Devon Blog

Tag: engagement

  • Every business MUST always have active promotions

    If your target customers aren’t aware of your existence, your products or services can’t thrive. Promotion ensures that potential customers not only know about your business but are also motivated to engage with it. Once they know you exist, the challenge becomes driving them through the door to try what you have to offer. This is where a robust promotional strategy comes into play.

    Promotions are not just a tool for visibility—they are a strategic weapon for long-term business success. While ads play a role in building awareness, they are often less personal and tend to be more expensive than other promotion strategies. While both have their place in your marketing plan, it always better to have an approach that scales non-linearly. A pay to play ads approach is like running a coin-operated machine. Pay for ads, get some business. But that brings you ZERO loyalty.

    Referral marketing and discount coupons, on the other hand, are powerful methods that leverage trust, customer loyalty, and the natural desire for value. With the power of the ConnectChief engines, these strategies deliver far better results than traditional advertising, as they engage customers on a deeper, more personal level.

    Referral marketing is a particularly effective strategy because it turns your existing customers into advocates. People trust recommendations from friends, family, and from other businesses they trust. Your business collaborators become great referral sources for you. People trust influencers in social media far more than they trust ads. This trust translates into higher conversion rates, lower customer acquisition costs, and a stronger brand reputation. Successful companies like Dropbox and Uber have used referral programs to grow exponentially.

    Dropbox’s simple yet effective program rewarded users with free storage space for every new customer they referred, which helped the company grow from a startup to a household name. Uber gave both the referrer and the new user ride credits, creating a win-win scenario that encouraged widespread adoption.

    Discount coupons, especially when targeted, create an immediate sense of value that motivates customers to act quickly. A well-placed, limited-time discount can bring new customers into your store or re-engage existing ones. By providing a tangible incentive, you’re giving people a reason to try your product or service now, rather than later.
    Businesses like McDonald’s and Starbucks have mastered this strategy. Starbucks often uses personalized, time-sensitive offers based on customers’ previous purchase behaviors, driving foot traffic and increasing sales during off-peak hours.

    Why are these strategies often more effective than ads? It’s simple: they build on relationships and perceived value. Ads interrupt people; referrals and discounts engage them. Referral marketing taps into the credibility of your satisfied customers, while discounts and promotions offer immediate rewards that are hard to resist. And with technology, these strategies can be seamlessly integrated into your business operations. Our customizable promotion engine allows you to build, track, and automate referral programs and discount offers. Combined with AI, our system ensures these promotions are strategically placed where they will make the biggest impact, creating stronger customer engagement and loyalty without the high costs associated with traditional advertising.

    By focusing on referral marketing and personalized discounts, your business can drive long-term growth. Loyal customers, drawn in through strategic promotions, not only return but also advocate for your brand, making your business more sustainable and resilient in the competitive marketplace.

  • A good promotion strategy pays dividends everyday

    Small businesses are low on resources. Whether that we time or money, we have neither to waste

    A coupon based promotions strategy is a must for every business – let alone small businesses. Yet, very few of us dedicate the time to think and develop a coupons based strategy for our business. While its one of the most cost-effective ways to promote a business, a coupon based strategy is hard to execute. There’s printing, distribution and all kinds of processing and tracking involved and that takes up time.

    Not with promoENGINE. promoENGINE takes the strengths of coupon marketing and amplifies it. And promoENGINE takes away the pains of running a traditional coupons based strategy by empowering it with technology. Using connectchief technology, promoENGINE can automate distribution, redemption, processing and tracking of coupons that your business distributes. Moreso, connectchief’s InsightsENGINE can help you breakdown key data metrics to determine which coupons are most effective and bringing you the highest ROI – whether your goal is to be attracting new customers or increasing engagement of your existing users.

