XM Knowledge Base
Dow + Qualtrics
Dow’s journey to customer-centricity
Dow Achieved
7%
Lower inventory volume
20%
Improvement in CX index
$300M
value from digital transformation
Overview
Dow, a 125-year old company, aims to be the most innovative, customer-centric, inclusive, and sustainable materials science company in the world. But achieving customer-centricity was no small order, given a previously matrixed organization and no common CX measures across the enterprise. With Qualtrics, Dow launched a new CX strategy and game-changing digital transformation, creating millions in value.
Adopting an enterprise-wide CX strategy
Dow’s goal is to make every customer interaction easy, enjoyable, and effective. And that starts with listening.
Qualtrics enabled Dow to survey multiple customer personas and ask questions spanning the entire customer journey. Customizable data displays allowed Dow to publish results internally with transparency and speed, and track CX progress over time. From there, they were able to overlay operational metrics, like on-time delivery and product availability, to reveal meaningful correlations and identify improvement opportunities.
In order to focus their efforts where it counts, Dow mapped the key steps of the customer journeys and prioritized action based on satisfaction levels at specific touchpoints, as well as the impact of those touchpoints on the overall experience.
One of the biggest challenges with B2B CX programs is turning insights into action. Dow mastered this challenge with a ‘team of teams’ approach. A CX steering team makes recommendations to an executive leadership team including all business presidents and functional VPs. Once priorities and budgets are agreed upon, the CX Implementation Team does the heavy lifting, with CX Change Champions who support engagement across the enterprise.
Leading with digital transformation
Committing to become a “Digital Dow” was a key step in delivering a premier customer experience. But Dow’s digital offerings were lagging behind the company’s vision.
Through Qualtrics survey results, Dow discovered that customers and prospects spend a significant amount of time researching raw materials and conducting formulation trials in their labs. For certain customers, the lack of time or resources required prevents them from innovating. By bringing together key teams and partners, Dow developed a groundbreaking digital capability powered by AI that enables formulation visualization and predictive modeling for faster discovery and invention of chemical systems.
Qualtrics’ CX Digital solution ensured the company deeply understood customer needs and how they were using digital channels, in order to maximize redesigned experiences. By prioritizing customer-centricity, Dow.com became the central hub for customer interactions, with repeat visitors increasing 450%. Whereas previously 95% of new leads originated from in-person interactions, now 65% are generated via digital engagement. Quality of leads improved as well, resulting in a doubled conversion rate. At the same time, satisfaction improved across nearly every digital touchpoint, from finding technical information on the website to placing orders.
Overall, Dow’s digital transformation has created $300 million in value in less than five years. Benefits were visible on both business top line (revenue and margin growth) as well as on structural reduction of costs and working capital.
Connecting CX to business value
Now with a repeatable, measurable way to track CX, the possibilities for value creation are endless at Dow.
By layering company operational metrics on top of experience data gathered using Qualtrics, Dow found that satisfaction and buying behavior are significantly influenced by product availability at the time of order placement. This provided new insight into the recurring question of how to balance the benefits of higher inventory levels vs. more cash flow. Rather than accepting a tradeoff, these findings led Dow to invest in integrated planning and inventory optimization technologies, resulting in lower inventory levels without compromising customer experience.
Dow achieved a 7% reduction in inventory volume, equivalent to over $1 billion in cash flow, all while improving customer confidence in product availability by 10% and the CX score by 8.5%.
Riccardo Porta
Global Director for CX, Dow
We see Qualtrics as the central enabling platform that helped us design, build, and then confidently prioritize and enhance our CX best practices over time. From the early days of our journey Qualtrics solutions have allowed us to rationalize and monetize our CX disciplines to unlock new value for our customers and for Dow
Dow is a global leader in materials science, engineering innovative solutions for customers in sectors such as agriculture, consumer goods, packaging, and healthcare. Their goal is to become the most innovative and sustainable materials science company in the world. Dow operates in 31 countries, employing around 37,800 people, and delivered $57 billion in sales in 2022.
Dow.comIndustry
Manufacturing
Region
North America
Company Size
Enterprise
Business Type
B2B