Sharp Enhances Experience for Cable Company’s Customers

A leading cable company was challenged to improve the customer experience at their most popular, and crowded, service centers and drive awareness of new products. While it was inevitable that customers would have to wait to be served, the company aimed to make their time spent waiting a more memorable and beneficial experience by providing customers with a giant, interactive digital touch display from Sharp.

Business Environment Challenges
As one of the largest cable companies in the U.S., a high volume of customer service questions is the norm. Its flagship store, located in a major metropolitan area, has a constant influx of customers filtering through to pick up equipment, pay cable bills, or file a complaint. With more than a million visitors a month, the cable company realized that its take-a-ticket and wait-to-be-seen approach was presenting a negative brand experience for these customers at its most popular location. On top of that, with millions of customers coming to the store for various reasons, the company needed a way to connect with these guests while they waited in the store, as well as a way to highlight the company’s latest innovations and newest features. Specifically, the company needed to emphasize its full range of mobile technology and free-to-download customer apps.

Business Technology Solutions
In 2013, the company partnered with a digital signage company and a retail design group to create an entirely new retail experience for its end users. These stores were designed to showcase what customers can accomplish with the cable company products and present a different impression during the customers’ time in the store. The company focused on improving the wait “experience” by creating interactive ways to engage with the customers through product demos, digital signage, etc. The partnership was intended to showcase the company’s customer service approach, as well as highlight its diverse offering of mobile apps in an exciting and innovative display.

The project kicked off with a series of experiential displays at 20 stores throughout the country. The company noticed a traceable increase in sales at those locations. As a culmination of lessons learned from these stores, the digital signage company saved its best – and biggest – exhibit for the flagship center.

For the flagship store, a local digital signage company transformed a 90-inch class (90-1/16” diagonal) digital display from Sharp (PN-R903) into a massive, high-definition smart-phone exhibit and interactive centerpiece for the store. In an ideal setting, everyone who entered the store would leave having downloaded the cable company’s apps. While certainly a lofty goal, the digital signage company aspired to create awareness for the apps through the user experience and influence customers who might be interested in downloading the content. The 90-inch Class screen was designed to look like a larger-than-life mobile tablet that is more than just a stunning visual but also a fully interactive display. With a set of app icons, updated news and weather alerts, and a live, active Twitter® feed, the display has all the characteristics of a supersized mobile device.

Creating this oversized mobile station was the natural solution for promoting the applications and creating a “wow” factor that would strengthen the customer’s in-store experience. The brilliant high-definition LED display from Sharp is designed to captivate an audience in any commercial setting or digital signage application. The display’s efficient lighting and vivid brightness was a major factor when designing the showcase. And although its large size was a challenge, the crew overcame any issues with the size by building a customized infrastructure and frame that enclosed the screen and created the appearance of a functioning tablet. The digital signage company needed a display that could be seen across the store, but also had the advanced technology that would allow them to control and “talk” to the screen as part of its interactive design.

Innovative Results
Since its installation, the company has been thrilled with the results and the attention the showcase has garnered. Customers are blown away by the size, clarity, and innovative features of the display. It’s a can’t-miss centerpiece attraction of a store that receives an enormous amount of traffic each month. As a result, the cable company has plans to expand the program and install similar, smaller mobile stations in its stores nationwide.