Scaling-Up a Digital Business During the Pandemic

We talked to Tom van den Heuvel of Dealify.com about the platform for growth hackers, and he had the following to say:-

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times? 

Tom van den Heuvel: Good! Luckily everyone is safe and healthy. 

Tell us about you, your career, how you founded Dealify.

Tom van den Heuvel: I started Dealify with a passion for growing online businesses. In the past, I have growth hacked a startup to one of Europe’s fastest-growing scale-ups. This is something that provides me with a lot of energy! This experience is what inspired me to start Dealify.com in 2018, which started out as a side-hustle and has grown rapidly to the company it currently is.  

How does Dealify innovate? 

Tom van den Heuvel: Dealify innovates by offering exclusive deals on quality software with a discount of up to 95%. We are always on the lookout for innovative businesses that would love to run a deal with us to help them grow their business. On the business side ourselves, we innovate a lot by running a lot of A/B tests on both our website and ads to attract the right audience to our website. Next to that, we engage a lot with our community to build a connection and trust. 

How does the coronavirus pandemic affect your business finances?

Tom van den Heuvel: Because everything we do is online, it hasn’t had a negative impact on the business’ finances; instead, it has caused a big increase. 

Did you have to make difficult choices regarding human resources, and what are the lessons learned?

Tom van den Heuvel: At the beginning of the crisis, we had to make the difficult decision to let go of a freelancer because of the uncertainty of the situation. Lessons learned here is that staying focused on your goals and being flexible/creative helps to overcome challenges that you initially thought were impossible to overcome. 

How did your customer relationship management evolve? Do you use any specific tools to be efficient?

Tom van den Heuvel: We use mainly (email) marketing automation tools to connect with our audience, but we also created an online community in 2020 to connect more with our audience. This has moved us more towards a closer relationship with our customers. 

Did you benefit from any government grants, and did that help keep your business afloat?

Tom van den Heuvel: No, we did no use any government grants.

Your final thoughts?

Tom van den Heuvel: It is important to be flexible and stay creative to handle challenges that lay ahead.

Your website?

https://www.dealify.com