Mike LaTour co-founder of Soundwave Art, an innovative business that creates individual and eye-catching art from sound. He uses HelpfulCrowd to collect more customer reviews and inform decisions around his business. Here’s his story with HelpfulCrowd.
Mike spent 17 years working in the music industry, working in independent record stores when they were still the go-to place for discovering new music. He still looks back on those days fondly.
During a time when the industry started to change and streaming started to surge, it became apparent to Mike that it might be time to consider a different path. While it wasn’t immediately obvious as to which career path he would choose, a summer evening spent with friends was to prove enlightening.
“We were discussing sound wave patterns and thought it might be interesting if there was a way to turn them into artwork. The next day I couldn’t get this thought out of my head and started to do some research. There was nothing like this on the market and in a matter of months, the discussion went from concept through to a website launch” says Mike.
For Mike and his business partner, coming up with a name and creating a registered business was the easy part. The hard part was how to advertise a business that creates a product that people don’t even know exists?
The product in itself is unique. Put simply, Soundwave allows anyone to become an artist by turning their voice into a custom piece of art. It’s something personal that comes from the heart. The beauty of this creative idea proved popular with friends and family, and things started to grow.
It was early 2012, and Mike was juggling this new business vision with a full time job. It was slow going in those early days with most orders coming from the United States and arising largely from word of mouth marketing. After buying out his business partner and leaving his job, Mike forged ahead to grow the business. He developed a mobile app to scan and play the artwork using augmented reality. This allowed customers to not only create something from their voice but also to play and share it for their loved one. The feature also plays a video by overlaying the video on top of the artwork through a mobile device. This was the wow factor he had been looking for.
“With the product on the right track, we needed to build credibility. While people have no problem purchasing products online, they still need to trust a brand. HelpfulCrowd proved the real game changer when it came to building that trust.”
Mike knew that customer reviews were a proven way to build trust with customers, and over the past decade, the importance of reviews has only increased. While he tried a number of customer review platforms, each failed to offer the right solution for Soundwave Art.
“HelpfulCrowd changed everything. It integrated with our website quickly and I was able to import the few reviews we had collected up to that point. I configured the settings to match our brand and we were off and running.”
Soundwave Art started with a HelpfulCrowd free plan and quickly realized the difference between them and other platforms.
“The number of features, controls and triggers I found were unmatched by any of the other platforms I tried. The best part was how HelpfulCrowd listen to their customers too. I contacted them with ideas I thought could be useful for the overall user experience and was surprised and impressed when they actually implemented them.”
The HelpfulCrowd platform has helped Soundwave Art to not only collect more customer reviews but also to better understand their customers. They can use the platform to identify patterns of customer behavior, identify what is working well and what isn’t.
“HelpfulCrowd provides you with information that is so beneficial, as long as you listen to your customers.”
The review platform didn’t just help Soundwave Art sell more within the United States, but also to expand their offering to over 50 countries.
While the benefits are clear, Mike is under no illusion about the reality of review collection. He describes it as “no simple task” for those who have not yet tried. A customer can have the best experience, yet never leave a review. This can happen for many reasons – some people just don’t care or feel they have time, others avoid leaving a review because the process is complicated or overly time consuming.
“We have made the process simple for our customers. We configure the process that works best for our use, our customers automatically receive a review request a few days after they receive their order. With the click of a button, we have the feedback we were hoping for and can then display this to drive more sales.”
The media review tool is a feature most celebrated by Soundwave Art. The ability for their customers to add photo or video content when leaving a review is making a big impact. For a brand like this, visuals matter. These media-rich reviews can be shared across social media channels and within marketing campaigns.
The final word
“Some important things to consider when selecting a review platform is the ease of use, style and design, price and features. For us here at Soundwave Art, HelpfulCrowd has covered all these and more.
HelpfulCrowd not only makes collecting customer reviews simple, but it’s also essential in building trust. There is no doubt in my mind that they’ve helped my business grow. I can’t say it enough, I love this platform.”
Learn more about Soundwave Art
Visit www.soundwaveart.com to learn more.
