How Matthews Australasia Builds an Innovative Customer Experience With Drift
THE CHALLENGE
There comes a time in every business’s journey where the old ways of doing things don’t cut it. For Matthews Australasia, that time came when they realized their system was out of touch and out of date.
Matthews Australasia leads the way in intelligent product identification, product inspection, and software traceability solutions. With no automation in place, their support chat was overburdened and couldn’t handle the volume. It required their team of three to stay online all day to juggle incoming customer chats and phone calls.
To add to Matthews Australasia’s frustrations, customers weren’t getting the best website experience — the team’s existing system was limited to simplistic conversations so customers had to know what they needed on the spot and couldn’t have meaningful conversations.
Chloe Leamon, Business and Marketing Associate, recalls the struggle, “We knew we had outgrown our old system because it was very resource-dependent and manual. We didn’t really have any visibility into what was happening on our website, who was visiting, or what they wanted — it was just a chat function.”
Mark Dingley
Matthews Australasia needed a different experience for their team and their customers. They were ready for something that would take their efforts to new heights.
DON’T LET YOUR WEBSITE GET IN THE WAY OF YOU MAKING MORE MONEY
THE SOLUTION
Drift stood out as a solution. It offered a better customer experience and a more efficient process. “Drift was really attractive because it was something new and fresh that we hadn’t seen before. It was also in line with the same level of intelligence that our brand represents. We thought, if we’re going to do this, we want to make a significant change using a forward-thinking approach. We wanted to transform the digital experience for our customers.”
Guided Onboarding for Internal Teams
The transition onto the platform was seamless. At the time of onboarding, there was a significant time difference between organizations. But that didn’t phase the Drift team — they provided support like everyone was in the same room. In no time, the Matthews team launched the chatbot and live chat function across their websites.
Marketing Coordinator Madeleine Bowden shares her experience; “Onboarding was quite a quick and easy process. The time difference across different countries never felt like it impeded on us successfully implementing Drift or not feeling supported when building our playbooks and launching Drift on our website.”
Madeleine Bowden
Matthews Australasia was also able to tailor Drift to their needs. While many organizations focus on sales teams, Matthews initially intended the platform for their customer service and technical service teams. These teams can address or route issues right away, as well as share relevant content. “A lot of the focus is around serving up things for the customers that they can access in real-time like a support manual, booking a service, or requesting a quote right away without having to wait on the phone or wait for a reply to an email,” Chloe explains.
A Better Customer Experience
Matthews Australasia’s goal is to foster a relationship that goes beyond selling. “We want to make our customers aware, via the hooks, that we’re here to help them — whatever their inquiry may be. Drift is a resource designed to be useful and help rather than just sell,” Madeleine explains.
Implementing Drift has given their company a new way to interact with their customers. “The ability to see the activity of who’s on our site allows us to target our bots and greetings to be more relevant to those people and give us a better landscape. We can see returning visitors and the types of interactions they have had. It’s allowed us to learn more about our customers and give us insight into their buying journey,” says Chloe.
This insight was helpful when lockdowns occurred during Hort Connections, one of Matthews’ trade shows. It allowed them to target businesses who would usually attend the trade show but couldn’t due to restrictions. They were then able to connect with those people the next time they visited the website.
Their buyer experience is also more aligned with their company thanks to Drift:
Chloe Leamon
Madeleine agrees, “I think people are appreciative of how easy it is to engage with us.”
An Edge on the Competition
The manufacturing industry has often been slow in shifting away from traditional B2B selling methods, and towards online digital innovation. Madeleine sees Drift as a key differentiator for the company. She explains, “We are one of the first in our industry to really automate the customer experience and use software to connect with customers in a different way.”
Drift also gives them the ability to push innovation without alienating people who aren’t as familiar with high-tech options. Matthews provides both Drift and web forms to make sure their website visitors have the right option for them. This allows them to meet people wherever they are in the buying process.
Innovating in this way is one of the things that set Drift apart from other solutions. As Chloe states, “Drift is a safe space to try new things. The solid strategy allows us to make optimizations while still giving our customers what they need.”
And it’s working out. Customers of over 40 years have not only adapted to Drift, but also speak highly of the experience. “We’ve seen an increase in the number of people using Drift and live chat in the last year. When we first started, there were lots of people still using our forms, but now, many of them are engaging with us via our chatbots and playbooks. The tide is starting to turn to be more digitally focused,” says Madeleine.
THE RESULTS
Matthews Australasia learned that supporting customers didn’t have to be a painful process. Drift enabled them to respond to website visitors more quickly, which also led to higher conversions across their site.
With Drift bots and playbooks implemented, Matthews Australasia reached:
The benefits were also seen across the company from the ability to prioritize queries to alignment between teams. Matthews Australasia finally had a solution that didn’t stand in the way of their success, but instead, propelled them toward it.
Looking Beyond the Numbers
The number of quality leads has increased a lot since moving to Drift. Madeleine adds, “We’ve seen an increase in the number of relevant email captures that we’re getting. Before Drift, our team wasn’t having as many meaningful conversations, but now we’re able to focus more on genuine service inquiries and leads.”
That’s because Matthews Australasia is able to qualify website visitors more quickly through targeting methods. Drift enables them to target and engage with people who want meaningful conversations. They also use the platform to disqualify international site visitors who they don’t service at this time.
Focusing the Right Issues
Drift chatbots give Matthews Australasia the data they need right from the start. “We try to get as much information from the customer through our chatbots as we can before our team members need to join so they can have more meaningful conversations with the customers — and not just fish for information,” says Madeleine. It’s also helped them reduce follow-up time as they’re able to capture information from prospects and customers in real-time and respond quickly.
Chatbots not only help inform conversations, but they also make room for critical ones. They free up the company’s phone system, allowing the team to tackle issues right away. Chloe says, “Rather than clogging up our phone system when it might be something as simple as needing a number to order a spare part, they can serve themselves with Drift. That allows our team to be ready to take on more complex inquiries or urgent breakdowns.”
Bringing Internal Teams Together
Drift is an extension of the Matthews Australasia team. As Chloe states, “As good as chatbots and automation are, Drift’s conversational approach is what’s most attractive about it. Because people want to feel like they’re talking to someone — they don’t want to talk to a robot. Drift helps with retention and customer experience. It’s easy to tailor to our brand, our mannerisms, and our culture.”
The platform has made the team more aligned than ever before. They’ve been able to use Drift links in ABM campaigns and throughout other marketing campaigns. Their conversion results show the impact of their collaboration.
Connecting with customers on their own terms — whether your team is available — is the future of business. As Madeleine says, “Take the leap. Invest in the technology. Invest in the new way of connecting with customers in this digitally connected platform.”
Chloe Leamon
