Company: Samsung Electronics America
Company Description: Samsung, founded in South Korea, is one of the world’s largest producers of electronic devices. Samsung specializes in the production of a wide variety of consumer and industry electronics, including appliances, digital media devices, semiconductors, memory chips, and integrated systems.
Nomination Category: Customer Service & Call Center Awards Achievement Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Award for Innovation in Customer Service - Other Service Industries
 Nomination Title: Supporting Consumers via SMS Using AI Language Translation Technology
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes, explaining the nominated achievement since July 1, 2021, OR written answers to the questions? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video. If you are submitting written answers to the questions for this category, provide them in the spaces below.
- Briefly describe the nominated organization: its history and past performance (up to 200 words):
Total 182 words used.
Samsung’s US Customer Care team provides support for the complete range of Samsung products sold in the US market. This support includes BPOs across the globe in many countries and support in both English and Spanish. At the outset of the project we are submitting, our customer support ratio was 73% Voice and 27% Digital, and 3.4% of that support being handled via SMS channels. (We consider the following, SMS channels: SMS, WhatsApp, Google Business Messages GBM, and Apple Messaging for Business AMB)
The support for Digital was provided only in English. Digital support was managed utilizing 11 different systems with limited interconnectivity. Agents were required to access up to five different systems during a single interaction. Chat on the website was managed utilizing a traditional synchronous experience, and SMS support was occurring via SMS Shortcode.
Customer NPS in the digital channels were below Samsung targeted goal of 60+.
The program we are submitting, Samsung Care Digital Transformation Powered by SMS, Enhanced with AI, was launched on June 30, 2021 and has been continuously improved over the last 2.5 years.
- Outline the nominated achievement since July 1 2021 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):
Total 250 words used.
- Since the program’s launch, Samsung has achieved the following:
i.Launched the only known support experience for Fortune 100 businesses, where customers are able to contact the business via SMS using the same toll-free number that they call for support. “Text, or call us at 1-800-SAMSUNG”
ii.Shifted more than 20% of the customer support volume from voice to digital
iii.Increased our volume of SMS support by 600%. SMS support now accounts for 25% of Samsung’s US support volume
iv.Provided support to over 4 Million customers via SMS
v.Improved Digital NPS by 9 points overall, with areas of support in SMS reaching NPS as high as 69.3 (Current Spanish SMS Support Score)
vi.Won multiple awards from US and International awards programs for the full program as well as individual projects within the program:
i.IDC- 2023 Best in Future of Customer Experience Overall Winner
ii.2023 US Customer Experience Awards Gold – Best Digital Customer Experience
iii.2023 International Customer Experience Awards Silver – Best Digital Customer Experience
iv.2022 International Customer Experience Awards Gold – Best Innovation in Customer Experience (>10,000 Employees)
vii.Decreased total contact volume by more than 10% (2023 vs. 2020)
viii.Improved OPEX, saving more than $4.9M USD in 2023 from digital deflection alone. Full program savings for Digital Deflection >$9.4M USD (calculated using labor savings digital vs. voice X total deflections to Digital after call received)
Opened Digital support for Spanish customers without hiring specialized agents
- Explain why the achievement you have highlighted is unique or significant. If possible compare the achievement to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the organization's past performance (up to 250 words):
Total 241 words used.
The change for customer experience on the front end, being able to get SMS or Voice support from Samsung in the US using 800-SAMSUNG, is currently unique compared to all of Samsung’s direct competitors as well as unique compared to all companies of Samsung’s size in the US. This core component has been our focus and a key to our successful shift from a voice focused support organization, to a more balanced digital/voice mix. Samsung’s US team now has a clear path to be digital first as we expect to reach our goal of >50% of our support conversations happening in digital during 2024. We are currently 55% voice and 45% digital.
Our digital customer reported experience scores have increased in all key areas – NPS +9, CSAT +9, Issue Resolution +8%. These results have been achieved by heavily leveraging AI. We have shifted our AI focus from one targeted to increase self-service, to one targeted to assist agents with efficiently supporting our customers.
We have brought on Spanish support in our Digital channels. Samsung estimates that as much as 10% of our US customer base prefers support in Spanish. The support rollout was completed without hiring specialized Spanish speaking support agents. Samsung achieved this by utilizing specialized AI that allows English speaking agents to support Spanish speaking customers in digital channels with real-time translation. This support experience is currently our highest scoring NPS experience @ 69.3 in December ’23.
- Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 220 words used.
- Samsung is providing you with the following to assist in your review of our program’s submission
- You can get digital support from us by:
- Sending a text message to 1-800-726-7864 (1-800-SAMSUNG) 24/7/365
- See how we have presented a broad set of SMS channels to our customers by visiting https://www.samsung.com/us/support/contact/?model=N0061158&
- The different SMS options (SMS, WhatsApp, GBM, and AMB) are displayed when accessed via different products: Windows Laptop, Android Phone, iOS/MacOS device
- From our Samsung Members app, available on Android devices
- Calling 1-800-SAMSUNG from the US, tell our AI powered IVR what you need help with and take the offer for SMS support when offered. We utilize the details you provide our IVR to route you immediately to a support rep.
- Details on awards the program has won since July 2021
- IDC Award Press Release
For the IDC award, you can view our program Director’s chat with IDC by signing up at this link and viewing the on demand recording – https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=reg30.jsp&
- 2023 International CX Awards - https://cxscoop.com/latest-news/international-customer-experience-awards-2023-meet-the-winners/ (Currently blocked by Samsung firewall)
- 2023 UX CX Awards - https://usacxa.com/hall-of-fame
- 2022 International CX Awards – https://news.samsung.com/us/samsung-earns-gold-bronze-international-cx-awards/ (Rodney, this link is not currently loading for me. Can you please ask PR team about access to the post?)
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