A website for consumers and a website for healthcare professionals. Sunstar's communication strategy to be promoted on both wheels.
Fan marketing, D2C, and other terms vary, but more and more companies are now trying to connect directly with their customers. In this series of interviews with partner companies that practice partner relationship management (PRM), including communities, we will clarify "why direct connection is necessary" and "what companies need to change accordingly. The interviewer is Tatsuo Ishii, Executive Advisor of Kao Corporation, who has long been involved in brand marketing at Kao Corporation.
This visit was to Sunstar, a manufacturer of daily necessities, mainly toothpaste and other dental hygiene products. What is unique about the company's PRM strategy is that in addition to "Club Sunstar, " a community for general customers opened in 2016, it also has a website for dental hygienists and other medical professionals, "Club Sunstar Pro.
How do these two communities, which differ in terms of the knowledge of their users and the information they seek, work together? What kind of value does this create? We interviewed Mr. Kohei Hamabe, group leader of the Digital Strategy Group, and Mr. Kosuke Toabe, who is mainly responsible for the operation of "Club Sunstar Pro.
Trial and Error to "Know Your Customers
--In recent years, there has been a lot of talk about the importance of building good relationships with customers through the concepts of fan marketing and community marketing. Can you start with the background of your company's launch of "Club Sunstar" and how you define what it means to continuously work on it?
【Hamabe】 We have two main objectives in working with the community.
One is to get the general public to like our products. We are trying to see how we can work with them and what value we can provide to them. Specifically, we are disseminating information to get people to know, like, and use our products. We then measure what kind of change we see in loyalty with two indicators: purchase volume and NPS surveys.
Another goal is to help us understand our members. What concerns do our customers usually have about their mouths? What are their concerns about their mouth, and from what perspective do they like our products? We are working to understand these things and develop them into a variety of businesses.
Kohei Hamabe, Group Manager, Digital Strategy Group, Advertising & Communications Department, Marketing Management Division, Sunstar Group
--Since customers buy products for a wide variety of reasons, it is not possible to say that a customer is a "loyal user" immediately because he/she continues to purchase. Loyalty cannot be measured by a single piece of data. It is necessary to look at it from a composite perspective. At the same time, even if a company thinks that it has created a fan club to keep its customers in the fold, it is often the case that the customers do not think so. Therefore, it is important to get the customers themselves to actively think, "I want to become friends with this company. This is what it means to be a loyal user. However, in order to do so, it is necessary to have the appropriate mechanisms in place within the community.
【Hamabe】 This is precisely the point where we felt difficulty and repeated trial and error. At Club Sunstar, we started out by writing a column and providing information from here, but we felt that this alone was one-way communication.
Last year, we decided to rethink what kind of content would be valuable to our customers, and created "Ask the Expert: Q&A on Oral Concerns" to answer questions about oral concerns! Q&A on Mouth Concerns" was newly established. Our dental hygienists answer questions about oral symptoms, self-care methods, item selection, and other concerns.
Ask the expert" for advice on even the smallest problems of the mouth! Q&A for mouth problems"
--Do you think that you have succeeded in creating an opportunity for customers to "want to visit this site" and like Sunstar?
【Hamabe】 Because we have just started, only a few people know that "Ask the Expert! Q&A on Mouth Concerns" is still in its infancy, and only a small percentage of our members are aware of its existence. In a survey of our members, only about one in five said they knew about it.
However, it is also the top-ranked content that we would like to see in the future, and we believe that there is still room to expand its value.
Professionals who are eager to learn will eventually become "evangelists.
--In addition to "Club Sunstar" for the general public, you also have a website for dental hygienists and other medical professionals, "Club Sunstar Pro". What is the background behind the launch of this site?
【Tobe】 Our company originally had a number of websites for medical professionals, including "Sunstar Dental Information," which was aimed at dental hygienists. We felt that it was placing an excessive burden on them to find the information they needed, so we came up with the idea of combining these sites into a single one-stop site.
We also felt the need to update the contents and products by listening to our customers' opinions. We therefore launched "Club Sunstar Pro" as a members-only site that enables interactive communication.
Sunstar is committed to contributing not only to the oral health of its customers but also to the overall health of the entire body, using oral care as a gateway. For this reason, we have made the site open not only to dental professionals but also to other healthcare professionals. In fact, people from various professions such as doctors, nurses, and speech-language pathologists have registered, and we provide information tailored to their needs.
