SKANEATELES FALLS — Welch Allyn’s customers spoke and the medical diagnostic-device manufacturer listened. The result is a newly launched website for U.S. customers that includes improved features, making it easier for clients to interact with Welch Allyn by computer, tablet, or smartphone. “We recognize that customers like our product, but we have to recognize that’s […]
SKANEATELES FALLS — Welch Allyn’s customers spoke and the medical diagnostic-device manufacturer listened. The result is a newly launched website for U.S. customers that includes improved features, making it easier for clients to interact with Welch Allyn by computer, tablet, or smartphone.
“We recognize that customers like our product, but we have to recognize that’s not enough anymore,” says Julie Sheedy, director of customer experience and communications at Welch Allyn. That’s why the new site includes features such as new search capabilities, numerous self-service transactions like checking order status, webinars, and white papers.
A company survey showed that 70 percent of visitors to the device maker’s website come there for support or help, whether it’s to identify a needed part or check on the status of an order, Sheedy says. The new site (www.welchallyn.com) makes all of those processes easier, and Welch Allyn took it a step further with the introduction of an online parts store that bypasses the company’s normal distribution channels.
Customers had identified the capability to get parts quickly as an area that needed improvement, Sheedy says. Through the normal distribution channel, a customer would contact its distributor who would order the part and then deliver it to the customer once it was received from Welch Allyn. The whole process took anywhere from one to two weeks, she notes. That caused problems for some customers, particularly those who only had one of a particular piece of equipment and couldn’t afford to wait two weeks for a replacement part.
Welch Allyn worked with VML of Kansas City on the website redesign, including the parts store. To create the store, the company looked at what parts customers order most often and made those available for order online. That includes products such as component parts, probes, plastics, cables, lamps, and power sources.
A total of 700 parts are available through the online store to health-care customers, biomedical professionals, distributors, and medical students. Orders must be placed with a credit card.
Other features of the site include tools for easy access to information or to find a distributor, online warranty registration, how-to videos, a frequently-asked questions section, a new insight and research section, and other tools to connect website users with the content they need.
The goal, Sheedy says, isn’t so much about generating new sales. It’s more about building customer loyalty by making it easier for clients to interact with Welch Allyn and get what they need. With that in mind, the company is tracking online-order trends to measure customer loyalty. “We hope that percentage will increase,” she says.
The site soft-launched in October and the company received more than 100 orders in that three- to four-week period, Sheedy says. That shows there was a true demand for the service, if people are finding it without Welch Allyn even promoting it, Sheedy notes.
Going forward, Sheedy says the manufacturer will add more products to the online store as demand dictates, will make a significant investment in adding video content to the site in 2015, and may even consider expanding the online store to international customers at some point.
Welch Allyn currently generates 35 percent of its sales from international customers, and that makes expanding the online store an area of interest, Sheedy says.
Headquartered in Skaneateles Falls, Welch Allyn’s products including EMR-interfaced vital signs and cardiac monitoring diagnostic products, physical diagnosis instruments, and infection-control products. Founded in 1915, the manufacturer employs nearly 2,600 people in 26 countries.
Contact The Business Journal News Network at news@cnybj.com