    Here are some strengths and challenges of running a coupons based strategy –

    • Unlike advertising where your goal is to simply raise awareness of your brand, promotions seek your audience to take action. Coupons are an amazing way to drive action because the highest cost of your coupon is only incurred when the customer redeems the coupon. This core nature of coupon based promotions makes it the most cost-effective method to promote your offering
    • Coupon promotions are super easy to track. You can give out a 1000 promotional coupons, and you have a clear measure of effectiveness in the count that were redeemed. So you immediately know, you reach a 1000 people and lets say “50 of them” redeemed the coupon. Thats a 5% redemption / conversion rate
    • Its easy to keep coupons fresh – every new product you introduce is an opportunity for a coupon, every change of season is an opportunity to invite customers back to the business with coupons. Coupons a great way to sell that little extra thing that the customers. A free coffee means that the customer will be happy to spend on a bagel. A free trial lesson means they would consider learning a new skill. A discounted oil change or A discounted vehicle checkup. The sky is the limit if you take some time to think it through.
    • Traditional coupon strategies are hard to run. With promoENGINE by connectchief its super easy. Simply, define your coupons, set the count and timelines and we’ll start distributing them to customers. connectchief will keep count of coupons distribution, redemption, effectiveness and help you keep refining your strategy by showing you which coupons work and when.

    Technology is changing the game in many industries – particularly with digital marketing. connectchief has focused itself on building amazing technology for small business owner. Contact us to try promoENGINE free for 30 days

  • 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.

  • Unlocking success through collaboration

    Every small business owner we’ve spoken to is no stranger to the challenges and triumphs that come with running your own venture. Whether you own 1 storefront or a chain of 10, the challenges remain.

    When we looked around we have discovered something untapped. Hardly anyways has considered the untapped potential that lies in collaborating with fellow local businesses in the communities they serve. So, we at connectchief decided to build BizzConnect a way to help our patrons explore the power of collaboration, where the combined efforts of non-competing businesses can lead to unprecedented growth, mutual support, and an uplifted community.

    So, we delved into the world of collaboration, drawing inspiration from the successes of global corporations that have proven the undeniable value of working together. We found so many amazing examples and proof of yet another thing that all small business owners need to be doing more of – COLLABORATING!

    Think about tech titans Apple and Nike. While they operate in vastly different industries, their collaboration led to the creation of the Apple Watch Nike+, a marriage of technology and fitness that resonated with consumers worldwide. This partnership not only showcased innovation but also tapped into the strengths of both brands, enhancing their offerings and captivating a wider audience.

    Now, consider the alliance between Starbucks and Spotify. Recognizing the shared interests of their customer bases – coffee and music – these two industry giants teamed up to curate unique playlists for Starbucks stores. This collaboration turned Starbucks locations into music discovery hubs, enriching the café experience and boosting Spotify’s user engagement simultaneously.

    These examples offer invaluable insights for small business owners –

    1. Elevated Exposure: Collaborations between global giants magnify their reach, driving awareness among each other’s customer bases. The same can be applied at the local level, where cross-promotion between non-competing businesses can lead to increased foot traffic and sales.
    2. Resource Sharing: Just as Apple and Nike combined their expertise, local businesses can share resources like marketing strategies, maybe space, or even staff training, amplifying their collective potential.
    3. Community Enrichment: Partnerships between big corporations often extend to social initiatives, displaying a commitment to community betterment. We’ve seen local businesses already mirror this by collaborating on local projects, fostering goodwill and positive impact.
    4. Innovative Synergy: The Apple-Nike and Starbucks-Spotify collaborations exemplify how diverse entities can come together to create innovative products or experiences. By working alongside non-competing businesses, you can spark creativity that might otherwise remain dormant. Think of the businesses that are around you and the ones that you need to be forming relationships with.
    5. Shared Growth: Just as global collaborations lead to shared profits, local partnerships result in a strengthened community economy, benefitting everyone involved. Most importantly, if you are serving a common customer audience, its a no brainer for your businesses to be finding ways to collaborate

    bizCONNECT by connectchief can make collaboration easy. We can help you promote each other. Keep track of your cooperative efforts and do this not just across 2 but across over a 100 potential simultaneous partnership arrangements.

    Drawing inspiration from these giants, local businesses can embark on collaborative journeys that enhance their own fortunes and that of the entire community. The lessons are crystal clear: unity breeds success.

  • What businesses can benefit from connectchief?

    We’re building connectchief as a collection of tools that help businesses be more efficient at utilizing their resources, tools can that help raise the value businesses can offer to their customers with the ultimate goal of helping you (the business owner) grow your business.

