“The job to improve is never finished,” said Aaron Lee, CEO of Smith.ai, a firm specializing in automated voice systems. His statement reflects the mentality seen across the board with software technology providers within the flooring industry. Their goal is to offer retailers continuous updates and improvements to not only help retailers operate more efficiently and streamline their day-to-day operations, but to also increase their profitability in the process. FCNews spoke with the industry’s top technology companies to learn about their latest innovations.
BROADLUME
To better serve shoppers’ desire for convenience, Broadlume recently launched its Digital Retailing program. In a nutshell, this new technology allows shoppers to complete most of the transaction online and finalize it in a showroom. Customers can self-educate with materials available online, visualize merchandise in their homes and order product samples directly to their doorstep. With this system, retailers are more likely to accomplish higher close rates and an increase in sales as they engage with knowledgeable, ready-to-buy shoppers.
“Customers like to shop in their underwear or on weekends, and we’ve seen leads come in at 7 or 8 o’clock at night,” said Josh Crossgrove, head of sales at Simplified Flooring, Lima, Ohio. “One of those leads came through our website, used our Digital Retailing tools, and it resulted in a $26,000 sale. She came into the store just one time.”
Every successful transaction is stored inside Broadlume’s DealerHQ. Retailers can easily view the most visualized products, track the delivery of sample orders and view every essential data point within the shopping journey.
CYNCLY
Cyncly, a global market leader in end-to-end software and content solutions, is parent company to a host of software firms and web-based service providers that offer tools tailored for the flooring industry.
These include Mobile Marketing, a leading technology-led web services and digital marketing provider focused on helping flooring retailers to establish, manage and measure their online presence. Through a single solution, dealers can increase brand awareness, expand customer engagement and loyalty and boost lead generation. The company offers tailored websites, e-commerce tools and digital advertising solutions, including social media management, SEO and paid search. The acquisition of Mobile Marketing enhances Cyncly’s flooring offerings, delivering an integrated solution across the customer journey. It begins with website and digital engagement and continues through customer relationship management, measurement and estimation.
Another provider in Cyncly’s portfolio is Pacific Solutions, which provides software solutions tailored to commercial and residential flooring, helping dealers and contractors maximize efficiencies. Pacific Solutions’ products, JobRunner and FloorManager are ERP solutions equipped with operational, sales and accounting management tools for improved financial reporting accuracy.
QFLOORS
QFloors’ QConnect integration software now allows communication between QFloors and other external programs such as retailers’ websites, messaging applications and room visualizers to transfer data back and forth.
“We wanted to make things more efficient for our customers,” said Chad Ogden, QFloors CEO. “An independent program used to collect leads, for example, can now send the customer’s information directly into QFloors through QConnect. And vice versa; in-house specials or up-to-date inventory available within QFloors can be delivered directly to a retailer’s website so things are always up to date.”
In addition, QFloors has made improvements to QPay, an elite credit card program that can accept all forms of payment, including ACH and wire transfers. Information such as the sales order number and invoice number can autofill to save time, and surcharging can be easily incorporated. Plus, retailers can customize the payment page to include their logo, address and more. But perhaps the biggest time saver is the newly enhanced integration between QPay and QFloors, which allows the two platforms to more easily communicate.
Ogden said that having full control of the software, the pricing, technical support issues and integrations have resulted in lower costs for customers, fewer complaints and an overall higher customer satisfaction.
ROOMVO
The visuals within Roomvo’s visualizer tool available on the Roomvo assistant and Roomvo sites has been significantly enhanced. Customers can now experiment with various floors, walls and even grout lines in the product catalogue for a more accurate depiction of what the project will look like once completed.
Another new addition is the “Compare Feature” within the visualizer tool, which allows consumers to split the photo of any room in half to see various flooring, wall or countertop products side by side.
“We wanted to make the online shopping experience come to life no matter where people are shopping,” said Brandon Shidlowski, senior director of strategy. “At least 87% of consumers start their buying journey online.”
In addition, Roomvo Sites customers now have improved searchability by using SEO-friendly URLs to attract more people to their websites. Retailers can also create custom coupons and customizable lead-capture forms to receive more information about the leads generated.
“Retailers will know someone’s location or the products they were viewing before reaching out,” Shidlowski added. “Knowing this information will equip a retailer to know exactly what that customer needs, which improves closing rates and reduces the time it takes to close a deal.”
In the near future, consumers will be able to order product samples directly from a retailer’s website to their doorstep. This new function is currently being tested in a pilot program on Roomvo Sites only.
SMITH.AI
Smith.ai is a professional answering and customer engagement service assisted by AI technologies that can respond to customer inquiries made via text message, online chat and phone calls. They recently implemented GPT-4 technology, also known as Generative Pre-Trained Transformers, to the AI chatbot so it can understand a wider variation of language to better assist shoppers.
“We previously had to predict exactly what each customer was going to type,” said Aaron Lee, Smith.ai’s CEO. “Even though ‘How much does it cost?’ and ‘What is the price?’ are asking the same question, the machine would freeze because it couldn’t recognize certain words or phrases. The bot can now understand a copious amount of language to get customers the information they need.”
According to Lee, any businesses that utilize Smith.ai technology tend to see a quick increase in revenue and customer satisfaction because every single lead is answered accurately and in a timely fashion. “Our clients see an uptick in business because they already have people who are interested in their services,” he explained. “Now they have around-the-clock coverage so interested consumers are met with immediate satisfaction.”
