BERLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--eKomi, the worldwide feedback solutions provider, introduced at DMEXCO its latest game changing product to help businesses capture feedback online: SMS Review Generation. Through this new service eKomi, who in 2015 received a strategic investment from Goldman Sachs, will enable merchants of all sizes to request customer reviews and feedback via SMS text message.
"Our experience shows that businesses who collect the most feedback tend to be the most successful online, therefore our R&D team are always looking at means to accelerate review collection and to make customer insights easy to collect. Requesting reviews via SMS message was a natural progression to provide choice and ease of use for consumers to leave merchant feedback," Michael Ambros, eKomi co-founder and CEO commented.
Research studies show that people react far more frequently to SMS messages when compared to traditional email collection methods. SMS has a final read rate of 98% on average and 90% of SMS messages are read within the first 3 seconds of receipt.*
Ambros expanded further on how this translates to generating high review volumes by saying, "During our beta trial of SMS review requests, we saw outstanding review generation rates. For example, a London minicab company used our SMS review service and saw 56% of sent messages converting into reviews. The end result was over 2,500 reviews indexed and recognized by Google along with an average rating of 4.7 stars which can now be proudly displayed alongside their Google AdWords campaigns and alongside certain organic listings to boost conversion and lower their advertising costs."
On 30th August, Google published changes to its policy on the number of reviews required to display seller ratings (up to five gold stars) next to Google listings. Previously the rule was 30 reviews over a rolling twelve-month period; this has now increased to 150 reviews making eKomi's SMS Collection Service vitally relevant for businesses to speedily act upon. This change has seen many SMB businesses with 30-149 reviews lose their coveted Google Stars. Simon Woods, GM & VP of Global SMB Sales commented, "Since this policy change from Google, we've seen many of our own customers and those using other review solutions contacting us for help and advice on how to get their Google Seller Rating (Stars) back. With our Account Management team providing expert advice on optimizing existing collection methods such as email, tablet and pop-up review requests, many merchants are seeing the high response rates from SMS reviews, which achieve up to 5x the response from email as a fast solution to reinstate their Google Stars.”
To coincide with the formal launch of the revolutionary SMS service at DMEXCO and to support SMBs who are facing challenges since this policy change, eKomi is offering their new SMS service at a 50% discount for the next two months. New and existing eKomi customers can add on this service for as little as €10 per month.
Added Michael Ambros, "At eKomi we've always been champions of business growth and consumer feedback. We want to help businesses get vital feedback and the marketing benefits associated with powerful Google Seller ratings, so we want to make this generous 50% off SMS review collection offer available to all prospective and existing eKomi customers who wish to add the service as well as to other businesses using alternative review services that can no longer get enough reviews to retain their Google Stars." DMEXCO attendees can visit the eKomi exhibits in Hall 9, Stand C-014 as well as Hall 7, Stand A55-B58.
Notes to Editors:
For more information related to SMS data source findings, please refer to the Mobile Intelligence Review report: http://info.dynmark.com/hs-fs/hub/307137/file-650880813-pdf/whitepapers/Intelligence_Review_Edition2.pdf
About eKomi
eKomi The Feedback Company was founded in 2008 by Michael Ambros and is Europe’s premier and largest independent SaaS provider of transaction-based reviews & ratings and customer experience management. As a Goldman Sachs backed firm and Google worldwide partner with over 200 employees and headquartered in Berlin with additional offices in London, Paris, Madrid, and the US, eKomi has gathered and published well over 40 million reviews for customers. More than 14,000 companies worldwide successfully leverage eKomi´s social commerce solution to strengthen trust, increase sales, reduce returns, and drive organic traffic through genuine user generated content. eKomi´s groundbreaking social commerce technology enables businesses to generate customer and product reviews as well as social recommendations, thereby creating viral effects on websites and social media, while search engine integration allows for an immediate revenue-generating impact for business. For more information and to take advantage of this offer or arrange a demo, please visit http://www.ekomi.com
