Devon Blog

Author: devon

  • Discover the Secret to Business Success: Understanding Your Customers’ Feelings

    Did you know that understanding how your customers feel about your business is super important? Well, over 90% of businesses don’t really know what their customers think. But here’s the cool part: the businesses that do understand their customers tend to do really well. So, let’s learn how you can figure out what your customers are thinking and feeling!

    The Problem with Surveys

    You know those questionnaires businesses sometimes ask you to fill out? They might ask you how much you like their service or how likely you are to recommend them to others. Well, here’s the thing: those surveys often give answers that businesses want to hear, not what customers really think. It’s like trying to guess what your friends want to hear instead of telling the truth. That’s where the problem lies.

    VisitXP – your secret weapon!

    Imagine if there was a special tool that could help you understand your customers better. Well, guess what? There is! It’s called VisitXP, and it’s made just for small businesses like yours. Here’s how it works:

    Real-Time Feedback:

    VisitXP lets you hear from your customers right when they are at your business or interacting with your brand. This means you get to know what they think and feel right away. It’s like having a magic crystal ball that tells you what your customers are thinking and feeling. The nuanced feedback gathered from your customers by visitXP is then processed by our AI engines that turn this data in actionable items that you as the business owner can work on to align with what your customers are thinking and feeling.

    Matching Customer Expectations:

    Once you learn you get to work in aligning your business and its practices to customer expectations. You know how important it is to build trust with your customers, right? When expectations are met or exceeded, customers have a great experience! When your customers have a great experience at your business, they tell their friends about it. And when you listen to what your customers want and give it to them, they trust you even more. Trust is like having a superpower that makes your business grow!

    Making Your Business Awesome:

    Running a small business can be tough, but VisitXP makes it easier. By listening to your customers, learning from their feedback, and making ongoing changes based on what they say, you can make your business even better. It’s like having a secret weapon that helps you make smart decisions and keep your customers happy.

    Understanding your customers is the key to making your small business awesome! Traditional surveys might not give you the whole truth, but with user experience tools from connectchief, you can get real-time feedback and make your customers happy. When you listen to your customers and meet their expectations, your business will grow and become super successful. Take our user experience tools for a try and effortlessly make your small business the best it can be!

    We found this paper from Harvard Business Review to be strongly reflective of our methodology with visitXP. Our approach has many similarities to what the researchers suggest. Read more about their thoughts at Using AI to Track How Customers Feel — In Real Time

  • Why we chose QR codes as the gateway to the connectchief platform

    The COVID19 pandemic taught us all to use QR codes.

    Here are a few reasons why QR codes are already widely embraced as a means of interaction:

    1. Contactless and Convenient: QR codes provide a touchless way for customers to access information or perform actions using their smartphones. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, the contactless nature of QR codes became even more appealing.
    2. Ease of Use: Scanning a QR code is simple and requires minimal effort. Most smartphones have built-in QR code scanning capabilities in their cameras, eliminating the need for additional apps.
    3. Versatility: QR codes can be used for a variety of purposes, such as accessing websites, making payments, downloading apps, redeeming coupons, and more. Their versatility makes them applicable across various industries and use cases.
    4. Cost-effective: Generating and implementing QR codes is generally affordable and accessible to businesses of all sizes. It doesn’t require expensive hardware or infrastructure.

    connectchief runs in the cloud. So there’s little reason why our clients (businesses) need to invest in a tablet or other hardware for taking advantage of our platform. Simply generate QR codes on our platform, customize the designs to meet your businesses aesthetic guidelines and keep your focus on growing your business.

    We will keep our focus on building technology that is important for YOU – our customers so you can succeed with your customers. Have an idea for something we should build for your business – write to us

  • Software can help small businesses do much better …

    In 2011, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen declared that “software is eating the world.” Its appetizer seems to have been smaller companies.

    https://hbr.org/2018/11/how-software-is-helping-big-companies-dominate

    Big business relies on technology to get even bigger. Its about time someone built software to help the smaller businesses. The above article speaks to why we’re building connectchief

  • Introducing VideoConsults

    Introducing VideoConsults

    Healthocta’s vision is to fuse together medicine & technology so healthcare providers can deliver better healthcare.

