Schneider Electric, a global specialist in energy management with 24€ billion in revenues in 2012, has partnered with Merkle, the leading technology enabled, data driven customer relationship (CRM) firm, to launch a new Marketing Preference Center. This Preference Center will provide personalized access to an essential array of technical information by country, industry, and domain of expertise, critical to the success of Schneider Electric customers and partners who support the energy needs of people in more than 120 countries.

The Preference Center enables Schneider Electric to keep its customers fully informed on updates on Schneider Electric news, building management, IT management, power management, process & machines management and security management. Customers are able to select the type of information they prefer to see and can choose how they want to be contacted by the company.  The Center also enables Schneider Electric to better connect and track the effectiveness of the sales and marketing teams’ ability to support customers and prospects, and drive sales through relevant content marketing.

Among key features, the Preference Center enables customers to:

• Control what information they receive by opting in or out of content interests
• Personalize information and online experience, premised on the customer’s unique profile, encompassing country, type and size of their business, and prior relationship with Schneider Electric
• Select the channel through which they want to receive the information including email, phone, SMS, postal mail, fax
• Provide enhanced security, expanded profile data, campaign support  and login abilities via multiple platforms

“The Preference Center is a game changer for the energy management industry, because it helps our customers ensure our products, solutions and services are being optimally deployed and maintained for millions of people. Thanks to the new Center, we can deliver more relevant and timely content to customers through any marketing channel,” said Evan Kent, Global VP, Customer Retention, Schneider Electric.

The Marketing Preference Center replaces a subscription-based online service that supported 15 million customers and prospects with information and query requests.  The Preference Center improves Schneider Electric’s ability to:

• Process and respond to queries and initial requests from nearly any market in the world  while maintaining local compliance requirements
• Enable sales and marketing teams to provide targeted and relevant content
• Track the relationship between a customer’s subsidiary and division
• Provide a return destination for customers to gather information while engaging with the global brand

“Schneider Electric created a differentiating business-to-business customer experience, while achieving cost savings and internal process improvements,” said Mark Engelke, Vice President, Client Leadership, Merkle. “The Marketing Preference Center enables Schneider Electric’s sales and marketing teams to work more closely together, track the effectiveness of their content and response to prospects, and improve their ability to drive sales.”