E-commerce Germany Awards Interviews: GUURU Solutions

Welcome to our exclusive interview series highlighting winners of the E-commerce Germany Awards 2024. This esteemed event recognizes remarkable excellence, dedication, and significant achievements within the e-commerce sector. It provides a platform to celebrate the visionaries propelling the industry forward with their innovative solutions and groundbreaking ideas.

Today we share our conversation with Jutta Stienen, Head of Marketing at GUURU Solutions. Let’s read about their winning service – The Community Advice Solution which connects advice-seeking shoppers to customers.

EGN: Could you describe your company in a few words?

Jutta Stienen: GUURU is all about connecting people who have the same passion. According to a trust survey by Nielsen in 2021, 88% of consumers trust peer recommendations above all other forms of marketing messaging. That’s why we have developed a community platform for shoppers to connect with passionate customers for live conversations. We want to enable strong brands to offer their online shoppers a true feeling of belonging, strengthen their identification with the brand, and provide well-wanted social proof in real-time without having to leave the online store.

EGN: What was the solution you decided to put in for our competition? 

Jutta Stienen: The Community Advice Solution which is the perfect solution for brands that want to deliver real human advice and social proof to their online shoppers, paired with a unique passionate exchange between peers.

EGN: What makes it unique?

Jutta Stienen: The uniqueness is that shoppers can connect in real-time with members of the community who are passionate about the brand, its products, and the topic. They don’t have to leave the online store, and they can get connected right away at any time. Our AI-based SmartRouting connects shoppers with the relevant community members depending on language, topic, and speed. 

EGN: How can your solution help e-commerce business owners? Is it for everyone or do you aim for specific industries?

Jutta Stienen: The real-time exchange between like-minded people creates a strong connection with the brand. This pays into customer retention, sales conversion, basket size, brand perception, and loyalty. Therefore, our solution is for any brand that wants to excel in efficiently utilizing the dynamics of community spirit in the customer journey.

EGN: And if we would like to use it? How does the process work?

Jutta Stienen: It is indeed very straightforward: you can go live within 2-3 weeks of deciding to offer community advice. All you need to do is copy-paste a code snippet into your webpage or Google Tag Manager. Finding your community is very easy: it’s your longtime customers who already love your brand, use your products, and talk about you positively on social media. You will be surprised how many want to share their experience and knowledge.

EGN: If you were asked to name three key advantages of your solution in comparison with your brand’s competitors, what would they be?

Jutta Stienen: Firstly and most importantly: Human intelligence. People want to talk to people and brands can differentiate themselves nowadays by offering a real human exchange when needed. Secondly, sharing passion is a strong emotional aspect that ties customers to a brand. Thirdly, brands can bring social proof to life by letting shoppers talk to the community.

EGN: What are your plans for the future? Will your solution keep evolving?

Jutta Stienen: Our solution now also allows the extraction of great product recommendations and content to be displayed as community content directly on the product pages. It’s like UGC, with a touch of higher credibility, because the content is extracted from a live conversation between the community and a shopper. Consumers can read the content and still connect with the community, if they need further input.

EGN: Do you have plans for other products or services?

Jutta Stienen: There is more to come. Right now we work on additional community features that make the authentic advice even more exciting.

EGN: What are your predictions for the future concerning your area of expertise?

Jutta Stienen: Offering real human advice from the community will be a great differentiator moving forward compared to all the synthetic content that is already out there and that will still keep growing. People want to be able to rely on content and have a feeling of trust. Another factor that will become more important is the emotion of belonging; being part of a community. For strong brands, this already goes without saying: they put a great effort into community-building. Investing in the community is investing in customer loyalty and retention.

EGN: We think so too. Thank you for this conversation.

In the interview with Jutta Stienen we talked about GUURU Solutions as a platform connecting passionate shoppers for real-time conversations, enhancing brand identification and social proof without leaving the online store. Their Community Advice Solution offers unique, human-based advice through AI-driven SmartRouting, boosting customer retention, sales, and loyalty. The straightforward implementation process and potential for future features highlight the platform’s focus on authentic community engagement and trust.

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