    The US Healthcare system is awesome. Yes, it is! There are few challenges. However, we’re definitely among the better places on earth where you’d want to be receiving healthcare services.

    Some challenges in the US Healthcare industry

    (This is a summary of what we found when we spoke to a bunch of people and made a few searches online…)

    • Access and affordability: Despite having one of the highest per capita healthcare spending, the US still faces high costs of healthcare which is not affordable for a large part of the population.
    • Fragmented delivery system: The US healthcare system is fragmented with a complex network of different insurance providers, leading to higher costs and lower quality of care.
    • Inadequate primary care: There is a shortage of primary care providers in many areas of the country, leading to a higher reliance on more expensive emergency and specialty care services.
    • High administrative costs: The US healthcare system has high administrative costs, resulting in a higher overall cost of healthcare compared to other countries.
    • Lack of transparency: There is a lack of transparency in the healthcare system, making it difficult for patients to make informed decisions about their care and for employers to effectively manage the cost of their employee’s health insurance.
    • Health disparities: There are significant health disparities among different racial, ethnic, and socio-economic groups in the US, leading to unequal access to quality care and health outcomes.

    So what can be done about solving these challenges?

    If you boil it down, the primary theme of the issues is centered around high costs, lack of access to care in many areas of the country (think Rural) and lack of access to specialty care (in many places across the country)

    As a health technology company on a mission of TechMed fusion, we came up with a cool new innovative service. We call it VideoConsults by HealthOcta. With VideoConsults, we aim to help improve access to specialty services.

    What is VideoConsults by HealthOcta?

    VideoConsults is a technology enabled service by HealthOcta. This service is used by healthcare institutions such as Hospitals, Emergency Departments, Doctors offices, Freestanding ERs, Nursing facilities and other institutions to get access to and consult healthcare specialists without having to wait hours or days.

    We have created an innovative system that brings together the expertise of medical practitioners in a variety of specialty fields, sophisticated devices for diagnostic and imaging (that can be used by a medical assistant without having to undergo advanced training) and the ubiquitous reach of telemedicine technology to help solve the access and practitioner coverage issues omnipresent in the healthcare industry. What’s better than seeing a demo right here!

    The HealthOcta team is currently focusing on enabling better access in Ophthalmology. The Video Consults platform will soon be expanded to support a variety of specialty services. We’re keen to connect with healthcare providers & practitioners so we can learn from you and add capabilities more speciality service lines.

    Our teams are now actively bringing together specialists to offer their expertise on this platform. Please contact us to learn more.

  • What are the benefits of referral marketing techniques?

    PromoEngine by connectchief promotes referral marketing techniques over traditional online marketing approaches like ads, email newletters or social media marketing. Get started with connectchief for free to find out how well it works for your business

    Here are some of the advantages of Referral marketing over traditional or online ads?

    Trust: Referral marketing is built on the trust of personal recommendations from satisfied customers, making it more credible and trustworthy than online advertising.

    Cost-effective: Referral marketing is often cheaper than paid online advertising.

    Targeted audience: With referral marketing, the target audience is more likely to be interested in the product or service being offered.

    Higher conversion rates: Referral marketing typically leads to higher conversion rates, as the people being referred are already pre-qualified and interested in the product or service.

    Better customer retention: Referral marketing often leads to better customer retention, as referred customers tend to be more loyal to the brand.

    Viral potential: Referral marketing has the potential to spread quickly through word of mouth, leading to a wider reach and increased brand exposure.

  • How much does a typical small business in the US spend on online ads?

    The amount that small businesses spend on Google or Facebook or other online Ads varies widely, and there’s no set “average.” The amount a small business spends on Online Ads depends on several factors, including:

    1. Industry and competition: Some industries are more competitive than others, and therefore require more investment to drive results.
    2. Budget: The budget available for advertising will directly impact the amount spent on Online Ads.
    3. Target audience: Reaching a specific target audience will impact the cost, as more specific targeting often requires a higher budget.

    A small business can spend anywhere from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars per month on Online Ads, but most small businesses typically spend between $500 and $1,000 per month. It’s important to note that the best budget for a small business will depend on their individual goals and advertising needs.

