Deepening customer understanding
Eilakaisla, a provider of recruitment and temporary staffing services, sought a deeper understanding of the factors influencing its clients' purchasing decisions. Through customer surveys, key elements were identified for enhancement, aiming to elevate the customer experience to new heights and establish a stronger competitive edge.
Starting point
Eilakaisla, established in 1971 as a family business and a pioneer in the industry, has since become one of the most renowned and trusted names in the field of recruitment and temporary staffing services. Despite its strong brand recognition and high customer satisfaction, the company recognized the importance of staying competitive in the market. While the marketing and sales team had initial insights into areas for potential improvement, Eilakaisla aimed to validate these intuitions with research into customers' purchasing motives and their expectations regarding purchasing processes and overall customer experience.
Execution
Customer insights were needed to understand the impact of customer experience in the purchasing of staff recruitment and hiring services. A two-stage survey was conducted to investigate customers' purchasing motives as well as their expectations and experiences at different stages of the buyers journey.
In the first phase, a qualitative customer survey was carried out. Blink interviewed Eilakaisla customers, some of whom had recently purchased Eilakaisla's services and some of whom had decided to choose another partner or to have their needs met in a different way than the one offered by Eilakaisla.
These personal phone interviews were conducted to protect the anonymity of the respondents. A summary of the responses was used to generate a preliminary hypothesis, the reliability of which was investigated using quantitative research. The interviews provided detailed information on different purchasing strategies and on the strengths and weaknesses of sales and customer service.
The quantitative research was conducted as an online survey to the entire customer base of Eilakaisla. Despite the challenging timing at the turn of the year, the response rate was good and the results confirmed the initial hypothesis. The free comments from this survey also provided marketing, sales and customer service with good tips for improving their operations.
Results
The survey was carried out in two months on either side of the turn of the year, a very tight schedule. In addition to the actual results and suggestions for improvement from customers, the process itself was useful: many of Eilakaisla's customers expressed their satisfaction with being listened to and with the proactive way in which Eilakaisla is developing its activities.
The results of the study were grouped into a report and recommendations for action, according to the different stages of the buyers journey. The results were presented to Eilakaisla's key personnel convieniently before the company's strategy workshop.
See more at the client's website: www.eilakaisla.fi
Successes
Reliable information was obtained on the motivations, preferences and customer experiences of purchasing recruitment and hiring services at different stages of the purchasing process.
Customers engaged well with the survey and saw responding as an opportunity to influence the development of services.
Eilakaisla received concrete suggestions for improving marketing, sales and customer service based on the results.
"The whole study was completed well even in a very challenging timeframe. It provided us with actionable concrete suggestions to guide and plan our sales and marketing activities for 2020."