2 min read
Having a rental doormat in your busy entrance and having it changed often can mean a world of difference for a small business. When the weather gets wet and dirty, properly sized mats as a service reduce the time and money spent on cleaning, and clean spaces support a positive company image.
Key objectives
Lindström Group had renewed their inbound marketing and sales processes to increase their mat service sales. The next logical step to further scale those activities was to transfer the actual purchasing decision into online channels.
A new growth opportunity had been recognised with B2B SMEs, the long tail segment. We took on the challenge of digitalising the sales process of Lindström’s mats service for small and medium-sized companies. Digitalising this sales process was recognised to be an essential driver for increasing overall sales efficiency: Smaller clients could be served better by providing an easy-to-use order channel. At the same time, salespeople should be able to focus more on serving bigger clients.
Our objective was to conceptualise, design, and implement a minimum viable product of the new service that would be so easy to use that it would drive the recognised sales efficiency objectives.
Cooperation with Columbia Road was excellent. We managed to go from initially recognised customer needs to first real sales in just a few weeks.
Erkka Lilja, Head of Process Digitalisation, Lindström Group
Our approach
Together with Lindström Group and their partners, we analysed the initial customer needs that were researched and then conceptualised the new mats service. We did not want to create a full-blown webshop but to create a web service through which entrepreneurs and SMEs can sign up for a mat subscription service that suits their needs with just a few clicks. The service was planned to include a customisable configurator which sends the order data directly to Lindström’s Hubspot Marketing automation solution.
The new mats service was prototyped and tested with real potential customers and iterated based on the feedback. When it came to implementation, we decided to utilise a custom JavaScript framework inside WordPress. This approach allowed us to have maximum customizability of the sales configurator but also a familiar maintenance interface for Lindström.
Throughout the project, we worked closely with Lindström Group and their partners in digital marketing and marketing automation. This tight cooperation was essential for successfully implementing and launching the new service.
Impact
We launched the new mats service right on time to address the seasonal demand of autumn. The first rainy days and the partners’ SEM and SEO efforts brought in the first mats service sales conversions.
Columbia Road is continuing the work with Lindström Group and their partners to develop this new minimum viable product even further. The focus is on increasing sales in the channel. Further development is heavily based on web analytics data and hypotheses around user behaviour.
Further plans include scaling the new mats service to Lindström Group’s other key markets.