Sennheiser pilot project using customer app
Hamburg, November 2, 2021: Customer app instead of in-store monitors: With the MeinSennheiser app, the audio technology manufacturer wants to personalize the customer approach. Sennheiser’s technically complex products are to be explained and interactively experienced. The app also makes it possible to enter into a personalized dialog with customers and only send them messages and offers when they are in front of a shelf with Sennheiser products.
Customers are familiar with online shopping: top sellers or category-based product recommendations pop up on the home page, and you receive recommendations in real time based on a search term. However, the situation is completely different in the stationary technology trade. Currently, manufacturers here communicate with their customers in many cases via in-store monitors, which are attached to the shelves of the products and play videos about them. “These screens run continuously, but only play out unpersonalized messages” explains Prof. Dr. Hans-Christian Riekhof, CEO of locandis. The company has now developed an app for Sennheiser, manufacturer of high-quality audio technology, which enables personalized customer targeting directly in front of the shelf with Sennheiser products. The MeinSennheiser app is currently being tested in a pilot project.
The interactive dialog via smartphone is a “highly relevant field” for Sennheiser
In line with the motto “Bring your own device (BYOD)”, the app supplements classic channels with additional functions and presents them on the customer’s smartphone. In the personalized dialog with customers, messages and offers are only sent to them when they are in front of the shelf with Sennheiser products. At the same time, additional functions can be introduced, such as collecting loyalty points and a function for recruiting new users through existing ones.
“The interactive dialog channel via customers’ smartphones is a highly relevant field for Sennheiser,” says Alexander Hinte, Director Retail Channel Europe at Sennheiser. “In our pilot project, we are staging a shopping experience in brick-and-mortar retail supported by the MeinSennheiser app. With the help of location-based marketing and the use of app clips, customers are enabled to find out about Sennheiser products directly at the shelf and receive rich content with images, videos, promotions or interactive surveys. This is particularly interesting for cross- and up-selling as well as the use of coupons, incentives and loyalty programs,” Hinte continues.
Use of the MeinSennheiser app without prior download with App Clip
The delivery of content without registration in the app developed by locandis is made possible with the help of so-called App Clips. “Apple’s App Clip functionality makes it possible that, in addition to the push-based delivery of information at the shelf, customers can immediately receive information about Sennheiser products by scanning an NFC tag or QR code,” explains Stefan Brinkhoff, CTO of locandis. Registration in the app is not necessary for this. The exciting feature of the NFC solution from a user experience perspective is its ease of use: Users only have to hold their smartphone near the chip. The content is then automatically displayed and the customer is subtly motivated to download the MeinSennheiser app.
“This makes it much easier for customers to subsequently download the app, as they have already been able to use the features and benefits in a preview mode beforehand,” says Brinkhoff. This feature thus enables any customer with a smartphone to use the Sennheiser app without a prior download. “Conversely, this feature also means that the App Clips are a complete campaigning tool, enabling the targeting of differentiated content on every single NFC tag. And this is done completely without downloading an app,” says Brinkhoff, describing the advantages of this technical solution.
Reaching customers in relevant buying situations thanks to location-based marketing
locandis enables a wide range of functionalities that can be displayed directly via the App Clip. These include videos, images or interactive elements that give customers an understanding of Sennheiser products. “Specifically, customers can thus be guided directly to the right Sennheiser headphones by an interactive product advisor. Alternatively, customer surveys can be carried out directly via the locandis app clip campaigning, which provides valuable insights into the buying behavior and preferences of Sennheiser customers,” explains Stefan Brinkhoff. This is just a small selection of the use cases that can be implemented as part of the MeinSennheiser app.
You can find more information about Sennheiser here.
Further press releases from locandis can be found here.
