Devon Blog

Tag: ideas

  • Top 10 reasons why visitors aren’t coming back to your business…

    Top 10 reasons why visitors aren’t coming back to your business…

    If you are like most small businesses then you spend a large amount of your marketing budget on acquiring new customers. And…

    Between 60-80% of those customers do not return after their first visit!

    This is bad news on many fronts…

    Whats worse is, most small businesses have resigned to this statistic.

    Its all about your mindset. Things can be very different if small business owners are to adopt a mindset similar to the larger and more advanced technology driven organizations of the world. Thankfully, you’ve got friends at connectchief who have the means to help you with that

    Take a look at these top 10 reasons and see if some of them are also reasons why your customers are likely not coming back. If you can find out what your customers are thinking & feeling the most and if you can do something about fixing it then you can be on your way to phenomenal growth. And thats what we’re here to help you do!

    While customer behaviors can vary, there are several common reasons why customers may choose not to return to a retail business.

    1. Poor Customer Service: Customers value excellent service. If they encounter rude or unhelpful staff, long wait times, or a lack of assistance, they may not want to come back.
    2. High Prices: If customers perceive that a retail business charges unreasonably high prices compared to competitors or the perceived value of the products or services, they may seek alternatives.
    3. Lack of Product Quality: Customers expect products that are reliable, durable, and of good quality. If they consistently experience issues with the quality or performance of products, they may look for better options elsewhere.
    4. Inadequate Product Selection: Customers appreciate having a wide range of products to choose from. If a retail business has limited selection or frequently runs out of stock, customers may be inclined to explore other stores with more options.
    5. Negative Online Reviews: With the prevalence of online review platforms, customers often research businesses before deciding where to shop. If a retail business has numerous negative reviews regarding service, product quality, or overall experience, it can deter potential customers from returning.
    6. Inconvenient Location: The location of a retail business can significantly impact customer retention. If it’s difficult to access, has limited parking, or is far from customers’ regular routes, they may opt for more convenient alternatives.
    7. Lack of Cleanliness and Maintenance: A clean and well-maintained store environment contributes to a positive customer experience. If a retail business is consistently dirty, disorganized, or in a state of disrepair, customers may perceive it as unprofessional and seek cleaner options.
    8. Ineffective Communication: Customers appreciate clear and timely communication from businesses. If a retail business fails to provide updates on product availability, changes in store hours, or upcoming promotions, customers may feel disconnected and choose to shop elsewhere.
    9. Unresolved Customer Complaints: How a retail business handles customer complaints is crucial. If a customer has a negative experience and the business fails to address their concerns or provide satisfactory solutions, it can lead to a loss of trust and loyalty.
    10. Lack of Personalization: Customers appreciate personalized experiences and recommendations. If a retail business fails to understand their preferences, provide tailored offers, or remember their previous interactions, customers may feel undervalued and opt for businesses that offer more personalized attention.

    While addressing each of these factors can be challenging, businesses that prioritize customer satisfaction, invest in staff training, maintain product quality, and foster strong communication channels are more likely to retain customers and foster long-term loyalty.

    At connectchief, we make software tools to help you power up your business.

    We can help your business with addressing and getting ahead of many of the above issues –

    1. connectchief can help you measure user experience in real-time and figure out the corrective actions you need to take to align with customer expectations. Ask us about visitXP and our retail analytics tools
    2. connectchief can help you find new customers – Ask us about promoENGINE
    3. connectchief can help you with tools that keeps you on top of mind with your new visitors and help you to bring them back. Ask us about loyaltyENGINE
    4. connectchief can help you build a communication bridge with your customers without spamming them on email – ask us about how we help you send out Announcements and flash sales
    5. connectchief can help you collect reviews from customers and showcase them at your place of business. Ask us about trustENGINE
    6. connectchief can also help you receive customer complaints and communications directly so you can respond to them promptly. ask us about hearecho
    7. we’re always interacting with our clients and helping them solve problems, improve efficiency and simply do better through use of technology. If you have ideas or suggestions, we would love to hear from you

  • 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

  • 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 is it important to ask your users for a review

    In this technology driven age of online commerce, we all understand the benefit of product or business reviews. Regardless of whether your business is online or offline, you must focus on getting reviews.

