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If Personalizing Leads Exists, This Startup May Have The Answers

Aaron Weiche, co-founder and CEO of Leadferno, wanted to build a way for consumers to reach out to smaller businesses vis SMS, Facebook Messenger -- and in the future, Google.

Lead generation has become a tricky topic. When consumers provide information that gives marketers or companies permission to contact them, it doesn't always work out well. Here's one answer to personalizing that connection. It's about adding more leads into the cycle. 

Weiche’s previous company, GatherUp, helped businesses organize data on customer experiences and boost reputations. He spent more than 15 years in agencies building websites, search marketing campaigns, and content.

“I realized there was always a void in conversions,” he says. “It was always about attractions and building traffic. Communication stood out to me as such as challenge for small businesses.”

This communications infrastructure aims to help companies create a five-star customer experiences for smaller companies, like the way Bloomingdales relies on a similar type of technology.

Competitors include Optimum, Live Chat, and Olark, but Weiche believes his product is simple to use. There’s a branded screen that allows companies to serve up a custom call to action, making it easy for consumers to start a conversation with the brand or company on mobile devices, apps or website.

Some companies use the communication tool. When building search campaigns to build traffic, this tool can help to close the conversion.  

The idea -- which was years in the making -- aims to create more conversions, converse with customers, and provide an omnichannel inbox that lets them tie in main messaging tools.

The company “crystalized” in 2019 after he sold GatherUp. The transition and the pandemic left him questioning why not build the company now. He raised a small angle round and put in his own funding to launch the company.

Website owners open a dashboard where they can see all the customer communications. Employees can tag a specific customer to continue the relationship through a chat box when they land on a business website.

The chat box could request that the consumer leave a phone number, for example, and Leadferno will send an automated message on behalf of the business to start the conversation.

Google has a messaging or chat feature in Google My Business. Integration with Leadferno will launch within the next six to eight weeks.  

“SMS text messaging isn’t new, but texting with customers is in the early days of rollout,” he says. “Changes in communication are scary, when it comes to thinking about how to adopt it.”

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