderslev, CEO & Mikael Christensen, Director Aftermarket, Bayern AutoGroup