    There are many aspects to connectchief and many more to be added as time progresses however we can share with you a few things that your business could do with connectchief. So if you are a business that can envision doing one or more of the things below, we have the tools to help you succeed.

    1. Engage your customers as soon as they get into your physical store (scan & connect codes for every business)
    2. Grow your business network by partnering / collaborating with non-competing businesses so you can promote/introduce each other to your customers (see more about promoEngine)
    3. Capture 1 click input from your visitors about their experience (visitXP is coming soon)
    4. Ask repeat customers or satisfied customers to review your business publicly (see trustENGINE)
    5. Offer an instant discount to a customer who reviews your business publicly (trustENGINE & promoENGINE working together)
    6. Provide customers an incentive to spend with you (PromoEngine)
    7. On slow days, attract your frequent users to come in (Flash sales with PromoEngine – coming soon)
    8. Run ads without spending an arm & a leg for them (Virtual billboards on PromoEngine)
    9. Run special promotions on your website without having to build sophisticated coupon code software (Promo codes with PromoEngine)
    10. Send out important announcements to your customers via connectchief (Customers already get enough email. Send them a message they can see when they think of you next)
    11. Let your visitors know you are hiring (some of your customers can be your best future employees.)

  • Customers that are kept in the loop stay loyal

    Every business has customers who face problems. However, not all businesses are able to handle those situations very well.

    There is a simple formula when it comes to customer engagement for solving problems-

    1. Be transparent – when the customer is facing an issue, be transparent with them about your problem. Mistakes happen, its only human
    2. Be communicative – Keep in constant communication with your customer. Sometimes the problem you are trying to solve for them is taking too long. It may be a refund you need to process, something you need to fix or mend or anything else for that matter. As long as you keep them in the loop on your progress on finding a solution for them, they are a part of the process. Your customers will be OK with you taking the time to fix the problem if they know what’s going on.
    3. Be responsive – Always keep the communication channels open. Follow a simple protocol. When they point out an issue, respond quickly even if its simply to let them know that you are in receipt of their communication and will get back to them. Next, find the isssue and own up to it. Explain what caused it and ultimately always offer a resolution.

    Problems happen – almost every day. Challenges and problems are part of learning & growing. The important piece is to respond, to constantly communicate and finally to learn from it so those problems do not reoccur.

    You must remember – Customers that are kept in the loop stay loyal

  • How can your business get excellent customer ratings

    Customer service is a process. It begins even before the moment a customer raises a concern with your business. From the moment a business comes in contact with the customer, the goal needs to be to assure that we’re working towards building a relationship that (mutually) matters. .

    Customers can reach out to a business for many things and over various media like emails, phone, social media or even in-person. Clear communication, good listening skills and positivity in all interaction is the recipe to success. We must all realize and acknowledge that problems always do happen. The difference between a highly rated business and a not-so-well rate business is in how they handle the situation. See some tips here from another post on this topic.

    enables the agent to calm frustrated customers and ensure successful resolution.

    Set a target to ensure that every customer experiences an excellent service from our team. To do this a step by step approach, that relies on empathy, care and timeliness in responding & resolving inquiries or complaints.

    Customer satisfaction is most important for repeat business and continued growth.

    Most businesses who get 5 star ratings have the following things in common –

    + Friendly people

    Friendly people are kind, caring and loving. They empathize with others and are approachable. In an organization it is very important to have employees who have a friendly attitude. But it not necessary that everyone is naturally friendly. It is a skill and with time it can be developed with practice and awareness. They have respect for others. Customers always want to communicate with individuals having these qualities as they feel more comfortable and know that their problems will be solved easily.

    Giving a 5 star rating to the business by a customers means they are fully satisfied with the service provider and the team members.

    + They care about their customers experience

    Customer service is very important in any business. If you do not have the right people however good your product is, you are bound to see the downfall. To get the best reviews for your company the team has to go out of their way and provide excellent customer service to their customer and a happy experience from purchasing the product right upto solving any related issues. If you are kind and empathatic towards the customers, nothing can stop you from getting a 5 star ratings at times.

