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Customer project

Integrated Customer Communication and Process
Digitalisation with CRM, Marketing Automation
and Loyalty Programme

The platform connects CRM, Marketing Automation, website communication, loyalty, service processes and trade fair lead capture in a shared architecture. This creates a scalable foundation for cross-brand process and transactional communication across multiple digital touchpoints.

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Business Activity

The company is a globally active provider of system solutions for a specialised industrial application area with multiple brands. It develops and manufactures products, machinery and system solutions for various professional user groups and project stakeholders. In 2025 the group employed nearly 1,600 people and generated revenue of 505.1 million euros.

“With the integrated platform we have succeeded in bringing marketing, service communication and digital customer processes much closer together. It is particularly valuable for us that we can communicate consistently across brands, exchange data cleanly between systems and at the same time map concrete processes such as repair jobs, loyalty programmes and the follow-up of trade fair contacts considerably more efficiently.”

Marketing Specialist

The Project in Detail

Application

An integrated platform architecture was implemented for the company in which CRM, Marketing Automation, website and web form communication, loyalty programme, SSO and process-related customer communication work closely together. The goal was not only to optimise individual marketing measures, but to build a seamless communication and process landscape across multiple use cases.

The Marketing Automation solution is used for product information, newsletters and company news as well as for transactional and process-related communication. Connected to the CRM via the integration hub, it supports core processes such as master data synchronisation, permission management and bounce processing, as well as campaign processes including audience transfer, mailing documentation, web form registrations and multi-stage campaigns.

In addition, the platform covers further key use cases: an SSO solution acting as identity provider for multiple applications, the connection of a loyalty programme for tradespeople, digital communication within the repair process, and a trade fair app for digital lead capture with automated CRM documentation and dispatch of thank-you emails. The result is not a one-off point solution, but an integrated system for cross-brand customer communication and digital processes.

Starting point

The company faced the challenge of mapping several customer-facing processes consistently across systems. CRM, Marketing Automation, website communication and further applications were not to be operated in isolation, but to function as a coherent platform. This involved both classic marketing communication and operational processes in which customers need to be informed in an automated, brand-compliant and timely manner.

In the marketing environment there was a need to exchange master data, consents, bounces and campaign data cleanly between CRM and Marketing Automation. At the same time, audiences, form submissions and campaign responses needed to be documented and processed without system breaks. The diverse brand and language variations can be handled efficiently using multivariate email templates.

Additional requirements with high relevance for customer experience and process efficiency included: tradespeople should be able to move between multiple applications with a single login, for example within the loyalty programme. Repair notifications and status communication were to be digitalised and automated. Furthermore, trade fair contacts should be captured digitally on the spot, documented in the CRM and approached with appropriate follow-up emails without delay.

The challenge was therefore to create an architecture that brings together different touchpoints, processes and brands without requiring a separate system logic for each use case.

Solution

An integrated platform solution was built for the company in which CRM and Marketing Automation are connected via an integration hub. This integration covers both technical and data-related core requirements as well as campaign-related processes. These include in particular:

  • Master data synchronisation between CRM and Marketing Automation
  • Permission management and consistent consent logic
  • Processing and write-back of bounces and click behaviour
  • Audience transfer for campaigns
  • Documentation of mailings in the CRM
  • Ingestion of registrations via web forms
  • Support for multi-stage campaigns

At the centre of the interplay between CRM, Marketing Automation and loyalty programme is an SSO solution. It acts as identity provider and enables tradespeople to access multiple applications with a single login. One of these applications is the bonus points app for tradespeople. Invoices can be submitted there to collect points and redeem them against rewards such as tablets or merchandise. Authentication is handled via the SSO solution. The data record is then transferred to the Marketing Automation solution and subsequently into the CRM.

A further central use case is the digitalised repair process for machinery. Customers report repairs via a form in the Marketing Automation solution. The actual process handling takes place in the CRM, while all communication emails are sent automatically via the Marketing Automation solution. These include, for example, status notifications, dispatch confirmations and tracking information. The templates used for this are built dynamically and configured for nine brands, so that brand-specific communication can be reliably delivered.

The solution is complemented by a trade fair app for digital lead capture. Captured leads are automatically documented in the CRM and subsequently provided with thank-you emails. This integrates trade fair contacts into the central communication and process logic.

