Building a better website (Pt. 2 of 4)
Respond to more RFQs faster
This might sound like a big “duh.” Of course if you turned quotes around faster, you could onboard more jobs and customers. But who is going to pay for the extra engineer you’d need to do that in the meantime?
You don’t need another engineer to respond to more RFQs.
Automated quoting is another feature that’s rapidly becoming the industry norm. The beauty of this technology is that it:
• Is consistent and close to 100% accurate
• Allows you take advantage of idle machine time by responding to and fulfilling more orders around the clock
• Is advanced enough to make repairs to models in real time and provide fair pricing
How does it work?
Generally, when today’s customer is searching for a shop to make their prototype or part, they have a file that they’d normally attach to an email RFQ.
With automated quoting, customers can upload their file directly to your website to get an instant quote. The quote automation software works in the background to do real-time healing and repair. The interface (what your customer sees) lets them view their model at different angles, work on multiple models at the same time, choose materials and quantity, and make other customizations.
Once the customer has made their selections, the automation software’s pricing algorithm puts the customers inputs together and provides them with an instant quote.
Next, just like your customer wants a fast and self-service option for quoting, they also want a way to place and pay for their order instantly. Subscribing to an e-commerce platform for your shop can provide your customers with just this, allowing you to close sales quickly without any back-and-forth via email or phone.
Once the model upload, selections, and specifications outlined above are complete, the last step is payment.
Similar to how the pricing algorithm in the automated quoting process calculates the order inputs, the final payment can also be calculated with delivery options, local and international taxes and currencies, and more. Just like any other online shopping experience, your customer gets a grand total for which they enter their credit card info, and voila: a converted customer and a closed sale, in a matter of minutes.
No more emails back and forth. No more customers waiting around for you to get back to them. No need to call them about minor feasibility issues. It’s all done in one streamlined, digital experience.
This article is an excerpt from our guidebook: What is your website really telling customers?