    As a buyer –

    • By reading other customer’s review(s), I can make a more informed decision about the product or business
    • We can discover if people similar to us are happy with the product or business
    • Reviews can help us build confidence that we’re making a good decision
    • Reviews can also help alleviate any concerns we might have about the product or business
    • By reading reviews, a buyer can make a more informed decision that can help the user discover things about the product or business that identify better with the buyer.

    As a business owner –

    • Reviews bring credibility to my business. They help you build trust
    • Reviews can help increase sales – because they can naturally support a customer get comfortable around the idea of doing business with you
    • Consumer reviews build an online reputation for you business
    • Customer reviews can help you build up the SEO you need for your online presence.
    • Reviews provide the (neutral) social proof thats required to influence a new customers behavior
    • Reviews help you improve your product or service. Any aspect of your business that is consistently appreciated (or criticized) is a prime item for you to act upon. Do more of what is appreciated and do better about the things that are being criticized.

    trustENGINE by connectchief helps business owners collect unbiased reviews from their customers online or offline.

    Learn more about trustENGINE

  • Are ads a good idea for my business?

    Advertising is a good way to attract new customers and as a by-product also remind existing customers of your presence. However the goal of advertising is to inform the cusotmer of your message.
    The message in ads can be of one of 4 types. See more here

    Ads can be a good idea for your business if you have the following goals

    + You goal is to build brand recall

    Digital display ads are a great tool when your focus is to re-engage with non-returning customers or to build brand recall

    + When ad spend meets a ROI watermark

    We recommend you always have a clear ROI budget before you spend on ads. To achieve the right outcome, its equally important to be able to measure your targeted returns. As an example, if you say we want to get $1 back in revenue for every $1 spent on ads, thats an easy to achieve goal. However, are you measuring and more importantly are you able to reliably measure how much revenue you are generating from those specific ads.
    At connectchief, we often find ourselves saying “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there” This statement is as true for marketing spend on ads than anything else.

    + You wish to target users at a specific location or in a specific moment

    Running an ad for your ice-cream parlor at or near the campus of a local community college or elementary school is a great way to be in front of your customers when they are most likely to think (students wanting to hang out or families with kids looking for a treat) of a business like yours.

    Advertising a promotion is an even better way to run Ads

    + Promotions can be targeted to different user groups (aka cohorts)

    Promotions give the business a lot of flexibility. You could provide incentives to users for shopping at your store or to buy a certain product or service at an advertised price or to receive a discount for making purchases on a specific day or time. The opportunities are endless and when paired with location targeting can produce phenomenal results

    + Promotions are also a great way to acquire new customers

    Money spent on ads is cash spend. When money is given away through promotions, the spend is in goods or services – each of which have a higher perceived value to the consumer as opposed to the amount they cost you (the business owner to produce). Moreso, a promotion provides the consumer a way to try your product and services at a lower price point. You only spend, if they transact with you.

    + You are looking to engage with customers

    Promotions are generally structured as some benefit that a customer gets in exchange for a certain action. So a call-to-action is always built-into the promotion but it may not be the case for an advertisement. The ad is simply a means of informing the target user of your message.

    Advertising is meant to inform.

    Promotions are meant to engage. Promotions can be advertised too!

    What budget spend should one allocate on marketing activities ?

    This is an age old question. The answer is, it depends. As a thumb rule, if it costs you $x to acquire a custome through ads, are you able to generate 2x or better margin (not revenue) from that engagement? If yes, then the ad was worth it.

    Both ads and promotions are marketing tools. While advertising presents a reason to buy a product, sales promotion offers a short-term incentive to purchase

    The ultimate goal is to
    (1) Either acquire a new customer or
    (2) turn a one-time customer into a returning customer.
    Achieve any of the above and you are it mostly right.