Benefits

With the platform solution the company was able to bring together marketing, service communication, login processes and lead capture in a shared architecture. Instead of isolated point solutions, a single system is now available that supports data flows, customer dialogues and operational processes across brands.

Particularly valuable is the combination of central data logic and decentrally usable use cases: the Marketing Automation solution serves not only for the dispatch of classic product and corporate communication, but above all as a central instrument for automated, transactional and process-related emails. In combination with CRM, SSO and loyalty, a consistent customer experience is created across multiple touchpoints.

The specific benefits for the company:

  • End-to-end integration of CRM and Marketing Automation for operational core and campaign processes
  • Consistent management of master data, permissions and bounces
  • Uniformly brand-aligned yet individually controllable customer communication across brands
  • Single login for multiple applications through central SSO logic
  • Better user guidance for tradespeople within the loyalty environment
  • Digitalised and automated communication in the repair process
  • Faster and cleaner follow-up of trade fair leads
  • Automatic CRM documentation and follow-up communication without system breaks
Business Impact

The integrated platform architecture delivers both operational and strategic improvements for the company:

0-0%Less manual effort in data synchronisation, documentation and handoffs between CRM and Marketing Automation
0-0%Fewer manual process steps in registration-, form- and campaign-related workflows
0-0%Faster response and dispatch processes for transactional emails, for example in the repair process or after trade fair contacts
Further benefits
Significantly higher data quality through centralised handling of master data, permissions and bounces
Less friction for customers through single sign-on across multiple applications
Faster lead follow-up through automated CRM documentation and immediate thank-you communication after trade fair contacts
Better scalability through reusable brand-specific templates and central process logic
Greater transparency over communication and process flows in CRM and Marketing Automation

The economic effect arises not from a single mailing use case, but from the sum of many standardised workflows: fewer system breaks, fewer manual handoffs, more consistent data, faster communication and better reusability across multiple brands and applications. Depending on the volume of service processes, loyalty usage, trade fair activity and communication load, this translates into a noticeable operational relief alongside higher process quality.

Strategic Value

With this solution the company has not only integrated CRM and Marketing Automation, but created a platform that brings together different customer and service processes in a shared logic. This is strategically far more valuable than a pure campaign integration, because it makes marketing, service, website communication, login infrastructure and loyalty interlock with one another.

The particular strategic value lies in the role of the Marketing Automation solution as the central communication tool within this architecture. It is used not only for newsletters and product information, but above all for cross-brand, automated process and transactional communication. Combined with SSO, loyalty programme, repair process and trade fair app, this creates a scalable foundation for digital customer experiences, central data governance and more efficient workflows across multiple touchpoints.

Business Impact

The integrated platform architecture delivers both operational and strategic improvements for the company:

0-0%Less manual effort in data synchronisation, documentation and handoffs between CRM and Marketing Automation
0-0%Fewer manual process steps in registration-, form- and campaign-related workflows
0-0%Faster response and dispatch processes for transactional emails, for example in the repair process or after trade fair contacts
Further benefits
Significantly higher data quality through centralised handling of master data, permissions and bounces
Less friction for customers through single sign-on across multiple applications
Faster lead follow-up through automated CRM documentation and immediate thank-you communication after trade fair contacts
Better scalability through reusable brand-specific templates and central process logic
Greater transparency over communication and process flows in CRM and Marketing Automation

The economic effect arises not from a single mailing use case, but from the sum of many standardised workflows: fewer system breaks, fewer manual handoffs, more consistent data, faster communication and better reusability across multiple brands and applications. Depending on the volume of service processes, loyalty usage, trade fair activity and communication load, this translates into a noticeable operational relief alongside higher process quality.

Strategic Value

With this solution the company has not only integrated CRM and Marketing Automation, but created a platform that brings together different customer and service processes in a shared logic. This is strategically far more valuable than a pure campaign integration, because it makes marketing, service, website communication, login infrastructure and loyalty interlock with one another.

The particular strategic value lies in the role of the Marketing Automation solution as the central communication tool within this architecture. It is used not only for newsletters and product information, but above all for cross-brand, automated process and transactional communication. Combined with SSO, loyalty programme, repair process and trade fair app, this creates a scalable foundation for digital customer experiences, central data governance and more efficient workflows across multiple touchpoints.