Western Union is the world leader in global payment services. Guided by five core values – integrity, partnership, opportunity, passion, teamwork – customer centricity is at its core. By offering services through 500,000 agent locations in 200 countries and territories, as well as online, Western Union boasts incredible trust and reach. Recognizing the immense opportunity to capitalize and leverage this breadth, Western Union executed a CMO-sponsored partnership with NM Incite. Through joint efforts, the research helped them identify white space areas of opportunity for social media engagement, discover key customer segments, and uncover new insights about customers across global markets to drive deeper, more meaningful engagement.

1. D EVELOPING A C USTOMER -C ENTRIC M ODEL
AT
SUCCESS STORY
Knowing that a long-term, effective social media strategy required
SUMMARY: Western Union is the world leader in global
a 360-degree view of their customer base, Western Union
payment services. Guided by five core values – integrity,
partnered with NM Incite to conduct an intricate, multi-country,
partnership, opportunity, passion, teamwork – customer
category-level analysis. This would set the stage for a successful
centricity is at its core. By offering services through 500,000
social media listening program and highlight areas of opportunity
agent locations in 200 countries and territories, as well as online,
for value-adding, differentiated social media engagement.
Western Union boasts incredible trust and reach. Recognizing
the immense opportunity to capitalize and leverage this breadth,
Western Union executed a CMO-sponsored partnership with NM APPROACH
Incite. Through joint efforts, the research helped them identify
NM Incite’s Advisory team instituted a deep, global diagnostic
white space areas of opportunity for social media engagement,
research initiative. They first employed NM Incite’s proprietary
discover key customer segments, and uncover new insights
online software solution, My BuzzMetrics (MBM), a highly scalable
about customers across global markets to drive deeper, more
social insights platform designed for Fortune 1000 marketers and
meaningful engagement.
their agencies to organize, segment and analyze clean, trusted,
industry-specific global data in real time. Data collected by MBM
was analyzed across the following dimensions:
CALL TO ACTION
• Who: Which customer segments are currently identified and
A large global institution, Western Union, wanted to find new, more are there opportunities to define new segments?
efficient ways to connect with their customers and grow their
• hen: What stage are consumers at in the Consumer
W
business. Being on the leading edge of customer analytics, they
Decision Journey (CDJ)?
recognized the opportunity social media offered to drive brand
health, and in turn, help solidify its global position, expedite growth • Where: Which social media platforms are focused on
relevant discussions?
of its digital business operations, engage with customers and
would-be-customers and provide outstanding service experience. • What: What topics are most prominent?
• hy: What are the most important customer needs, passions
W
To align with their focus on customer centricity, Western Union and pain points?
determined they needed to establish a long-term, strategic market
research plan that would allow them to understand what people S egmenting the B uzz – W ho and W hat
discuss about their entire category. Also, as a truly global franchise Social listening at the category level can be considered a free-
with a commitment to connecting friends and families all over the range, always-on focus group. For Western Union, it’s a focus
world, they demanded global social media research capabilities. group that allows them to gain insight on three primary product
“Rather than flood theguns ablaze,
categories: money transfer, stored value cards (prepaid) and bill
market with payment services.
social media campaigns, As a brand that connects people globally, Western Union had
the challenge of listening to and truly understanding a diverse
we wanted to take a disciplined
customer base. To help, NM Incite analyzed global conversations
approach – that starts with deep, for thematic patterns across all social media platforms, including
sophisticated listening. ”
Arun Muthupalaniappan, SVP of Customer Strategy and
social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Weibo, as well as over
180 million blogs, forums and boards. All messages posted online
about a need pertaining to money were captured and analyzed.
Analytics at Western Union Through this analysis, over 20 micro-segments were identified.

2. NM INCITE SUCCESS STORY WITH WESTERN UNION | DEVELOPING A CUSTOMER-CENTRIC MODEL
U nderstanding C ustomers – W here , W hen and W hy value through readily sharing quality information and by actively
supporting engaged customers.
Once Western Union knew who their target customer segments
were, pre-defined and newly discovered, NM Incite analysts created Finally, the segments were mapped against other key industry
profiles for each segment, developing a heat map. Stage one of players to find out where they were being under-served. This
the heat map creation involved identifying discussion volumes helped Western Union evaluate how well their product offerings
and prominent topics for each relevant customer segment, which and marketing content addressed consumers’ unmet needs. With
is mapped across the Customer Decision Journey (Who by When these customer deep-dives, Western Union can now prioritize
matrix) (see Figure below). This enabled Western Union to glean where to best converse with key audience groups, and what to say.
insight on the key influencing factors that define the customer
experience at different stages in the journey, complementing GOING GLOBAL
Western Union’s existing analytics and opening the door for new
opportunities to engage consumers at these critical points. For a truly global brand like Western Union, insights at the local
level are meaningless unless there is an apples-to-apples ability
FIGURE: HEAT MAP OF OPPORTUNITIES - DECISION JOURNEY to compare insights and analysis across all markets. With different
segments emerging all over the globe, Western Union needed a
Low activity Average activity High activity means to understand these consumers and address their needs.
Initial Active Post With the ability to collect quality data and track discussion in
Consideration Evaluation Purchase over 30 markets and multiple languages, NM Incite was uniquely
positioned to do to the analysis.
Green
Segment
Purple BUSINESS IMPACT
Segment
Through this global, category-level social listening initiative,
Red Western Union developed a comprehensive understanding of online
Segment
customer discussions in its industry. And now, social media heat
Orange maps focus the company’s ongoing social media listening efforts
Segment
and help identify areas of opportunity to guide the company’s long-
term roadmap for social media programs, including social care.
Next, NM Incite focused on analyzing each audience segment for
pain points and passions. Deeply understanding pain points is
particularly important when serving the financially under-served,
and can often be used as the strategic catalyst for new product or
“With insightful maps ofdeep
conversations, we have a
online
service development to satisfy unmet needs.
understanding of areas of
NM Incite further characterized the segments by identifying each opportunity, and can now focus on
group’s propensity to either give advice or ask questions. Segments
with significant QA activity often signal an opportunity for
companies to increase loyalty or gain new customers by providing
actions that matter.
Arun Muthupalaniappan
”
About NM Incite
Global Fortune 1000 marketers rely on NM Incite solutions to discover emerging, industry-specific consumer insights and build
relevant, differentiated and emotionally engaging brands.
NM Incite is a joint venture between Nielsen and McKinsey Company, bringing to bear deep expertise in measurement science and
management consulting. As one of the largest global leaders in applying social media to solve marketing problems, NM Incite operates
in over 30 markets, including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, China, India, Japan and Australia.
NM INCITE • 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003
855.888.6904 • contact@nmincite.com • nmincite.com