Customer Engagement Platform
Developing and maintaining a brand personality is a crucial factor in business success, and creating a customer engagement platform is one of the most important steps in the development of any brand. Our client asked us to build an exclusive online platform for consumers of their tobacco products. The idea was to create a website that has various entertaining activities, including short videos, a quiz, and games for which users earn points. After passing each activity, a user gets a certain amount of points. When they reach a particular score, they can participate in a competition to win a grand prize. A prize is ruffled several times a year during “waves.”
Challenges faced
The main challenge was to craft a customer engagement platform where everything from design to functionality would correspond to the brand’s personality. In this manner, whenever a user visits this website, he or she should instantly recognize the company it belongs to on an unconscious level.
There also were a few challenges connected with technical realization. The web platform itself was supposed to be a closed website that cannot be accessed from a search engine by non-customer users.
Additionally, the website includes video materials that give users bonus points when they watch them from the beginning until the end. Our development team should have ensured that users won’t cheat and skip the video to earn quick points.
OUR APPROACH
The approach that we followed was based on continuous communication with our client. We conducted sprints each week to check successfully passed milestones and agree on our further goals. We also used email, instant messaging and project management tools on a regular basis to discuss any minor issues when they occurred.
The project requirements were reviewed and changed several times due to technical issues that arose during the development process. And it was that constant communication that helped us adapt and came up with the best possible solution.
FEATURES IMPLEMENTED
The website that we created has four separate sections for each of the entertainment activities.
- The first section includes videos for which viewers earn points. Our developers made sure that the videos cannot be skipped, testing it on different devices and screen resolutions.
- In the second section, users can prove that they really consume tobacco products of the company. They can enter a barcode number from the cigarette package into the blank and earn bonus points if the verification was successful.
- For the third section, we developed a mini web game where users can create music tracks using an interface that resembles phonographs and thus earns bonus points.
- The final section includes a tree-structured quiz that can be customized for each wave. When passing the quiz, a user ultimately gets a particular result depending on his or her choices.
For the front-end, we decided on React.js as it has a good syntax that allows creating a simple and clean code. Besides, since it uses virtual DOM, websites built with React demonstrate faster and smoother performance.
As for the back-end, our choice fell on Laravel. This framework provides maximum security since it uses hashed and salted passwords and is safe from a range of threats. It also offers easy unit testing and various pre-built functions that facilitate the development process.
VALUE DELIVERED
Not only did we satisfy all customer requirements to the last detail, but we also came up with a design that perfectly reflects the brand’s identity, which is crucial for any successful customer engagement platform. Besides, thanks to conveniently integrated Google Analytics, the company can now keep track of the number of visitors, as well as their performance and preferences when using the platform. This allows our client to understand which areas need to be changed or improved.
The website that we created is an exciting entertaining platform by itself, and it also allows people to benefit from their daily habits. And since we implemented a special notification system that alerts users about coming waves, they can never miss their chance to win a grand prize.
EXPERIENCE GAINED
It was a somewhat extraordinary experience for our company. The topic of smoking is quite controversial nowadays and carries negative connotations. However, we learned how to extract the most positive aspects of the case and present them in the best light. We definitely advanced our approaches to communicating with our clients and deal with a number of issues while being connected only digitally. Our team has also deepened their technical expertise and learned new ways of how to solve problematic situations. We are eager to apply the acquired knowledge in future projects.