    + They are quick to answer customers questions

    In this fast paced digital world, time is an important factor, everyone needs quick and honest answers to their problems. They make their customer feel important not only by answering them quickly but also helping them with positive responses because they know about their product.

    + They take pride in the product or service they sell

    Having pride means you are satisfied with your contribution towards your work. They are extremely proud about the products and service they sell to thier customers as they relate to the people, focus on their goals, give quality customer service etc. They are confident about the products they sell as they know deeply about the product and how it will benefit the end user.

    + They measure how they are doing, so they can keep improving

    All such businesses engage with their customers and ask them for feedback. Customer feedback tells them where they are doing well and where they need to be doing better. Because they genuinely care about their customers and their business these businesses are on a constant improvement path. Eventually these businesses become those that continuously get excellent ratings from all their customers. These businesses are customer magnets, new customers keep coming to them because existing customers only have good things to say about them.

    trustENGINE helps business owners building awesome businesses manage & own their improvement process.

    Regardless of whether you are on a free or a paid plan, the real benefit comes when you use the trustENGINE platform to engage every customer and learn from the feedback. On trustENGINE businesses can & must actively invite customers to share their reviews. As the first step – create or claim your business profile on trustENGINE so you can be well on your way to build a 5 star business that is loved by customers & is on the path of continuous improvement.

  • What is the connectchief, scan & connect (SNC) code

    At connectchief, we build software tools that enable small businesses to thrive. See this post on the various reasons on why we’re building connectchief.

    Through our conversations with many successful business owners, we have found that customers have a very interesting behavior. Customers tend to go back to businesses where they feel heard. Even if they didn’t have a great experience with a business at first, they feel comfortable giving that business a second or third chance if they felt the business heard them and is taking steps to do better the next time.

    Our scan & connect (SNC) system enables any business to engage its customers. Through its scan & connect (SNC) code, businesses can –

    1. Provide surprise discount coupons and / or promotions to visiting customers
    2. Ask for (one click / super quick ) feedback from customers on the service, facilities or other relevant items for the business
    3. Ask customers to provide online reviews for the business
    4. Share announcements with customers
    5. Let visitors know about open positions that the business is hiring for
    6. Poll customers or simply provide a way for customers to directly communicate with management
    7. Even send out instant flash sales & promotions to customers that follow the business

    Businesses can chose which of the above functions to expose using its scan & connect code. The ultimate goal is to provide a single tool using which customers and businesses can engage and build a strong relationship for their mutual benefit.

  • How you can grow your business faster with connectchief

    1. Why we’re building connectchief…
    2. How you can grow your business faster with connectchief

    Every business owner knows they need to innovate and grow their business. What isn’t clear is how to methodically go about doing just that…

    Growth comes from recognizing the need for change, effectively adapting to shifts in your environment, having strong customer insights and finally turning this information into better customer experience and service.

    Connectchief helps businesses to better engage with its target customers, improving the effectiveness of their marketing, and enables them to find new ways communicate their value propositions.

    The digital revolution has unleashed rapid and significant changes in how business is done today. A businesses ability to engage customers, understand their changing needs and to keep up with them determines its success and growth rates.

    The connectchief team deeply understands how technology can play a significant role for your business to grow. We’re been rapidly innovating and responding with creative ideas to help small businesses build a competitive edge. With connectchief every small business can –

    + Collaborate with other businesses to promote each other

    Any business can get started with connectchief for free. Once registered, identify and invite other businesses nearby to collaborate with you. Each business can promote coupons & offers form its partner businesses to its own customers. Referred customers are more likely to do business with you over those who were attracted simply through a discount or a one-off advertisement. Referrals can cost almost 10x less than traditional advertisements when it comes to finding new customers.

    + Engage with your customers

    At connectchief, your business receives a personalized QR code which is powered by our platform. We chose QR codes so you do not have to many any investments in buying equipment or other technology to grow your business. A simple QR code puts the power of the entire connectchief platform behind your business. Place that QR code (we call it our Scan & Connect system) within your premises to present customers with promotions, solicit their feedback, showcase your reviews, get customer reviews, make announcements and so much more. Better engagement translates into improved loyalty and more business.

