These days, customer satisfaction, experience, and customer relationships are some of the most important concepts for any business to consider if they want to get ahead of the competition and stay successful in the modern world. SO Connect is one of the companies helping offline businesses maintain a stronger relationship with their clients when the interactions they have with those people start in a brick and mortar store.
SO Connect are market leaders when I comes to Guest engagement (SO WIFI), and their review management platform (SO Review). We spoke with the innovative CEO and founder of the company, Daan Donders, to learn more about his business.
Tell Us About You and SO Connect
SO Connect is a marketing automation platform that empowers local businesses to get and stay in touch with their offline visitors and improve their online reputation. The brand was launched by Daan Donders in 2012, in Amsterdam, and it currently serves tens of thousands of clients, along with millions of users across the globe. Today SO Connect is active in more than 30 countries.
Donders told me that the goal in creating SO Connect was to give local business owners a way to get in contact with customers that came into their offline stores. Extracting data from offline customers has always been difficult, but SO Connect have maintained the same aim throughout the last five years, and they're seeing incredible results.
"The two propositions we currently have are SO WIFI, a tool that extracts data from people entering a store through a WiFi log-in, and SO Review, which is a review management platform to help offline companies accelerate their online reputation."
What Do You Think Makes You So Popular?
SO Connect has clearly seen some exceptional results from their products. Currently, Donders told me that the organisation is seeing a steady growth rate of around 40% year-over-year.
"I think that we're very different from other companies that have been trying to solve a similar problem for the marketplace. The key for us has always been to deliver a simple and easy-to-use product that any business owner can understand."
"I think the mistake that a lot of other companies make is trying to offer too many features at once. On the other hand, we worked backward from our customer's problems to offer a solution."
According to Daan, the SO Connect services cost a minimum amount of time and money to implement, but they deliver maximum results. "I think the simplicity of the platform is one of the biggest things for us. At the same time, we offer a highly personalised experience for our customers, building relationships with them and finding out what they need for their business."
What is Your Relationship Like with Pragma?
SO Connect deliver their services to the UK market through their channel partner Pragma. The Pragma brand is SO Connect's sole distributor in the UK, and Daan told me that the companies have a fantastic relationship.
"Pragma has been a great channel for us to work with in the UK market. They've been highly successful in the past with selling the Ericsson-LG iPECS product, and I think they take the right approach towards selling to channel partners across the UK."
Daan Donders[/caption]
