Digital feedback on the latest haircut

The traditional Swiss company GIDOR SA is committed to reacting quickly to customer feedback. Thanks to the implementation of the managed software service "GooFee", there are no more problems with the central administration of Google reviews.

Was the contact person competent and friendly? What is the price-performance ratio? Is the quality promise advertised on the website kept? A few minutes after a service has been used, stars are often already being awarded and written feedback or photos posted on online platforms. The new generations of consumers expect quickly available and reliable information. At the same time, companies have a duty to answer questions within the shortest possible time and to address criticism without delay. "The opinion of our customers is very important to us. That's why we strive to process both personal and online feedback as quickly as possible," says Florije Aliji, Online Marketing Manager at GIDOR SA, the traditional Swiss hairdressing company with over ten brands and more than 120 locations.

A key tool in monitoring online feedback for GIDOR SA is the Google My Business platform. The interface provided by Google bundles various functions for maintaining customer relationships and is linked to Google Maps and Analytics, among other things. However, Google My Business cannot currently provide full functionality for a profile of more than ten locations; for example, it lacks automatic notification of submitted customer feedback. "For this reason, we were forced to divide our locations into several profiles and manually check for new feedback or questions," reports Florije Aliji.

Problem identified thanks to digital analysis

As GIDOR SA has been dealing with technological change in the industry for a long time, this problem came on the agenda with a high priority. The company was supported by Martin Regli (Passion4IT) and Simon Kilchmann (Xelon) in the course of a digital analysis in spring 2018. In numerous interviews across the various departments of the company, hot spots were localized and from this a project roadmap with strategic recommendations for action was drafted. "For a service giant like GIDOR SA, functioning customer feedback management is central. For this reason, those responsible for marketing were also very keen to resolve this issue as quickly as possible," says Simon Kilchmann.

Google offers the possibility of reading out and editing company data in an application via the My Business API. Xelon took advantage of this and then coordinated with Bitcat to implement the GooFee managed software service for GIDOR SA, enabling instant analysis of Google reviews across all sites. GooFee reads the public Google data on the connected sites in real time via the API. This data is then evaluated and further processed by the end user.

"Thanks to Xelon, we can thus react quickly to Google reviews for the first time and obtain evaluations across the entire group," says a delighted Florije Aliji. If new sites are added, GooFee is easily expandable. This flexibility is central to GIDOR SA. GIDOR SA employees and customers were also pleased with the newly implemented software.

Respond flexibly to new challenges

The collaboration with Xelon has been extremely positive: "Xelon is able to quickly grasp problems and present sensible solutions," says Florije Aliji. GIDOR SA also appreciates the fact that the Zug-based technology startup is close to the customer during the implementation phase and can therefore react flexibly to any changes or new challenges. Xelon is characterized by individual customer care and tailor-made products.

Just as with a trusted hairdresser, the interpersonal aspect plays an important role when choosing an IT partner. It should go without saying that the provider can be counted on in an emergency and that the direct contact person is always up to date. Communication is central to this: "We have heard several times from customers that many IT companies do not communicate at eye level. Instead of explanations or answers, only empty phrases are put forward and key questions remain unanswered. This is exactly where Xelon comes in: Our customers can contact us at any time with ideas, questions or doubts," explains Xelon CEO Michael Dudli. This openness led to Xelon not only carrying out the originally agreed project for GIDOR SA, but additionally solving an urgent problem in the area of customer relationship management after a groundbreaking conversation.

GIDOR SA includes over 100 GIDOR Coiffure branches, the clickandcare.ch internet store, the GIDOR Academy and various other coiffure and beauty brands. The entire group employs over 1200 people. Of these, over 250 prospective hairdressers are trained, making GIDOR SA the most important employer in the industry.