    In addition, Businesses can spend anywhere from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars per year on third-party social media management and online review management, with most small to medium-sized businesses spending between $2,000 and $10,000 per year.

    As opposed to the above, a small business can utilize the tools from connectchief to reach their target audience at almost half the cost of their typical online ads budget. Get started with connectchief for free while the software is in beta phase.

  • Good customer service

    Good customer service is like personal hygiene.
    Without it your relationships won’t even get started!

  • Co-operation

    Co-operation teaches us to seek out other individuals to boost the outcomes we want. It is because of co-operation that humanity achieved it’s greatest findings

    BusinessConnect by connectchief is all about nurturing cooperation between businesses that can help each other grow. BusinessConnect should remind you of symbiosis from biology.

  • Flash sales for retail businesses

    Slow days are not good for any business. But every business knows they have to account for slow days.

    With the tools in our connectchief chest, your business to make your slow days a little or a lot better. We want to talk to you about how you can take advantage of flash announcements to engage with customers on slower days.

    We will take 2 examples –

    1. End of day flash sales
    2. Special time-limited promotions or announcements to draw in consumers

    First, lets understand how flash sales work for you –

    • Every business receives its personalized SNC code with connectchief.
    • Businesses print & place these SNC codes as various places within their establishments.
    • Customers scan these SNC codes to avail promotions, review your business and even follow your business.
    • Customers who follow your business are the ones who are most likely to frequent your business and are the ones you should be engaging with on an ongoing basis

    To do this we suggest doing the following –

    • Regularly create time-bound promotions that can you can send out as announcements to your target customers

    Some example activities that some of our businesses can do

    Denise’s cupcakes has a few dozen cupcakes left over and there are only 2 hours left before store closing…

    1. Denise decides to go into connectchief & create a today only promotion announcing everything in the store at 50% off.
    2. She attaches this promotion to an ad that she associates with her store. Connectchief broadcasts this ad to all connectchief & insideconnect users within a 5 mile radius of Denise’s storefornt.
    3. She also sends the same promotion out as an announcement to all customers that follow her store. Connectchief then sends the announcement out to only those customers who are within a driving distance of Denise’s store and those who have previously marked Denise’s store as a favorite in their insideconnect app

    Advantages for Denise’s cupcakes – They created amazing engagement by attracting existing and new customers during the final 2 hours of their day’s operations. New customers were able to try out Denise’s because of the flash sale pricing. Those who were in a short radius of Denise’s discovered here store. And Denise’s avoided having to throw away/discard product at closing time.

    Advantages for customers – Those who loved Denise’s products were happy to come in and buy product on an impulse (the draw in was created by Denise). Those who had never tried Denise’s product were happy to come in and try out Denise’s products

    Ron’s Sandwich shop can do exactly that same during the lunch hour …

    Ron can create a lunch hour only promotion on a Tuesday and broadcast it out to his target customers in his area so he can turn the typical slow-at-lunch Tuesday into a more exciting day for business.

  • Is it OK to incentivize customers to publicly review your business

    It is absolutely OK to thank customers for the effort they make in writing a review for your business. However, its OK only as long as the business owner does not have any influence on what the customer writes on the review.

    In fact, we’ve taken a few measures at connectchief to enable business owners to be able to get more real reviews from real customers.

    The best time to ask for a review is when your business is top of mind

    They say, theres a time and place for most things. So because you know your business better, we will prefer that you make that call. However, we are almost too sure that a customer is more likely to write a positive review for a business that they enjoy visiting, visit frequently or one at which they have just had a great experience.

    Reviews are work. And the customer doesn’t need to do it. So its OK for you to return the favor.

    Its perfectly OK to incentivize a customer to write a public review. We actually make it easy for you to offer such an incentive to your customer by enabling you to create a promotion that the customer can claim only after they write a review for your business. In complete transparency to visitors , such reviews are tagged on trustENGINE to indicate that the customer was incentivized to write the review.

    Offering incentives indicates that you appreciate the customer and are seeking their support to let others know what they think of your business and its people, products and/or services.