Microsoft Panacea | Indigo Slate, A Zensar company

Office app icons floating against a blue background

work
Microsoft Panacea

Microsoft

Closing the gap

We helped Microsoft third-party retail companies increase activation rates and renewals of Microsoft 365.

Overview

With the global shift to more digital-first experiences, the gap between in-person and online shopping has widened, and Microsoft third-party retail companies have experienced lower awareness and attach rates around Microsoft 365. Given the scope and breadth of the challenge across global retailers, formulating an intelligent—and scalable—approach to understanding problem areas in the Microsoft 365 shopper journey was a huge undertaking, and Microsoft needed a strong strategic partner. Indigo Slate helped Microsoft third-party retail companies across the world close the experience gap between purchasing Microsoft 365 in person and online by delivering simple, out-of-the-box strategies and opportunities to increase activation rates and renewals.

Client name

Microsoft

Discipline

brand

Approach

To understand what was happening, our team of strategists audited shopper journeys across key third-party retailers around the globe. From there, we identified gaps in the journey that could muddle understanding of Microsoft 365’s value and benefits and the new subscription purchase process. Our team of creative strategists and designers then produced a bucket of ideas around creative tactics that would help fill the gaps in the journey. We workshopped these ideas with core Microsoft stakeholders as well as the retailer teams themselves to optimize the toolkit development and customize it to each retailer.

Solution

Through our strategic analysis, we uncovered several areas of the shopper journey that were decreasing online conversion rates compared to in-store sales. Most significantly, customers lacked education around Microsoft 365’s purpose and why they need it to complete their device purchases. To fill in this major knowledge gap, we developed a mix of key messages developed through message testing along with visuals to help the customer understand the value of Microsoft 365.

A red flowchart with screenshots about the shopper journey

Results

This is an ongoing large-scale effort, and we’re currently working on rolling out initial learnings and toolkit assets to scaled retailers worldwide. We’re also creating additional assets pre- and post- purchase journey. While we work on future phases, however, we have already received data from retailers involved in the earlier stages—and they have seen as much as an 18 percent increase in online conversion rates.