The main content includes a column by our in-house dental hygienist and an online sample product application. Thanks to this site, we are able to provide an opportunity for local medical professionals who do not have access to our sales staff to understand the treatment plan we advocate and to learn about and obtain samples of our products.
We also launched the "BIR Meister Certification Course" as a further development of the site.
Kosuke Toebe, Digital Strategy Group, Advertising & Communications Department, Marketing Management Division, Sunstar Group
What is --BIR Meister?
【Tobe】 For our part, we want as many medical professionals as possible to understand the Sunstar way of thinking through our website. In order to do so, we decided that it would be a good idea to step up the process, rather than simply ending with membership registration. First, we want people to register as members, and then we want them to use samples. After that, we positioned BIR Meister as the highest step.
The program is designed to certify those who have learned the concept of "BIR" (B: Brushing, I: Interdental Cleaning, R: Rinsing), the three steps of preventive dentistry advocated by Sunstar, through e-learning and who have passed the test. The program started in 2022.
BIR meister certification course" to acquire knowledge for oral health using Sunstar products.
The reality is that no matter how much Sunstar alone says "BIR," it is difficult to reach patients. In order for this concept to be widely known, we need the help of dental professionals who are in direct contact with patients. Therefore, we would like to ask dental professionals who agree with and understand the treatment policy we advocate to serve as the hub of the field and spread the BIR concept. This is the purpose of this certification system. As the concept spreads, it is thought that related products will naturally spread as well.
Eventually, we have a plan to certify "BIR Ambassadors," who will be able to communicate the BIR concept outside the hospital. We are looking for people who agree with our ideas and would be willing to become "evangelists" whenever we have the opportunity to meet with them at seminars and sales events. In this way, we believe it is important to involve third parties.
----I felt that this is exactly what you are envisioning in our concept of prom. What I find particularly interesting is that your target audience is not limited to dental professionals. Can you elaborate on what you mean by that? I guess you are saying that you want to increase the number of people who can support overall health and well-being in the world by providing knowledge about oral care to healthcare professionals who are not limited to dentists and that you will provide them with the knowledge to do so.
【Tobe】 You are right. For example, "Club Sunstar Pro" also provides contents related to diabetes. In the world of diabetes treatment, there is a close relationship between diabetes and oral care, as the term "medical-dental collaboration" is commonly used. Therefore, we want doctors who specialize in diabetes to know about oral care, and dentists to know about diabetes. Therefore, we provide medical information that is not limited to oral care.
We are also in the process of preparing to conduct a survey to find out what kind of interest our members have in diabetes and to provide content tailored to that interest.
Content explains the significance of periodontal treatment for people with diabetes
--The world of medicine is inevitably stove-piped, so there are not many places for physicians to gather knowledge outside of their specialty, and not many people are willing to do so at present. Your company's attempt to push them to learn in this way is very significant. I felt that your company's attempt to push them in this way is very meaningful.
Thankfully, the people who gather at "Club Sunstar Pro" are all very eager to learn . When we take a survey, there are many people who say, "This is the kind of information I wanted," and the seminar participation rate is high. It has been two and a half years since we started sending out our e-mail newsletter, and the open rate is over 40%, with a click-through rate of over 10%. We will continue to reflect this feedback in our content and return it as even more useful information.
--Since these people come to the site to view and learn from the content, it is important to expand and enrich the content. In doing so, as you mentioned, it is important to obtain information from customer feedback on what they want, and to create new content from that information. Not limited to surveys, it may be necessary, for example, to infer needs from behavioral data on the site and reflect them in the content to further increase satisfaction.
We have already done something similar by sending an e-mail to members who have viewed a particular product page with an application for a product sample that may be of interest to them: URL. From there, we have had cases where the member actually applied for a sample, and the product was adopted. There have been cases in which the customer actually applied for a sample and the product was adopted. In this way, we would like to continue to listen to our customers in a variety of ways, and to continue to make efforts to give them a push.
SUNSTAR'S "BUTLER" BRAND FOR DENTAL CLINICS CELEBRATES 100TH ANNIVERSARY
Information crossings give birth to the possibility of providing new value.
--What are your thoughts on the linkage between "Club Sunstar" and "Club Sunstar Pro"?
【Tobe】 At this point, we have not done so yet, but we would like to do so in the future. For example, we would like to develop content within "Club Sunstar" that allows users to consult with dental professionals registered with "Club Sunstar Pro". We are now at the stage of spreading support and understanding of our treatment policy through BIR Meister and other means.
