Customer centricity in Russian companies

In recent years, Russian companies have been actively moving towards a customer-centric model, focusing on creating personalised customer experiences, Big Data analytics and process automation. The study covers the most successful practices in companies from different sectors, showing how the implementation of customer journey maps (CJM) and other tools helps to improve customer service and increase loyalty.The study analyses cases of effective customer centricity practices of large Russian companies:

Big data technologies and customer centricity

In today's business, customer experience has become a crucial factor that can make a company a market leader. In the face of fierce competition and rising consumer expectations, the use of data and personalised approaches is becoming the key to success. We explored how cutting-edge Russian companies are applying Big Data technologies and customer centricity to transform customer experience and deliver outstanding results.

In the digital age and the constant growth of data, companies can no longer rely solely on traditional ways of working. The use of big data analytics can not only better understand customer needs, but also predict their future queries. This helps create unique and personalised offers that lead to increased customer loyalty and satisfaction.

In general, we can distinguish 3 directions of big data use:

1. Innovative practices. Companies use big data to improve customer experience. Sber and MegaFon use data analysis to create personalised offers and improve customer experience, which increases customer loyalty.
2. Loyalty boosting. Personalised approaches help meet and exceed customer expectations. Severstal and X5 Group have successfully implemented strategies that maintain high levels of customer loyalty and satisfaction.
3. Benefits for business. Companies that use customer-centric strategies and data analytics are achieving significant success. VTB and Tele2 demonstrate how the use of data and employee training leads to increased loyalty and revenue.

Now on to analysing the best practices of the largest Russian companies.

1. VTB: Enhancing customer loyalty

VTB focuses on providing the best customer experience by actively using data analytics and CJM to build omnichannel services. The introduction of regular surveys and the work of the Customer Experience Quality Centre enabled the bank to relieve the contact centre's workload and increase customer loyalty among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by 50%.

2. Sber: Personalisation through Big Data

Sberbank introduced a personalised recommendation platform (SberNBA) that analyses transactional data and customer behaviour for accurate product suggestions. A shift to empathy-driven service and a focus on the emotional intelligence of the employees helped increase the customer satisfaction index to 9.5 out of 10.

3. Severstal: Superior customer experience

Severstal focuses on creating a deep understanding of customer needs through CJM and new survey mechanics. The company created a Customer Experience Academy to train employees, and transformed its claims management system to increase satisfaction with service quality.

4. X5 Group: Improving customer experience through NPS

X5 Group has been actively using updated customer journey maps and the NPS Driver Tree, which has improved customer interactions and linked employee motivation to customer satisfaction. In 2022, the company was able to increase its net promoter score (NPS) by 11%.

5. Tele2: Reducing customer churn

Tele2 focused on developing a voice assistant and other digital services, which not only improved customer experience but also increased revenue from the current base by 48%. The Walk The Talk platform, which allows the employees to walk the customer journey, contributes to improved customer experience.

6. MegaFon: Using Big Data to improve customer service

MegaFon has implemented text analytics using big data, which has improved NPS by 9 percentage points over the last year. The company processes 10,000 customer responses daily, which allows it to effectively track satisfaction and improve customer service.

Read more about each company's strategic decisions, management systems and results in our research.