TechBytes: Three Ways SAP Bilt Enhances Customer Experience
About a year ago, I wrote a TechBytes column about a concept app called “Snap", which SAP had developed to provide consumers with interactive instructions for assembling products at home. After some fine-tuning, SAP is now officially launching a DIY home assembly app called “Bilt” for Android and iOS tablet devices.
The app, free to consumers, integrates directly with the CAD files from manufacturers (who pay for inclusion) of products that require at-home assembly. Bilt can thus provide step-by-step interactive tutorials which consumers can follow and review at their own pace.
By turning often confusing and even incorrect static directional manuals into a 3-D, voice-guided experience, Bilt offers retailers the chance to greatly improve the experience they offer consumers of assemble-at-home goods. Here are three specific ways Bilt elevates customer experience.
1. Extending Purchase Options. For many consumers, having to assemble a product at home can be the “make or break” determining factor in a purchase decision. The dreaded need for home assembly may prompt a customer to buy a model with simpler or no assembly required, or look for an item available in pre-assembled mode. By easing the assembly process, Bilt allows consumers to consider a much wider range of products, including larger and more complex items, which in a benefit for retailers are often more expensive.
2. Minimizing Post-Sale Service. Almost any DIY-er at some point has become so frustrated with the assembly experience that they needed to call customer service, or even return an item. This type of post-sale customer service is a major inconvenience for the consumer and a drain on profits for the retailer. In addition to reducing assembly errors, Bilt also allows manufacturers to instantly make updates to instructions and offer direct access to replacements for broken or missing parts, further reducing the need for customers to come calling once the product has been taken home.
3. Instant Warranty. Products involving at-home assembly often offer warranties. However, the process of obtaining a warranty is often tedious and time-consuming, involving filling out manual or online forms with serial numbers, dates of purchase, personal information, etc. Bilt lets consumers instantly register products they assemble for warranty protection. Retailers may not see any direct benefit to their bottom line, but the less hassle involved in using a product, the happier the consumer is with buying that product, which certainly isn’t a negative for the retailer selling that product.
Future plans for Bilt include a smartphone version of the app and extending the variety of products it covers. It’s easy to envision Bilt even saving consumers the considerable expense of hiring professionals for more complex DIY jobs like installing a kitchen sink or a car battery. In any event, Bilt offers the hope of improving the customer experience both during and after the sale, a prospect that should make retailers just as happy as harried parents who can obtain interactive instructions for assembling a bicycle at midnight on Christmas Eve.