Consistent and global social service model

As a global electronics company, Philips handles an enormous diversity of customer questions, ranging from complex medical equipment for home use to shavers and air fryers. Philips also serves multiple markets and business units, while customers primarily see one Philips. Consumers expect a fast, knowledgeable and consistent response on every digital platform, including Facebook, X, Instagram and WhatsApp.

The challenge for Philips was therefore to organise this global flow of interactions centrally, without losing sight of local relevance and personal customer relationships.

RIFF designed and implemented a centralised, global social service hub that operates as the digital backbone for Philips:

• Central hub, local expertise: Setting up a centrally managed operation with dedicated teams of native speakers serving local markets. A dedicated Philips team also worked close to the headquarters, ensuring short communication lines with the organisation and a deep understanding of the brand and its customers.

• Advanced tooling management: Optimising and managing the social customer service platform (Sprinklr) to automate workflows and route tickets directly to the right specialist.

• Quality & knowledge management: Continuous agent training at product level and the development of a global knowledge base to ensure fast and accurate solutions.

The partnership between RIFF and Philips grew into a fully-fledged social service operation. RIFF supported Philips 24 hours a day across more than 80 countries per month. 80% of questions were answered within one hour, with more than 10,000 customer responses handled each month and continuous service, including during public holidays.

At the same time, customer interactions provided valuable insights that Philips used to continuously improve its social media operation and strategy. Over the course of several years, social media service evolved from an emerging service channel into a fully-fledged part of customer service.