Postcode Anywhere supports holistic car care firm as it reaches £500k turnover in under five years

Postcode Anywhere supports holistic car care firm as it reaches £500k turnover in under five years

Aberdeenshire car care company Polished Bliss reached a landmark £500,000 turnover this month.

The company credits an internet presence, backed up by customer service, as “essential” for its growth.

Polished Bliss also cites address validation technology as one of the necessary tools for successful business development.

Richard Cooper, Polished Bliss founder and marketing director, explained: “We needed an internet presence in order to grow the business. Potentially we had a huge market – anyone with a car and a passion for looking after it. Our ethos goes beyond merely selling car care products: it includes educating people to get the best results.

Maintaining service levels online

“We’ve reached the turnover milestone in just over five years of trading: quite an achievement for a small team of just six people. The ubiquity of today's online ‘social space’ can be a great referral tool, but conversely it can expose you to negative consumer generated content, so delivering the best levels of customer service is essential.

“Address accuracy was quite a challenge, particularly as we grew so quickly. There is always a danger of making mistakes when entering details onto the system and you have to trust the customer is giving you the right information. Basically we needed to mitigate any data transfer errors. It is also essential to provide our couriers with accurate address data.

“Postcode Anywhere was recommended to us by our web designers, Green Jersey, and also by Actinic, whose software we use to run our website. It ticked all the boxes and it was extremely easy to integrate, which helped us to streamline our processes.

Eliminating costly errors

“Before using UK address validation, we were experiencing five to ten addressing-related errors per month. It was costing between £5 and £6 to reschedule each item, on top of the admin time it took to rectify delivery errors. In addition to all of this, further time was being taken up apologising to unhappy customers. I would estimate this cost us at least £1,000 per year, not including secondary costs, which can have quite an impact on profit margins.

“You have to take into account the reputation damage a failed delivery can cause,” Cooper added. “It’s unquantifiable, but equally important. You also risk alienating your customers so they do not return. I think address validation has become a given. Visitors benefit from reduced keystrokes, and it makes ordering products more convenient and minimises erroneous deliveries. We have never had occasion to use Postcode Anywhere’s technical support desk, which speaks volumes.

“We are really impressed with Postcode Anywhere’s address validation,” he concluded. “It is quick, easy, efficient and cost-effective. It definitely adds kudos to our website and has helped us to save money and enhance our online presence.”

Polished Bliss has been using Postcode Anywhere to provide address auto-fill since February 2010.