CASE STUDY
Schneider Electric
Driving demand for a global energy management company
Challenge
Schneider Electric is a global leader in energy management and industrial automation, serving customers across more than 100 countries. Like many B2B companies, Schneider had a clear view of its direct customers, but a more limited view of the end-users whose decisions and experiences ultimately drive demand for its products and solutions.
To accelerate growth in an increasingly competitive B2B landscape, Schneider needed to deepen its understanding of their end-users: who they are, the jobs they’re trying to do, key points of friction, and the best way to engage and serve them across touchpoints.
Solutions
Prophet structured the engagement around three foundational questions: Who are Schneider’s end users, what are they actually trying to accomplish, and where can Schneider serve them better than competitors can? Answering those questions in depth became the basis for the work that followed.
A key segment of untapped end users was surfaced: small and medium-sized electrical contractors, representing tens of thousands of potential customers, roughly half of whom were not currently buying from Schneider.
Schneider partnered with Prophet to design a growth strategy focused on a sharpened understanding of the end user’s overall experience.
The basis of the strategy was formed by understanding the journey of how Schneider’s B2B end users operate. Prophet learned that the end user journey didn’t follow a single linear path. Their experiences fell into two related but distinct layers: a project journey, where end users are managing the work of specifying, sourcing, and delivering work, and a business management journey, where they’re running broader operations, building relationships, and pursuing long-term growth.
Prophet mapped both of these journeys in detail to surface the full picture of end-user pain points, unmet needs, and key decisions to be made. Through this process, Prophet recognized gaps and opportunities in either journey that could help shape Schneider’s competitive position.
Prophet developed an end-user value proposition based on the most critical moments uncovered through research. The value proposition served as the North Star for an integrated omni-channel engagement strategy. The strategy prioritized each moment into a set of quick wins: tools, activations, and enablers that help Schneider better target how to acquire new contractors, retain its loyal base, and develop occasional customers into repeat buyers.
The strategy was activated through a dedicated contractor experience platform comprising four signature tools: a quote-creation tool to accelerate bid generation, an order tracker for real-time shipping visibility, a product finder for last-minute sourcing, and an on-demand expert network for technical advice and support. The platform launched first as a regional pilot to validate adoption, usage, and revenue impact before national rollout.
Results
Despite challenging market conditions and a slowdown in new economies, the execution of this strategy saw revenues increase by 6.6%. Customized online portals enabled Schneider to increase the share of wallets among contractors by helping them make smarter project execution decisions. The organization also drove greater demand with end-users through tools such as Building Insights—a building energy management platform.