With the "Dialogue Web Days", Kiefel has found an effective way to virtually interact with customers despite Covid-19 - now even from their own studio.
Many trade fairs and events have been canceled this year due to Covid-19. KIEFEL GmbH, a thermoforming and joining technology market leader, therefore established its own format for web events for customers in just a few weeks. This makes Kiefel one of the first in the competitive environment. The so-called “Dialogue Web Days” have been broadcast live since October from the company's own newly constructed studio in Freilassing. In total, Kiefel reached an audience of around 1,000. As a result, the company anticipates future potential savings compared to previous live events and trade fairs.
"Like many other companies, Corona and the associated restrictions have presented us with completely new challenges this year," said Thomas Halletz, CEO of KIEFEL GmbH. “We had to quickly find a professional, digital solution to maintain our customers' enthusiasm. Webinars seemed ideally suited for vivid presentation of our know-how as a patent solution provider. ” Therefore, the decision was made to expand and complement the previous "Kiefel Dialogue” event format with the virtual Dialogue Web Days. Kiefel has reached hundreds of interested customers and successfully initiated new projects with each of the four online events to date.
“The success of the first Dialogue Web Days from June onwards convinced us to firmly establish and expand this format in the future. A separate studio at the company headquarters was the most practicable solution for this project," explains Halletz. In August, the planning for the conversion of the company headquarters for this purpose therefore began immediately. Despite the tight schedule, the Web Days were broadcast live from the studio on time in October after less than three months of planning and construction.
The mechanical engineering company now uses the web events to present product innovations in an engaging manner, to provide insights into company events and specialist topics, or for live demonstrations. The chat function permits viewers to participate in small surveys or ask questions that are answered directly. "These opportunities for interaction with our customers are particularly important to us, as we place a great focus on collaborative partnerships in every project," emphasizes Cornelia Frank, Head of Marketing at Kiefel. "Mutual dialogue is crucial for this and is also actively sought."
The recordings and the presentation slides are sent to the participants and published on Kiefel's YouTube channel.
The company is already planning to expand the previous applications and will also use the studio for internal purposes in the future, e.g. for employee information events.