Q&A: Renee Cacchillo, Safelite Vice President Customer & Brand Strategies

National brand Safelite AutoGlass made a statement to its customers by shaking up its corporate structure. The marketing department will now fall under a newly developed Customer and Brand Strategy department, reporting to Renee Cacchillo, vice president, who also oversees the company’s customer service delivery function.

The company, which is on a path to be customer-driven, recognizes how the voice of the customer impacts both service delivery and brand positioning. By aligning the two functions, Safelite wants to deliver a flawless customer experience from the ads you see on TV to the online appointment scheduling to the technician in the field.

Cacchillo participated in an engaging Q&A with Loyalty360 to discuss her company’s recent announcement.

Q: What prompted Safelite AutoGlass to make these changes to its corporate structure and what message does the company want to send to its customers by doing this?

Safelite’s strategies for customer service have evolved–as every successful company does. Our focus is on being customer driven. That means looking at our business through the eyes of the customer; making it easy for them to do business with us and ensuring their experience is memorable. And that experience must be seamless–from the ads customers see on television or online, to the website where they can schedule their service, to the employees that provide the service–they all create the overall brand. We want our continued brand journey to be informed by our customers, and we want our interactions with them to show we truly understand what our customers want from us.

Q: How do you define a customer-driven company?

The objective of being Customer Driven is to achieve extraordinary results by looking at our business through the eyes of the customer; making it easy for them to do business with us and ensuring their experience is memorable. The four elements in our strategy include:

Listen: seek to understand customer pain points and learn through their experiences.

Focus: deploy resources where they deliver the greatest mutual business value.

Create: implement solutions for customers that differentiate us from our competitors making us the “Natural Choice.”

Delight: create loyal customers that will become brand advocates and our super promoters. 

Q: How will combining customer service and branding functions make Safelite a more efficient and profitable company?

There is a great deal of synergy between the resources used by marketing and customer service professionals in regard to the voice of the customer. From systems to listen to customers to the experience we provide them–much more of it is done digitally, so this collaboration will allow us to share information that impacts our brand. We’ll be listening to the same feedback and working together to provide streamlined solutions.

Q: What challenges do you have with your current loyalty program and how do you anticipate those changing in the future?

The biggest challenge is brand preference. Several years ago, customer research found the most popular auto glass brand was “I don’t know” and the most used auto glass company was “I don’t remember.” From that point, we set out on a path to build brand preference, which resulted in the Safelite Advantage.

The Safelite Advantage is a bundle of features providing what consumers have identified as their most important vehicle glass service needs. We created this after completing a comprehensive consumer study to identify what customers care most about. As a result, we launched a new marketing campaign–the Safelite Advantage, which focuses on five key points of differentiation:

Always being there: Glass damage can happen at any hour. Safelite is always here for you with 24/7 live representatives in our renowned contact centers, as well as web and mobile app scheduling.

Knowing who to expect: When you schedule Safelite mobile service, you’ll receive peace of mind with our Technician Profile Email, including the technician’s name, photo and credentials before he or she arrives.

The best replacement technology: Our proprietary TrueSeal system guides the new windshield into precise position to ensure the most reliable seal. Plus, Safelite recycles the old windshield, making replacement a more earth-friendly option.

Stronger repairs: Safelite’s exclusive GlassHealer resin is why our windshield repairs stay stronger and last longer. It penetrates cracks better to make your windshield strong again.

The industry’s only nationwide lifetime guarantee: Safelite is proud to feature the industry’s only nationwide lifetime guarantee. We back it up with about 5,000 state-of-the-art MobileGlassShops and company stores in all 50 states.

This alignment of customer and brand strategy will continue us down this journey we’ve already started.

Q: What are your competitors doing that you want to do?

We are the only national vehicle glass repair and replacement business so we uniquely are in the position to invest in innovations to benefit customers.

Q: Are you looking to integrate new technology and how will this process work?

We’ve recently implemented text and data analytics and are finalizing a decision to purchase a new voice of the customer program as we speak. We are excited about the opportunities this will offer.

Q: How are you assessing your current systems/program/infrastructure?

Our main benchmark is Net Promoter Score, and it has grown 13 percentage points since 2007 when we first put in motion the idea of being focused on customer service. We’ve set consistent goals for gradual improvement, which we will continue to do. In 2013, the year’s average score was 86 percent, which is something we’re very proud of.

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