MTD Dramatically Improves CX and Efficiency with Vonage

Delivering digital transformation to givea 360° view ofthe customer, improving experience and efficiency MTD is a world leader in outdoor power equipment. Headquartered in Valley City, Ohio, this 86-year-old company is renowned for its high-quality lawn mowers, tractors, snow throwers, and tillers. It is a privately owned company. MTD’s business drivers focus on delivering superior customer engagement through lifetime value, improving the product development process and speed-to-market, as well as improving its partnerships with retailers.

MTD Customer Engagement Program IT Manager, Laura Hind explains, “Getting a 360° view of the customer was our main driver of change as we needed an understanding of the contact center/dealer dialogue across the business.” It was imperative that MTD retain its reputation for top-notch customer experience but its legacy contact center technology was hindering performance and operational potential. To maintain superior customer service while undertaking the transformation project, getting buy in from various departments was necessary. Laura continues, “Creating the right project team was vital; we needed to find change agents in every department, people who are respected and who could promote the vision.”

Digital transformation implementing the integration of Salesforce and Vonage

The choice of the Vonage platform was rooted in its synergy with Salesforce. Ken Kotlarek Jr., MTD Customer Service Operations Manager comments, “The integration of Vonage and Salesforce is best-in-class with MTD using the Salesforce Sales, Service and Marketing Clouds. We’ve built a great partnership.” Nine months into the digital transformation program using the Vonage cloud contact center platform is a massive improvement on the legacy system. The technology has given MTD a 360° perspective on their customers across all channels including calls, online, live chat and e-mail. 

The Benefits of Using Vonage Contact Center with Salesforce Integration

More calls handled and improved efficiency — The Vonage system has enabled MTD to quickly route customer calls to the proper agents as well as enabling deflection of 5-7% of calls to an automated option so customers with simple questions like checking on order status or searching for a dealer can get their answers immediately. Overall, 30-60 seconds has been shaved off each service call, freeing up agents to answer more calls and engage in omni-channel conversations.

Workforce management optimized — By integrating Monet into the transformation project, MTD’s workforce schedule is optimized and staffing costs have been reduced thanks to predictive analytics and access to real-time information, which allows managers to track activity, reduce and ramp up the number of agents as needed, and maximize their agents’ time and resources.

Disaster recovery saves thousands — In the spring of 2018, up to 4,000 phone calls were being taken daily. One day the phone lines went down. By using Vonage, MTD was able to quickly and easily shift calls to WebRTC utilizing MTD’s browser to accept calls and continue operating, saving MTD thousands of dollars.

Better agent experience — Agents love the usability of the Vonage system. Training is faster and the integration with Salesforce means the 360° view of the customer is at agents’ fingertips.

Revenues rising — Sales have been increasing as the Vonage system allows larger volumes and more models to be sold.

Dramatically improved dealer experience — With a complete view of the customer through Salesforce, all MTD staff can understand individual dealer relationships. Since the implementation, overall NPS has risen from a good score of 50 to a great score of 70.

Performance Improvement:

• Digital engagement increased 250% over the last year
• Digital transformation delivered results within nine months
• Chat growth of 48%
• Easy Customer Effort with greater digital presence:
  • Improved customers’ self-service capabilities and their knowledge of MTD products
  • Gained omni-channel capabilities including email, text, and chat, increasing overall customer engagement
• Costs reduced:
  • Call center management efficiencies increased
  • Average Handle Time decreased 30 seconds for Dealer Line
  • First Call Resolution increased 12% on phone inquiries
  • Agent schedule adherence improved by 7.5% with implementation of Monet WFM
  • Average handle-time down 40% using web chat and integrations
  • Call deflection up 5-7% using SMS and IV
• Customer experience improved:
  • Net Promoter Score up from 50 to 70
  • Abandonment rate down 65% for Dealer Line

Looking ahead, MTD plans to roll out the transformation program across Australia, Canada and Europe, as well as looking to install the Vonage Conversation Analyzer to improve customer experience and PCI compliance technology.