Achieves sustainability goals and enhances customer engagement with Seismic

The Challenge

Reduce content distribution costs and enhance content delivery

GEFA Fabritz is a 30-year-old family-owned company in the gardening and landscaping sector focused on fully green growth. GEFA focuses on delivering everything needed for established and newly planted trees to thrive, which includes tree securing, watering, and providing nutrients and fertilisers. They work closely with clients, including landscape architects and contractors, to ensure successful tree planting and maintenance in various environments, including urban areas with infrastructure challenges.

Bert Habrich, CEO at GEFA Fabritz, outlined the fundamental changes he wanted to drive to impact the business and support the company’s mission. As a company focused on green growth, GEFA aims to reduce the environmental footprint associated with printing and mailing catalogues, which are both costly and less sustainable. GEFA also wanted to improve the complex sales process, which involves projects that span several years. The sales process required effective collaboration with landscape architects and the ability to provide detailed information, documents, and pricing updates throughout the various stages of the projects.

GEFA needed a solution for more efficient and environmentally friendly communication. By implementing Seismic, GEFA focused on saving time and reducing costs associated with the manual distribution of printed materials and information while making the sales process more efficient.

The Solution

Driving operational optimisation by digitally automating the production of content

With a focus on sustainability, the company aimed to reduce its carbon footprint, considering the environmental impact of its digital tools and printed resources. GEFA also needed more insights into customer interactions with their printed materials, like catalogue section views.

To address these challenges, the company leveraged Seismic, an innovative platform that enabled tailored and efficient communication. They took strategic steps to reduce the number of printed catalogues sent out, initiating a shift towards digital distribution. The company created a form on its website, allowing clients to opt for digital or printed versions, aiming to transition to 75 to 80% digital distribution.

Through Seismic, the company achieved remarkable outcomes. By reducing the number of printed catalogues by 50%, GEFA realised over 45,000 Euros in cost savings from reduced printing and shipping expenses. Moreover, Seismic’s digital distribution not only aided in cost reduction but also significantly contributed to measuring the company’s carbon footprint reduction, aligning with its sustainability objectives.

“Every catalogue costs us around 5 euros to send. We spend about 90,000 euros a year only on distributing and printing catalogues. If we can reduce costs again by 50% next year, we can reinvest those savings into our people,” said Bert Habrich, CEO at GEFA Fabritz.

Bert emphasised the importance of tracking customer engagement metrics facilitated by Seismic, a capability absent in traditional print distribution methods. “When you send catalogues through the post, you never know whether it has reached the intended recipient. Sometimes, catalogues are returned because the company has moved or no longer exists. However, by sending digital catalogues with Seismic, it is possible to track the opening rate and understand the campaign’s success.”

Delivering a better buyer experience with Digital Sales Rooms

GEFA needed help managing and disseminating a substantial volume of product information across various formats, such as digital catalogues, videos, and certificates. The pivotal need was to efficiently organise this information for the sales and client support teams while ensuring easy accessibility.

During peak seasons, the company needed help effectively communicating with clients, facing the daunting task of generating a high volume of proposals and promptly responding to client queries. The urgency was to swiftly and individually address client requests, delivering precise information promptly. Different team members resorted to diverse communication tools and methods, leading to consistency in sharing information with clients.

With Seismic, GEFA aimed to provide relevant content, track engagement, and facilitate seamless two-way communication. Seismic also became a tool to help alleviate stress and enhance employee satisfaction by streamlining workflows and reducing repetitive tasks.

“We employed Seismic to craft customisable Digital Sales Rooms tailored to specific customer segments, fostering a more personalised client experience,” said Habrich. The previous struggle with multi-channel communication found resolution as Digital Sales Rooms enabled GEFA to interact with clients through various channels according to their preferences, significantly enhancing the overall customer experience.

Seismic revolutionised the proposal creation process, especially during the peak season when a seller grappled with generating over 100 proposals daily—Seismic’s functionality streamlined access to content vital for proposal creation.

“The value of Seismic is perhaps most evident in its benefit to our clients; they obtain all necessary information on demand, tailored to their individual needs,” said Habrich.

Seismic empowered the company to track and measure customer engagement with digital catalogues, offering valuable insights into customer preferences and interests. These enhanced insights facilitated the identification of promising leads and provided direction for sales and marketing strategies. The analytics capabilities of Seismic became instrumental in assessing the impact of digital initiatives, encompassing content engagement, cost savings, and the environmental benefits stemming from reduced printed materials.