Fairs, exhibitions, seminars and events; those are the places where company representatives are in direct contact with the customers and consumers. In these situations companies face the difficult task of both maintaining and forwarding the company image through active interaction, as well as retaining as much information from the customers themselves, which is then used for remarketing, contact evaluation and product and service development. In other words, the firsthand data received from interaction with clients can prove to be extremely valuable for companies who wish to better understand customer preferences and desires.
Unfortunately, unpractical surveys and data processing methods are the most common reason why the flow of information is interrupted or vastly prolonged. This leads to communication breaches; the product quality remains unchanged, the potential customers are reached later than necessary and money is spent where it needn’t be spent.
The lack of cost efficiency is largely due to the manual nature of inputting data from survey sheets into a computer. Workers, or as in most cases, interns spend hours in doing a tedious job which could’ve been handled electronically from the start.
Finnish startup goMob delivers a solution for this problem in the form of a survey application for iPads, that electronically collects the necessary data from customers. The company noticed a serious flaw in information processing when companies complained how they had difficulties of dealing with the huge amounts of raw data collected from events. Now their leading product, the Catcher application has become a precious tool for various companies looking for first-hand information from their customers.
With companies such as SurveyMonkey in the business, goMob has specialized in application software, which distinguishes them from online survey creators. The catcher app does not require an internet connection and it is customizable to large extents, unlike the online survey tools.
But what really makes goMob stand out is the dedication of collecting, processing and analyzing the data all the way. A single application can work as a bridge of communication between customer and their respective company departments. Automated and customizable tools can create a dynamic relationship with the clients by creating a win-win situation. The participating consumer will receive special offers, discounts or promotions and will be guided through them back to the company who, in return, gains knowledge and a new source for advertisement, and possibly income.
The markets for surveys are unquestionably existent, though how big they truly are, depends on the source of the numbers. The safe way of picturing the scale is to imagine the amount of companies that are into face-to-face sales and add to that number the companies that represent themselves in fairs and exhibitions and then add to that the companies who have a need for an occasional survey. No matter how I think about it, there definitely is a large range of companies who could use the Catcher application if they knew it existed.
Company CEO Erika Rintala told us in an interview that the goMob Catcher has been well received among clients and that the company’s future is looking good. She says the biggest challenge is to make companies understand how much effort they can save by using a product such as Catcher, and how much that effort eventually is worth. Naturally, goMob works with custom mobile solutions in general, as well as with their other existing services, such as the goMob Digital Service.
Their investment rounds have reached their goals and the company is now backed by three investors with a determined direction towards a self-financed growth. goMob plans to launch a web service survey editor during the upcoming month or the next one. This should lead to more international waters with a whole new breed of fish to catch.