    + Create promotions, discount coupons and vouchers for customers and business partners.

    Through connectchief, every business can also utilize our promoEngine to generate coupons & promotions that can be distributed to visiting customers on your website, in-store or even be distributed via other businesses that collaborate with you (your business ofcourse has to reciprocate with promoting those businesses as well).

    Businesses that use innovative ways to find new customers & to retain existing ones tend to grow faster. Those that continuously learn from customers to provide better service and products discover paths to greater profits and lasting loyalty.

    At connectchief, we’re committed to helping you power up your business with innovative, cost-effective and technology-powered approaches that have been afforded only to big businesses until now.

    Find your path to growth – register for free on connectchief

  • Why did we create trustENGINE?

    1. Why we’re building connectchief…
    2. Every business should build its ecosystem for growth
    3. Why did we create trustENGINE?
    4. Why we are building promoENGINE?
    5. Why are we building flexxWORK?
    6. Why we’re building loyaltyENGINE?

    trustENGINE is an online review platform built by connectchief.

    Our vision with trustENGINE is to provide a neutral ground for customers & businesses to interact where customers can provide genuine feedback on thier overall service experiences with that business.

    Why businesses asked us to build trustENGINE?

    + Reduce fake reviews

    User reviews are a great way for consumers to discover good products, services and businesses. However, the democratic voice that reviews give to users is often exploited by those entering fake reviews. This creates a problem for businesses and users alike. Like in any democracy, you cannot eliminate bad actors but one can surely nullify their effect by having all citizens participate. By having all consumers provide a review, good or bad, the effect of fake reviews can be nullified. trustENGINE provides an unbiased platform for providing and collecting reviews. Our software engines are continuously tuned to flag and capture fake reviews. See more about fake reviews and how you can work with us to reduce fake reviews

    + Help proliferate the truth

    By getting reviews for any business or product in one place, one can provide a true representation of users’s feedback about the product or service

    + Accelerate the opportunity to receive feedback & improve

    User reviews are a great way for small businesses to know what’s working and what the business needs to work on to improve its products and services. trustENGINE has built-in data analytic and reporting tools that empower business owners to prioritize their focus on topics that can help them achieve the highest improvements in customer satisfaction and the best returns for the businesses improvement efforts.

    + A single venue for consumers to interact with the business

    There are quite a few social media platforms on the internet, each designed with the motive to build online social interactions. Most those platforms (Facebook by Meta, Twitter, Instagram, Google offer opportunities for consumers to tag a business and put a message. Because their central focus is on social engagement, these platforms do not focus on addressing the consumers & businesses needs to bring a unified view about the business. As entrepreneurs, we ourselves have faced challenges with fake and uncontrolled reviews, a lack of mediation & moderation controls, reviews being scattered across the internet and very limited analytics to help the business owner distill incoming feedback so they can focus on improving where they need to based on consumer feedback.

    + Promote reviews from verified transactions

    Business owners who were fed up with fake reviews preferred if there is a platform where the user can verify their transaction id at the time of entering reviews. This is a great way to build confidence in the overall reviews and ratings for a business. The larger the quantify of verified transaction reviews, the higher the confidence that the reviews reflect reality.

    + Build trust through transparency

    The goal of our platform is to build trust through transparency. Verified transaction reviews is a great way to ensure that real transactions are mapped to incoming reviews. We further enhanced trustENGINE with engines built in to flag and capture reviews that may be added by business owners to promote their self-interest. In addition, to ensure tranparency both consumers & business owners are required to comply with the trustENGINE guidelines to ensure fair, unbiased and transparent information being provided through reviews on the platform.

    What are the key things trustENGINE brings to the table?

    1. A platform that is open to everyone and focuses exclusively on collecting, managing and showcasing consumer feedback about a business
    2. Consumers can provide feedback on any business – at no cost to them or the business.
    3. A transparent scoring methodology where verified reviewers and verified transactions carry greater weight
    4. Artificially intelligent engines that capture and suppress reviews (with full transparency) that seem ingenuine. Our software is designed to fight fake reviews.
    5. trustENGINE puts transparency and open access to information first. Even if a business has a paid account on trustENGINE, they have no control over which reviews must be deleted.