Cohora Rolls Out Next-level CRM App
The cookie-less Web 3.0 presents a challenge for brands in how and where they engage customers. But Cohora has created a “brand customer network” and engagement platform that takes CRM to a new level.
After a successful pilot program, Cohora has launched the app, which the company said leverages user-generated content while optimizing customer engagement and behavior “to deepen the emotional bond between a brand and its customers.”
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“Through Cohora, brands gain customer-to-customer and brand-to-customer conversations, which promotes the brand, its products and allow customers to play a unique role in social commerce, product investments, organic user growth and long-term loyalty to the brand,” the company said in a statement, also noting that “small and mid-size brands lack the resources to build long-lasting relationships with their customers, forcing these companies to become dependent on a transactional mindset.”
Manu Mathew, chief executive officer of Cohora, said he and his partners were excited for the launch of the platform, which he described as “a place where customers engage with the brand as well as other link-minded customers in an environment the brand owns and controls. Brands are gaining real-time dialogue with their customers as they interact with platform features, all of which are designed to foster brand advocacy. There is no longer a need to rely on third-party data and outdated CRM tools. Cohora makes the solution clear.”
Traditional marketing technology that is deployed in the market gathers data only, which Cohora said creates fragmentation and wastes spending while making actionability “challenging and latent.” The company cited a recent Gartner study that showed just 42 percent of brand marketers used the full capabilities of their marketing technology. The survey also showed, however, that a majority of markets were eyeing social commerce investments, such as those Cohora offers.
The platform is founded on customer-generated content that enables social commerce. Cohora said relationship activations on the app include polls and surveys, and contest participation as well as event hosting and cross-channel promotions. Brands can also offer reward redemption and rewards for product promotion as well as “exclusive access to new products among many other features,” the company said, adding that these conversations lead to “a microinfluencer community encompassed within the network.”
All of which allow brands to leverage “the power and passion of its consumers to propel brands and products” while also driving “organic engagement, personalization and communication from a single, centralized hub.” The app also allows brands to develop a deeper understanding of the consumer, Cohora said, adding that brands can use “data-driven intelligence to move away from a purely transactional mindset and lean into engagement-based loyalty that is designed for long-term customer value.”
To fuel its growth Cohora said it received funding from venture capital firm Volition Capital. Cohora did not disclosed the amount of funding, but said the venture capital firm had previously backed successful endeavors lead by Cohora’s Mathew.
Sean Cantwell, managing partner at Volition Capital, said Cohora’s platform “is unique and provides an incredible level of potential for brands to develop quality relationships with consumers resulting in activation and advocacy. It’s a competitive landscape, but we believe Cohora’s ability to address an industry-wide need will resonate with marketers and drive adoption.”
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