Helping businesses capture customer feedback and strengthening their reputation. How the Ukrainian startup Revisior works

In our recurring Who Are These People segment, Vector offers founders the opportunity to discuss their projects, covering aspects such as their products, marketing strategies, monetisation, investments, and business plans. The focus this time is on Revisior, a Ukrainian startup, whose services combine a multi-channel feedback service with a customer experience management system. Revisior’s mission is to improve quality of service by helping businesses capture customer feedback and strengthening their reputations.

Editor-in-chief Yuliia Tkach interviewed Revisior’s CEO and co-founder Serhii Shapirenko about the product’s features, promotion, investments, and business plans.

Conception

The startup has two founders:

• Serhii Shapirenko, CEO. He has been involved in the design industry for approximately 12 years and has run an international online clothing and underwear store for about five years. 
• Serhii Holoborodko, CTO. He brings more than 15 years of experience developing various IT projects.

Serhii Shapirenko’s experience in the retail industry inspired him to embark on a startup venture. He reflects that during that time, he understood the important role that service plays in achieving business success: «By gathering feedback through multiple communication channels, we were able to consistently improve both our product offerings and service quality. At that time, we used multiple services to manage and enhance the customer experience».

In 2017, they founders came up with the concept for a product that would ease feedback collection and boost service quality for businesses. It has since undergone two pivots to this day. Revizion, the first product, was introduced in 2019. The team’s initial focus was on the hospitality sector, with their first customers being restaurants in Zhytomyr, the co-founders’ hometown. At that point, the team was small, and Serhii personally took on the role of selling the product. «In my opinion, the founder should be the ones making the first sales to gain valuable insights into the process, handle objections, understanding customer needs, and effectively communicating that experience to future sales teams», — Serhii stated.

He says that within the first month of the launch, they connected with 10 customers and started receiving payments. Then the world was hit by COVID-19, leading to tough times for the hospitality sector.

«Having lost nearly 90% of our customers, we had to redirect our focus to other businesses, particularly in retail», — Serhii said. It was at that point that we made our first pivot.

After redesigning the product and receiving our first grant from USF worth EUR 50,000, we regained nearly all our customers and attracted many new ones by 2021.

Since the start of the full-scale war, we lost about 95% of our customers in Ukraine. We started searching for ways to keep the business afloat and move forward, and in April, we were chosen from 1,280 startups globally to join the Berkeley SkyDeck International Accelerator Program, ranking among the top 20 startups». 

During the same period, the team received pre-seed investment from Lendlease, an Italian venture capital fund. The funding allowed us to make our second pivot, which involved a complete rebranding and the customisation of our product for the European market. As a result, 2022 saw the launch of a brand-new product named Revisior.

The team currently includes 17 members and is seeking to recruit an SMM manager and sales representatives for the Polish market. The company is set to increase the development team and establish a marketing department in the near future.

Product and audience

Revisior is a multi-channel feedback service and customer experience management system.

The product collects and consolidates customer feedback from every communication channel into a central hub. The system also enables the administration of customer and employee surveys through multiple contact points, such as QR codes, SMS, email, call centres, etc. Revisior uses SLA and automation tools to process reviews and handle complaints within 24 hours, before they become public. Through the use of detailed analytics, segmentation, and semantic analysis, businesses are provided with targeted recommendations to improve their service quality. 

Serhii explains: «From the consumer’s perspective, the process is quite straightforward: after making a purchase or interacting with the company, they receive a request to leave a review. The request is made available as a QR code, a widget on the website, or links sent via messenger, email, or through push notifications in an app. The consumer accesses a satisfaction and loyalty survey by clicking the link in their browser. 

When the experience is positive, the company can duplicate the review on Google Maps, which helps improve its online reputation. Each review is promptly sent to the personal account of the team member responsible for the feedback and communicated via messenger. 

The team member reaches out to the consumer, addresses the complaint, and logs the solution in the Revisior system. The director or business owner views detailed service analytics along with recommendations for improvement on user-friendly dashboards in their personal account. For businesses that collect feedback through their own channels, our OpenAPI facilitates the integration of this data into a single Revisior system».

According to the co-founder, in just three years, Revisior has collected over 15 million reviews and facilitated the resolution of about 4 million complaints. The startup’s current portfolio encompasses over 100 brands, including MEEST, BAT, Ukrzaliznytsia, New Balance, Pandora, Nova Global, Varus, Fozzy Group and many more.

«We envision our ideal customer as a small to medium-sized business that incorporates an e-commerce element. Imagine the impact of losing over a third of your customers in a single day, as studies show that 32% of all customers would stop doing business with a brand they loved after one bad experience. What will happen if you disregard customer complaints? Research shows that 92% of customers will completely abandon a company after two or three negative experiences. A striking 86% of consumers will not consider a company for business if it has too many negative reviews.

Our solution enables businesses to:

1. streamline marketing expenditures, given that retaining a current customer costs ten times less than bringing in a new one;
2. win back as much as 30% of lost customers (supported by data from a survey conducted among our clientèle);
3. foster loyalty among existing customers. Control the emergence of negativity in social media platforms, or significantly minimize its occurrence;
4. use the service to gain a competitive advantage for your business. The product also helps draw in new clientèle by cultivating a strong reputation and encouraging testimonials from satisfied customers».

The service is currently available in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, and other European countries.

Business model and marketing strategy

Revisior is based on the B2B SaaS business model. Subscribers can choose between monthly or annual payment options. The price depends on the quantity, representing the value offered to the customer. Packages designed for small businesses start at UAH 1,500 and come with one feedback channel included.

We also offer solutions for medium and large businesses that feature unlimited feedback channels, comprehensive analytics, and detailed service reporting. The monthly fee is based on the number of reviews: UAH 7,000 for up to 500 reviews, UAH 14,000 for up to 1,000 reviews, and UAH 25,000 for up to 5,000 reviews.

The startup’s current marketing focus is on bolstering the brand’s reputation through promotions on personal social media pages, hosting service-related conferences, and engaging in other PR activities. They aim to roll out contextual advertising and social media campaigns soon.

Investments 

In total, Revisior has raised approximately USD 650,000 over the past three years. Angel and venture capital investments represent half of the total funding, with the rest raised via non-equity financing through grants. 

Their goal is to raise USD 500,000 in a Seed round over the upcoming six months. The investment will be allocated to implement the Go-To-Market strategy and boost sales in Europe.

Plans

«Revisior’s mission is to improve the quality of service by assisting businesses in capturing customer feedback and strengthening their reputation. Our vision is to enable 1,000,000 businesses worldwide to improve their service quality.

• We strive to offer the best global solution for service management and improvement in the next five to seven years.
• In the mid-term (one to three years): we plan to enter the UK and US markets.
• In the short term (one year): we aim to grow our presence in Central and Eastern Europe», — summarises Serhii Shapirenko.