--For example, if you can get a dental hygienist who is a member of "Club Sunstar Pro" to answer the questions in the "Ask an Expert! Q&A" of "Club Sunstar," for example, a dental hygienist who is a member of "Club Sunstar Pro" and is certified as a BIR Meister can answer questions on behalf of an employee dental hygienist, and the two sites would work well together. That would be the most beautiful form of support for customers, with the customers themselves taking Sunstar on their shoulders. I think this would be even more powerful than simply having a company entertain customers and lead to continued purchases. The experience of "someone in the field came all the way here and answered my questions" should motivate customers more than ever to tell their friends, and thus increase the number of members.
Talks about effective site collaboration, eLife Executive Advisor Tatsuo Ishii
【Hamabe】 We have many ideas. For example, we have an idea to promote regular checkups by introducing "Club Sunstar" members to dental clinics with BIR Meisters.
For example, we have an idea to promote regular checkups by introducing "Club Sunstar" members to dental clinics that have BIR Meisters! Q&A about oral problems," the most common concern is about self-care methods. Even "Club Sunstar" members, who have a high level of interest in and awareness of oral care, are troubled by the fact that they do not know how to perform self-care. On the other hand, hygienists are also troubled by the lack of skills and communication techniques to teach self-care methods. This is what "Club Sunstar Pro" found in their survey.
We believe that if we can successfully connect the two, it will help solve social issues and provide new value to our customers.
--Crossing the information from the two sites makes the content on both richer. Even if they are different sites with different intended offerings, the collaboration will create new insights and opportunities.
【Hamabe】 As we learned from the "Club Sunstar" survey, one of the few "happy moments" in self-care is when the hygienist says, "You are brushing properly" during a regular checkup. On the other hand, he says that being told that his teeth are not brushed properly, even though he has been working hard on self-care, is the source of his distress. Therefore, as long as they receive compliments, their "worries" will turn into "joy. We would like to work on how we can increase such moments.
For the sixth installment of "Visiting PRM practice companies," We visited the Sunstar group. In recent years, the influence of word-of-mouth communication from customers has been increasing as a reason for purchasing products in the consumer goods category, and an increasing number of companies are working to make customers fans of their products.On the other hand, there are those who interpret "becoming a fan" as "getting people to like you" and focus on hospitality in communities, etc. However, I feel that it is wrong to use the vague concept of "liking" as a KPI and focus only on providing content that will delight customers unnecessarily.
The key is to measure whether your product or brand offers unique value and experience to customers that encourages continued use and to understand whether this experience provides a clear reason for recommendation and inspires customers to take specific action. That is the kind of indicator that should be set as a KPI.
In this way, it is important for a company to have a relationship with its customers not only by providing information and experiences, but also by providing value that makes customers want to actively connect with the company. In other words, we believe that the mutual dialogue between a company and its customers, as well as the unique experiences that are created through the products and services provided by the company, are what builds trust.
For the healthcare professionals who have become Sunstar's partners by participating in Club Sunstar Pro, not only do they learn skills, but they also benefit from the comments of experts from the field, which leads to value and forms further relationships of trust.
As Mr. Hamabe mentioned at the end, the experience of being praised by a dentist as a result of informing the customer of the ideal way to brush and having the customer carry it out will satisfy the customer's need for approval. And furthermore, it will lead to attachment to and trust in the company that provided such information, and foster favorable word-of-mouth.
In other words, I think the most important thing is to keep thinking about how to make people "like" our products in light of our corporate vision and mission, and continue to provide useful services to our customers and medical professionals. (Interviewer: Tatsuo Ishii)
 Tatsuo Ishii, Executive Advisor, eLife Inc.He served as manager of a number of brands for 14 years at Kao Corporation, where he also launched Agience as a new business. In 2003, he established the Digital Marketing Center, where he was involved in the planning and operation of web-based strategies and established the Digital Marketing Center as the head of the center. In 2017, he was appointed as Executive Advisor for eLife Inc.. Marketing Meister, Japan Marketing Association; Member, Digital Media Committee, Japan Advertisers Association; Chairman, Brand Experience Jury, Dentsu Advertising Awards; Part-time lecturer, Graduate School of Business Administration, Waseda University; Executive Fellow, Adobe; Auditor, C Channel Inc. He is a leading expert in the field of marketing. |
(Composition: Atsuo Suzuki)
