Cinionic
Salesforce Customer since 2019
Cinionic helps more cinemas wow movie-goers with Salesforce
From Hollywood blockbusters to thought-provoking indies, when it comes to movies, there’s something for everyone. A trip to the cinema is about so much more than what’s on screen. It’s a chance to suspend reality and get lost in another world. To be part of an audience.
Global cinema expert Cinionic wows moviegoers the world over with innovative digital and laser technology to add magic to every cinema visit. “Cinionic doesn’t just sell equipment, we partner with customers to deliver amazing, immersive experiences to film fans,” said Jürgen De Cock, Director of Customer Experience.
And with Salesforce, Cinionic is building stronger relationships with customers than ever before; helping cinemas adapt during the COVID-19 pandemic, and plan for long-term success in the face of an uncertain future.
“Our vision is to help customers install and maintain the right equipment for their cinemas at the right time. Convincing them to switch to digital can be a challenge, so we needed smarter sales and marketing campaigns to show them the value of our products.”
Digitalising a traditional market.
The digital footprint has been growing steadily in cinemas over the past few years. While consumers were quick to swap VHS for Blu-Ray, the uptake of new technology in movie theatres has been slower to take off. But with new offerings such as cinema-as-a-service taking off, it’s more important than ever to keep up with digital trends.
“Advances in technology mean we can give the audience better cinema experiences while lowering operational costs,” commented Jürgen. “Our vision is to help customers install and maintain the right equipment for their cinemas at the right time. Convincing them to switch to digital can be a challenge, so we needed smarter sales and marketing campaigns to show them the value of our products.”
A customer-centric approach to transformation.
In 2019, Cinionic transformed sales and marketing processes to put the customer firmly at the heart of its business. As Jürgen revealed: “Every step of the way we asked ourselves if what we were doing would improve the customer experience. If it didn’t add value for them, it didn’t make the roadmap.”
The company worked with implementation partner, Cloud Innovation, to roll out Service Cloud, Experience Cloud, and Pardot to unlock 360-degree visibility of the customer and standardise global operations. “With Salesforce, we have a flexible platform for the future. We know it will help us achieve our goals for the coming decades, not just the next few years,” explained Jürgen. “Salesforce is a thought leader, and that’s important as we drive cultural change across the business.”
Adapting marketing techniques for the post-COVID world.
To cater to its traditional customers, Cinionic had a standard approach to marketing. But the COVID-19 pandemic acted as a worldwide catalyst for digitalisation. “We used to go to a lot of trade shows to show off our products and network. We wanted to move to a more digital and data-driven approach, and the pandemic really accelerated that change as it forced our customers and partners onto digital channels,” explained Jelle Deconinck, Director of Digital Marketing at Cinionic.
The company switched physical events for digital, hosting webinars, panel discussions, and interactive Q&A sessions. By capturing customer data on Salesforce, the team knows who to invite to which sessions to maximise attendance and deliver the most value to every prospect.
Segmentation helps send prospects on the right marketing journeys at the right time to boost conversion rates. But the journey doesn’t stop there. They also use Pardot to send relevant content and ‘how to’ videos to customers to help them maintain their equipment. This was particularly valuable during the COVID-19 pandemic, as Cinionic could advise customers on when to set up their equipment for re-openings.
Packing more punch with Pardot.
When GDPR came into effect, Cinionic’s contact list halved, but by monitoring open and engagement rates with Pardot, the team was able to adapt communications and see which tactics were the most effective. By sending more relevant and valuable communications to customers, the company has since seen its audience exceed pre-GDPR levels by more than 100% as more customers signed up for emails and fewer hit unsubscribe.
“We use webforms to gradually capture more and more information on our customers so we can build up a rich profile,” said Jelle. “There are only around 200,000 cinema screens in the world, so we’ve got a limited customer base and really need to understand who prospective customers are, their pain points, and how we can help them.”
How Service Cloud proactively adds value to customers
With data centralised on Salesforce, Cinionic can have better conversations with customers. For example, if a customer has recently raised a ticket to fix an issue with a product, the sales team can reach out to find out if the issue is resolved before targeting them to cross- or upsell. They’ve also recently started an initiative to contact customers who give a low NPS score to find out how they can improve the customer experience.
The service team has also become more proactive. Although case volumes are low due to many screens being temporarily closed, the team added a tick box for customers to notify the team if their ticket is related to the pandemic. Staff can then quickly identify cinemas in regions where restrictions are due to be lifted and ensure there are enough spare parts in the area to get equipment up and running again in the event of an outage.
“With the long-term closure of cinemas during COVID-19, Service Cloud gives us invaluable insights to help us be more predictive about customer needs,” said Jürgen.
Thinking outside-in.
Cinionic has also launched a community on Experience Cloud to share knowledge articles and videos aimed at helping companies recover from lockdown restrictions and kick start business. Customers can self-serve for simple tasks such as tracking packages or changing delivery details without having to call the support desk. The community has a clean, user-friendly design and large buttons to help even the least-techy customers navigate with ease.
“A customer-centric approach is more important now than ever,” explained Jürgen. “Companies that don’t offer value to customers won’t survive the pandemic. We have a saying that for every sentence you should mention the customer three times, it’s the only way the cinema world will survive.”
With Salesforce, Cinionic is blazing a trail for outside-in thinking, but it’s also transformed processes for staff. “Now that our staff have seen how much easier life is with Salesforce, we’ve almost got too many Salesforce champions!” Jelle revealed. “We’re implementing Sales Cloud and CPQ next to empower our staff with smarter processes and better reporting, and we can’t roll it out fast enough for our sales team. We’re excited to see where the next leg of our journey takes us.”
“We’re implementing Sales Cloud and CPQ next to empower our staff with smarter processes and better reporting, and we can’t roll it out fast enough for our sales team. We’re excited to see where the next leg of our journey takes us.”
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