Nissan

Executive Summary: How Nissan Transformed Customer and Employee Experience

Forrester examines how Nissan partnered with Publicis Sapient to match experience with expectations.

The problem Publicis Sapient set out to solve for Nissan is perfectly summed up by Madhu Nutakki, Chief Customer Experience and Digital Officer at the automaker:

“The car industry hasn’t changed much toward the customer experience in the last 100 years… customers, on the other hand, have changed. They want decisions made on the website to be communicated to a local dealership, they want one integrated app for everything Nissan, and they don’t want to be treated like a new customer every time they interact with us because data is not being shared effectively.”

Together, Nissan and Publicis Sapient started with the customer journey. They truly got to know their customers, their day to day and the friction points they face in relation to their vehicles. Along the way, Nissan took those friction points and set out to smooth them over by anticipating customer needs, connecting touchpoints and exceeding expectations.

To do this successfully, Nissan needed a whole new way of working. One that was customer-first, not just digital-first. “We moved away from our channel-based, organizational silos to a customer-centric view,” said Mike Lavigne, Director and Head of Experience Strategy and Design at Nissan. And the secret to successful transformation? Nissan learned it’s all about connecting the front-end with the back-end. What started off as a front-end optimization quickly expanded to the integration of several back-end data sets and systems and a scalable cloud infrastructure. By re-focusing the entire company around the customer, the automaker was able to unify all touchpoints across all channels and markets to see the world as its customers do.

“We moved away from our channel-based, organizational silos to a customer-centric view”

Mike Lavigne, Director and Head of Experience Strategy and Design, Nissan

Digital business transformation isn’t a one and done. To remain relevant in the long term, Nissan needs to continuously adapt to change and customer expectations, and look for new ways to drive customer value. By transforming their business to do just that, Nissan is already making headway:

New and improved digital offerings, like eCommerce pilots in China, India, U.S., Brazil, Mexico and France
Higher customer retention and vehicle value:
- 40% increase in worldwide presales site traffic, of which 40% is from return visitors
- 80% of U.S. customers who get service are 2x more likely to repurchase
- Average value of a vehicle has increased by hundreds of euros

More visibility into the customer journey, allowing Nissan to identify opportunities to reduce abandonment and increase conversion and engagement
Data-driven culture of experimentation has resulted in a 386% increase in online reservations in Mexico, 85% increase in car configurations in the UK and 25% increase in test drives in Japan

To read more about Nissan’s transformation, download the full report from Forrester.

Forrester Case Study: How Customer-centricity is Driving Nissan Forward

As automakers look for new ways to remain competitive, learn how one global OEM leveraged a customer-driven approach to reduce costs, grow its customer base and boost retention.

About Publicis Sapient

Publicis Sapient is a digital transformation partner helping retail businesses such as Walmart, Carrefour and Eileen Fisher get digitally enabled, both in the way they work and the way they serve their customers. As digital pioneers with 20,000 people and 53 offices around the globe, our experience spanning technology, data sciences, consulting and customer obsession enables us to accelerate our clients’ businesses through designing the products and services their customers truly value. Publicis Sapient is the digital business transformation hub of Publicis Groupe.