Devon Blog

Tag: promoengine

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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.

  • Introducing APIs to create custom promotions in promoEngine

    Our mission is to help our clients grow their business. In interacting with various clients we have come to understand that most businesses do not spend enough energy in building a coupon or promo code strategy simply becuase its very hard to actually implement.

    We see a lot of traditional stores, particularly grocery stores and some big box stores spending a lot of their marketing budget in putting out weekly / periodic sales flyers that include a large number of items that are on sale. It is common sense to assume that this is quite an effective way to market your products because we’re seeing large businesses do this for decades now and the activity has not stopped. If this form of marketing didn’t work, then clearly the big box and national chain stores would have stopped doing this a very long time ago.

    Large e-tailers do the same thing by issuing 1000’s of sales & discount coupons on products and services from time to time. In fact, deal-finding sites make millions of dollars in commissions every year by simply helping consumers find the right coupon that they can apply to their shopping cart? So clearly coupons & promotions work

    Why does this work?
    1. Weekly ad flyers and coupons enable a business to stay at the top of mind of its customers. Brand retention and recall is half the battle in any competitive market.
    2. Coupons or special pricing can create that extra motivation a consumer needs to ‘tap buy’. It helps you capture customers whose need exists but may not be urgent yet.
    3. Impulse buyers can be motivated through coupons or ads
    4. Frugal buyers plan ahead, they closely manage their expenses and are most likely to buying products when they go on sale. They are also likely to shop at stores that they perceive to have ‘wallet-friendly pricing’
    5. Online shoppers can shop from a lot of businesses sitting at home, so ‘better prices’ play a greater role in their purchase decisions. The success of platforms like slickdeals, honey and various others are a testament to the fact that coupons & promotions work as well in the online world as in the brick & mortar business space.

    Despite all this traction, we do not see too many small businesses (brick & mortar or online businesses or even ecommerce businesses successfully executing a STRONG COUPON & PROMOTIONS strategy)

    How is connectchief helping businesses build a better coupon & promotions strategy?

    We strongly believe that discounts is not a good strategy for every business. If by giving a discount, the perceived value (worth) of your offering gets diminished in your customers mind, then steer clear of discounts & coupons. But if you are not in that category of business, then we’ve created promoEngine for you. Using the connectchief scan & connect code, you can present your customers with a promotion or discount right at the time when they are at your store. You can also distribute your promotions digitally via the connectchief platform so customers can see your promotions when they are patronizing a business that collaborates with you. As an example: A customer can a coupon to visit your ice-cream parlor right when they are done paying the bill at a pizza place. Ofcourse, you will be returning the favor back to the pizza place by sharing their coupons with customers who might visit you.

    We’ve created many simple coupon & promotions templates that enable our customers (business owners like you) to create coupons that can be published by them on the connectchief promoEngine platform.

    So what is the custom promotions API

    Sometimes, you need to be able to create custom promotions because the basic promotions do not quite fit in with your business scenario. You can now do that through our promoEngine API (application programming interface) and some simple programming activity on your side.

    As an example – An ecommerce website could design a promotion in promoEngine for its customers to buy a 1-year subscription to their service and receive 1 extra month if they purchased the subscription before January 10, 2023.

    They would simply define a promotion in promoEngine using our API and specify the customer facing parts as in a catchy Title for their promotion, Add a banner image, Add a description describing the promotion & its terms in plain text. In addition, they can now setup a small set of rules in their preferred format that they can save alongside the promotion for it to be provided back to their ecommerce software when that promotion is being redeemed by a customer on their website. See the graphic below as a simple explanation.

  • 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.)

  • What is a ‘virtual billboard’ and how can it help me promote my business?

    Advertisements are a great way to get consumers to discover a business. Up until today advertisements have been posted either in the physical world (newspapers, magazines, billboards, hoardings or other print media) or in the digital world (TV ads, radio ads, cinema ads, website ads, mobile app ads, video ads etc).

    Pretty much most of the above ads are encountered in-the-home – either on your digital instruments (TV, Radio, mobile phone or PC) or in print media (newspapers, magazines etc). Billboards are the most common Out-of-home (OOH) forms of advertising available in the market. We’ve seen these as massive public display ads on the sides of roads, highways, at busy intersections, in shopping centers or on the side of large buildings. They are available in traditional poster formats and over the last two decades also in digital versions, which can take the form of animations and video, as well as still pictures. 

    The connectchief team has developed a unique concept of a virtual billboard. The talk of virtual reality is all round us. The metaverse is the future. A virtual billboard is a billboard that has been placed at a physical location.

