Leatherman gets closer to its customers with Dynamics 365 Customer Insights

To better predict customer buying behaviors and deliver best-in-class experiences, US-based Leatherman has focused on fostering personalized customer journeys through multiple touchpoints and purchasing channels. The iconic tool maker is now using Dynamics 365 Customer Insights to get a 360-degree view of its customers and generate intuitive, seamless customer experiences, all while using automation and AI to get the most out of its data. The company is seeing rapid growth in online sales and brand loyalty, creating excitement for the future of direct customer engagement.

“Having lots of data doesn’t provide value unless you’re able to stitch it all together, so it’s important that we have Dynamics 365 Customer Insights to unify all of our data and help us do something valuable with it.”

Kevin Gleason, Global Brand and Marketing Director, Leatherman Tool Group

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Unlocking data insights and customer segmentation

Since its inception in 1983, the Leatherman brand has been synonymous with high-quality products and high-impact outcomes. Construction workers, project managers, independent contractors, and everyday consumers alike all rely on Leatherman’s top-of-the-line tools to get their jobs done. It’s these sorts of success stories that drive the Leatherman Tool Group to continue crafting engaging experiences and align its products to diverse consumer segments and journeys.

Leatherman runs an e-commerce website, but most consumers have historically purchased Leatherman tools through other brick-and-mortar and online retailers. Leatherman wanted to take the next step and expand its direct-to-consumer business domestically and internationally. At the core of this transformation is the company’s desire to not only better understand and get closer to its customers, but to obtain a holistic view of their wants, needs, and most importantly, buying behaviors.

“The modern digital customer really expects a best-in-class journey throughout each touchpoint with our brand, and we wanted technology that can help us deliver on that,” says Kevin Gleason, Global Brand and Marketing Director at Leatherman Tool Group. “We know that if we do it right, the value of that connected experience for the consumer is a lifetime of loyalty to the brand.”

Leatherman already collected demographic, behavioral, and transactional data on its customers, but it sought a technology platform that could unify this wealth of data and lead to better insights and actionable, value-add activities. Having data managed and centrally housed would also help the company stay in compliance with privacy and security regulations such as the California Consumer Privacy Act in the United States and the General Data Protection Regulation in Europe. Additionally, it would help the company manage customer information, consent authorizations, and communication preference change requests.

Personalized customer journeys with Microsoft Dynamics 365

To get closer to its customers, improve workflows, and grow its online store, Leatherman worked with its partner Avtex to build a comprehensive customer data and engagement platform using Dynamics 365 Customer Insights. The centralized system uses customer data along with automation and AI to create seamless experiences and personalized end-to-end customer journeys.

Leatherman can now seamlessly link all its touchpoints together for targeted customer engagement and cross-channel experiences. It can send emails welcoming customers to the brand, follow up after purchases, check in when customers haven’t made a new purchase, go beyond email marketing via text message outreach, and more.

“Having lots of data doesn’t provide value unless you’re able to stitch it all together, so it’s important that we have Customer Insights to unify all of our data and help us do something valuable with it,” says Gleason.

Leatherman uses its website together with Customer Insights to collect data, both declared and inferred, about customer buying behavior. Marketing and sales teams then use the data to trigger personalized actions and build customer profiles and personas, at a scale they could not do without access to data-driven tooling and automation in Dynamics 365.

“With Dynamics 365, we build rich profiles and create customized journeys and products for each unique customer journey,” says Gleason. “That helps us deliver an extremely personalized experience and the right tool for an electrician, and then the next moment deliver the right tool and the right experience for an outdoor enthusiast. It gives us the breadth to serve our customers in the ways they want.”

With every customer at every step

Leatherman is always eager to see customers use its products in ways big and small to save the day, so the company regularly tries to fine-tune its marketing efforts for maximum effect. It uses Dynamics 365 Customer Insights to break down silos and make the most of data insights. The predictive customer lifetime value tool in Dynamics 365 Customer Insights allows for AI-based customer segmentation, which Leatherman combines with the new customer journey orchestration feature in Dynamics 365 Marketing to react to segmented customer-led engagement online in real time and bring added personalization to the buying experience.

In the short term, Leatherman expects to enhance its existing email marketing programs, reach more customers, and generate significant new e-commerce revenue. In the broader sense, the company is excited about going beyond its existing capabilities and stepping into the world of brand advocacy.

“By using Dynamics 365 to gather insights in a cohesive manner, we can link customer lifetime value with social media engagement and start to really create a full picture of our most loyal and enthusiastic customers,” says Gleason. “Thanks to the customer value tools in Dynamics 365, insights about our most loyal customers can help us empower them to be ambassadors for our brand and amplify our message.”

With its customers at the heart of everything it does, Leatherman made sure to also prioritize data security and compliance when selecting a solution provider. “We trust Microsoft with our customers’ most sensitive data because we know that it has world-class systems in place to help keep that data secure,” says Gleason.

More insight, enhanced brand through customer data

Leatherman recognizes that to craft and deliver engaging experiences, businesses must meet customers where they are, speak their languages, and tailor products and services to align with their journeys. Since its Dynamics 365 implementation, Leatherman has done just that, generating 1 million Customer Insights profiles and 350,000 marketing contacts.

Through every interaction, Leatherman is gaining better customer insights and data about customer journeys linked to its direct-to-consumer offerings. This can also be applied to improving partner retailer strategies, in addition to leaving customers feeling personally catered to and entirely satisfied.

Moving forward, the Leatherman team is confident it will be able to reach global consumers at scale and deliver the right message to the right consumer at the right time. Adds Gleason, “With Dynamics 365, we expect to grow our business by using consumer data to deliver not only a more impactful experience to our existing customers, but also similar consumers who are new to the brand.”

In the long term, Leatherman intends to implement other Microsoft products and services, such as Omnichannel for Customer Service, to extend and enhance its unified customer data platform. “We’re really looking forward to using Microsoft tools to continue dialing in and making the best investments we can to reach our target audiences,” says Gleason.

Find out more about Leatherman on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

“Thanks to the customer value tools in Dynamics 365, insights about our most loyal customers can help us empower them to be ambassadors for our brand and amplify our message. ”

Kevin Gleason, Global Brand and Marketing Director, Leatherman Tool Group

Beginning September 1, 2023, Dynamics 365 Marketing and Dynamics 365 Customer Insights will merge into a single offering under Dynamics 365 Customer Insights. Learn more about the evolution of Dynamics 365 Customer Insights.