Case Study | Virtual Engagement Strategies

Business Challenge

Knowledge is best imparted personally. And the feeling of a community arises when people come together “in real life”. Or maybe not? Is it also possible to achieve these goals virtually? Does this represent a great opportunity? Our customer from the automotive industry was faced with this key question when he had to transfer the training of his sales staff from the “real world” into virtual space – due to COVID-19.

While up to this point the (worldwide) sales teams were used to deepen their knowledge, expand their network and strengthen their bond to the brand in elaborately staged events, they now had the opportunity to experience the training series over a period of several weeks via a virtual platform. The concept developed for this purpose was a blueprint, with only hypothetical impact  – but it could not be said with certainty whether virtual platforms should continue to remain the preferred option for the training objectives in the future.

Solution

In cooperation with the customer, insidery developed an individual “Voice of Participants” survey, which was integrated into the virtual platform. The goal was to understand the experience and impact of the event from the participants’ point of view. Since the users had the possibility to interrupt their training at any time and continue at another time, the survey was integrated into the program for each participant as a fixed component at the end of the event via iframes. The users did not have to leave the platform to answer the survey but provided their feedback directly and in the same “look & feel” of the event. The training also had an international digital orientation which is why insidery delivered the survey in a total of 15 local languages, depending on the chosen event settings.

The duration of the event over several weeks gave the customer the opportunity to make even slight adjustments in the training course and to consistently improve the experience . Using an online dashboard, our customer was able to monitor the anonymous opinions, assessments and comments of the participants in real time, analyse them and share the results within the corporation. Nevertheless, the company valued insidery’s point of view and recommendations: an insight report focusing on the key aspects concluded the project.

Impact

Placing the participant at the centre of the training and using this feedback to further develop and adapt the format to the target group, instead of just listening to a gut feeling, is a guarantee for the success of virtual events. Due to the immediate user feedback, the responsible persons were not only able to improve the digital experience in the short term but the long-term success of the training was also guaranteed. While certain objectives can be achieved very well digitally, the survey revealed that in some dimensions virtual events unfortunately come with compromises – for which there are now specific counter strategies on the agenda in Concept 2.0. Only those who listen properly to their target groups know where risks and opportunities lie and have the right answers ready for the future.