    Businesses use Virtual billboards to display advertisements to users in the connectchief platform. Users receive these ads in their mobile apps and as mobile notifications when they are in the vicinity of a virtual billboard. A user is presented with a virtual billboard in their mobile phones in a ways that’s very similar to a real billboard that they would see when crossing one on a street.

    Whats more interesting about virtual billboards is that their content and context can be completely personalized to the end user. So the same virtual billboard can present me with one promotion while you see a completely different one.

    Another huge benefit is that 100s of businesses can put up virtual billboards at the same physical location without any risk of overcrowding or running out of physical room.

    Most importantly, Virtual billboards are far less costly, more effective, impactful, flexible and engaging than traditional billboards.

    Traditionally, Businesses end up spending a large amount of time looking for the right spot to advertise their brands and products. With virtual billboards businesses can experiment with their ad formats, locations and time of day.

    As is the case with all forms of advertising, Your products or services should has an impact on your preferred ad channels and on your shortlist of locations. For instance, if you sell books and stationary then your billboards should be carefully placed around education institutions and be presented to your target clients when they are most likely to be making a buying decision that’s in favor of your business.

    Connectchief’s virtual billboards, allows business owners to advertise and to connect with customers digitally using the industry’s most cost-efficient approach

    Our software enables any business owner to advertise in the specific location they choose in any city. By using virtual billboards businesses can reach out to a larger audience in any desired locations at a minimum cost. Virtual billboards help in presenting your ads or coupons to customers when they are at a location where you wish to be on top of their mind

  • 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 we are building promoENGINE?

    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?

    We’re building connectchief to bring the power of technology to small business. See our previous post here.

    In interviewing over a 1000 small to medium sized businesses we learnt that while all businesses want more customers, not everyone understands how to promote themselves.

    In fact, very few business owners were clear on the concept of marketing. Even fewer were able to make a distinction between advertising, branding and promotions. This gave us a clear signal that small businesses can use our assistance and our technology. Our goal with promoENGINE is to help you – the small business owner – to get your message to your target customers at a lower cost.

    promoENGINE brings together a few key concepts – collaboration, connection, promotion & advertising. And it leverages the power of software technology to amplify how small businesses work together to promote themselves.

    Marketing encompasses all the activities a business undertakes to get the message out (about its products or services) to its target customers (with the intent of completing a buy or sell transaction ie. a sale)

    Marketing includes –

    • pricing related activities like discounts or sales or coupons,
    • promotion activities like advertising, publicity or sales promotions,
    • determining the place where to do these activities (online, offline, target customers etc)
    • and figuring out what to market (specific product or service or attribute(s) of product or service)

    At connectchief, we are bringing to you technology that can enable your business to promote your products or services by using the right incentives (discounts/coupons) at places where belive our software and technology can generate a greater return for your investment.

    promoENGINE is a software tool by connectchief that enables small businesses to promote their products and/or services to their target customer audience in method that is more efficient in terms of the overall investment required in time, effort and cost as compared to approaches mostl commonly used by small businesses today.

    Continue to read more about promoENGINE

  • Every business should build its ecosystem for growth

    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?

    Every business owner wants their small business to grow into a bigger business. Everyone knows how important customers are to a business but only a few realize how equally important are great partners if you are looking to build an awesome business.

    + Every other business that works with you as a supplier or provider is interested in your growth.
    + Every business that does not compete with you but serves the same set of customers is a potential partner that you need to be collaborating with.

    Most businesses claim spend money on marketing however very few of them actually understand marketing. What most businesses call marketing is really advertising. They buy ads in all kinds of print or online media with the aim of reaching potential customers.

    There are many much cheaper and far more efficient ways of reaching customers. One of them is making friends with those who have already befriended your target customer.

    We call this – A friend to someone I wish to befriend should be my friend. Seems logical when you think of it this way. The connectchief platform enables you to discover and collaborate with businesses which are most likely to already be ‘friends with’ your target customer. If these kinds of businesses exist (and there are many of them out there) then they are most likely also interested only if you are willing to return the favor.

    As long as your businesses are mutually non-competing, they will be willing to introduce you to ‘your target customers’ that they know provided that you will be introducing them to ‘their target customers’ that you know. It sure sounds like a lot of work – unless you have a sophisticated piece of software (ahem…connectchief) that can make it happen for you both.

    Now that we’ve told you about businessconnect, We look forward to telling you more about connectchief … particularly promoENGINE.

  • 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