    Any technology platform that offers ads allows you a lot of flexibility to experiment. Digital Ads are generally far more cost-effective over traditional media. They provide you to tune and customize your target audience. And most platforms are flexible where you can start, stop or even adjust your ad budgets at any time. The most important piece for any business (which most seem to forget is to measure if the ad or promotion is actually effective).

    PromoENGINE by connectchief takes a unique approach to promotions and ads. Our tools enable the small business to promote themselves to customers not just at vantage locations but also directly within your storefront (online or offline). Learn more about PromoENGINE and how these tools help you engage better with your target customers.

    How does a business turn a customer into a returning customer?

    Customers only return to businesses they like transacting with. They may find your product or services to be superior to other options. They may return because you are easy to do business with. They may return because your staff is caring and listens to its customers.

    To know if you are doing the right thing, you as a business owner or manager need to be in touch with your customers’ perception of the experience you and your team deliver. In business transactions, particularly service-oriented ones, customer experience issues can occur. However, a business that listens and attempts to make improvements, even if they delivered a poor experience to start, has a way higher chance of the customer returning to them vs one that seem to not care. Coming soon! with VisitXP business owners can get a quick check of their service delivery experience

  • Tagline ideas for connectchief

    We’ve been busy thinking of a befitting tagline for connectchief. Below are a few that we thought of and our reasons on how well each does or does not align with our purpose, mission and vision. We appreciate you sharing your views and thoughts in the comments section below.

    1. ‘Redbull’ for your business

    Just like Redbull energizes the body of the peson who drinks it, ConnectChief adds a jolt of energy to grow in the business that uses ‘connectchief’

    2. Everything big starts out small

    Every micro, small and medium business can grow up to be a big business. connectchief is the tools you need to make that journey smoother, easier and maybe a bit faster. Big businesses have access to significant technology that enables them to automate, get better insights, move reasonably fast, be more efficient and more. Of course, its not cheap to build such high end technology and as a result most smaller businesses never get access to such incredible tools. Team connectchief is hard at work to change just that because we believe in the entpreneurial power of small businesses and we know first hand that everything big starts out small

    3. the operating system for your small business

    An operating system is nothing but a collection of tools that keeps your PC running smoothly. At connectchief we’re continuously working to bring you tools and solutions that bring a technology edge to tasks that your small business needs to perform. Whether it is marketing, branding, customer engagement, repulation management or shaping your business relationships – we’re all ears to hear from you so we can help solve the problems that a face by business owners like you!

    4. Lets grow your business

    We know you work hard every day to nuture and grow your business. We work to bring you access to superb technology that helps you supercharge the various aspects of and day-to-day activities for your business

    5. Supercharge your growth

    6. A discounts & promotions framework to power business

    Well, its nice but doesn’t really fit connectchief. That tagline is too narrow and is a perfect fit for the promoengine tools that are a part of connnectchief. Personally I have worked at a number of organizations – whether direct to consumer, or business to business, selling services or products, storefront or online. The one common attribute across them all was that they needed to continously find ways to promote themselves – through coupons, discounts, loyalty points or simply advertisements. Thats something all businesses need to do but there hardly any tools or software that can help define, manage and execute on a full fledged promotions strategy. Well, thats been true but not any more. With connectchief’s promoengine – any business owner can now create, distribute and redeem promotions / coupons and put out advertisements to get attention from their customers.

    We also went ahead and designed promoengine to be fully developer friendly so that any developer can take advantage of our API (appplication programming interface) and power their entire discounts & promotions infrastructure via our platform. It was simple, if every business owner has to do worry about this why not enable them all to use this scalable platform so they can save time, money and gain efficiency. Futhermore, business owners can use our dataengine tools to draw actionable insights on effectivess of promotions, where and when they get used, which promotions have a higher redemption rate and much more.

    7. Software tools to grow your business. Harness tech like the big guys do

    8. The growth platform that your small business needs