As so many of our customers we got to know Torge from Checkdomain through a customer support ticket he sent through a while ago. Whenever someone sends through a question or has an issue, we usually check out their website and try to learn a bit about what they do and how elevio can help them. Getting to know your customers is always a good thing – it means you can serve them better if you understand what they’re trying to achieve by using your product or service.
So after building a relationship with Torge, I reached out again and we had a more in-depth chat about great marketing and customer support. Also, Torge’s office break must be the best office break ever! Read on to find out more. It’s making us all pretty jealous.
Johannes
Torge
How did Checkdomain come about?
About 17 years ago Johannes registered the domain checkdomain.de and put a domain check on it just for the fun of it. When more and more people began asking if they could register domains through checkdomain as well, he just started to offer it at some point. However, it was only when someone registered about 1.000 domains in one day that Johannes started to fully focus on this project and checkdomain was really born as a company.
What are your responsibilities within the company and what does a usual day look like for you?
I am heading the small marketing team. We’re handling paid channels, SEO, social/blog, testing, press, newsletters, customer satisfaction and everything else that helps in getting us new customers and retaining existing ones. There really is no usual day for me as there are so many different things to do.
How do you find clients and how do they find you?
Since we’re not doing outreach, clients tend to find us rather than the other way around. We are of course helping them to do so e.g. through SEO and SEA. Our biggest channels are actually search and recommendations.
What’s the best thing that’s happened to you since using Elevio?
The best thing for us is that customers really appreciate the help we’re offering them. Many customers have told us already how great our support works for them and how well integrated everything is (thanks to elev.io). This appreciation really is the best thing that’s happened to us.
What’s the one piece of advice you’d give to people who are about to start an online business?
It depends on the business itself of course. But for us and most other businesses the advice is: Don’t think too much about getting new customers. When you focus on building a great product and retaining the clients that you have (by giving them value and fantastic support) others will follow.
How relevant is website support to your business compared to other practical business needs?
Very important. Our “Fantastic Support” is what sets us apart from other companies. It is the single most important USP that we have.
Who were the first people to use your service/product? What have you learnt from each other?
We’ve learned many lessons over time and still do so every day, most of which we learn through customer feedback. Currently our mission is to make things even easier for customers by offering 1-click installs of apps like WordPress, making it easy to connect your domain to external services and integrating a simple website builder. This is because customers keep telling us that it is still hard for them to build their online presence.
How do you make sure your customers are happy? How do you define customer happiness and how can you measure it creatively?
We are doing the “normal” stuff like sending out surveys after clients had a support interaction and a yearly survey including for example NPS. I think in order to make your customers happy the most important thing is that everyone in the company focuses on exactly that. So when you’re prioritizing DEV projects you always have to think “Does this help our customers? Is this what customers want and need?”. The same goes for promotions, newsletters and marketing in general. The goal should not be to sell stuff but to offer a solution to a problem that people have and do it well. By aligning all our employees and everything we do around this customer-centricity we try to make people happy.
What does your perfect office break look like?
Inflating my SUP board and go out on the river!
Thanks Torge!
If you’re keen to be featured on elevio’s customer support blog reach out and let us know why you’d be a great fit for a case study.