How SabeeApp Use Receptive’s Roadmapping Feature to Communicate with their Customers

SabeeApp is a cloud-based hotel management system, providing property owners with an all-in-one solution to manage their accommodation. They have customers all around the world, with all manner of accommodation types, from apartments to igloos.

For this case study, I spoke with Thomas, a Product Owner at SabeeApp. He told me about the impact Receptive has had on his organization, in particular the roadmapping functionality, and how it helps them communicate with their customers.

Before Receptive

SabeeApp had a very manual and time-consuming process when it came to feedback. Customer-facing teams, like Sales and Support, would hear these requests first-hand and then report them to Thomas and the Dev team.

That presented the first problem. Thomas would be inundated with his colleagues ‘shoulder-tapping’ him with the feedback they had received, distracting him from his work, and causing feedback to fall through the cracks.

In monthly meetings, they would discuss the feedback they’d collected. Decisions were made based on how they felt about the different requests, as they had no real data to analyze. In fact, their feedback was contained in one ‘online notebook’ that was essentially a backlog of hundreds of ideas. That was their second problem.

Their third problem was that they realised they weren’t communicating with their customers effectively. They would release features that customers had asked for but couldn’t let those customers know simply because it was hard to follow who requested what feature.

SabeeApp realised that they needed to find a solution.

Finding Receptive

As far as Thomas was concerned, they needed two things. For starters, they needed a roadmapping tool that would enable them to share future plans for their product with customers. This would save the Support team a lot of time spent on fielding questions about what was coming next.

“The roadmapping was something we really wanted to have, and we also wanted a system where we could see the needs of our customers and that is exactly what we found with Receptive.”

They also needed a way to let their customers submit feedback and vote on what other customers wanted. This would create a centralized database of feedback that Thomas and his colleagues could dip into as and when they needed. It would also provide a better customer experience for their users.

After researching and looking into several products, Thomas settled on Receptive as it covered both of his requirements. He was impressed with the roadmapping functionality, and he loved how simple it was for his customers to access and provide feedback.

They implemented Receptive over the course of a sprint, letting in both customers and team members from across the organization. Their customers got on board with Receptive straight away and started submitting their feedback. Thomas also transferred previous requests from his ‘online notebook’ into Receptive so that they didn’t lose any of their old data.

After Receptive

Since implementing Receptive the feedback process at SabeeApp has greatly improved, both in terms of efficiency and effectivity.

Now that they can direct customers to Receptive, or use Receptive on behalf of their prospects, the customer-facing teams no longer have to manually pass the feedback on to Thomas.

Sales managers have their own accounts in Receptive, and if a prospect gives them an idea, they’ll add it to Receptive so that they can get more feedback. Support staff can now direct customers to Receptive when they have an idea, saving time and effort.

From their customers’ point of view, Receptive has made it easier for them to submit feedback, and they got on board with Receptive instantly. Receptive makes it possible for SabeeApp to balance their product strategy with the feedback they collect.

At each Sprint Planning meeting, they choose a product area based on their strategy and then delve into the feedback they’ve collected related to that area. They can then decide what they’re going to work on next.

Communicating with their Customers

The biggest impact that Receptive has had on SabeeApp is that they now find it much easier to communicate with their customers about the status of feedback and their plans for the future.

“It’s much easier to communicate with our users about what we are building. Support was always being asked questions about what was coming in the next few months and what we were working on. Now we have the roadmap, they’re checking it and seeing the status of requests.”

Previously, the Support team had been inundated with questions about what they were working on and what was planned. By using Receptive’s roadmapping feature, their customers could see the answers to those questions as and when they wanted.

The roadmap is set out in sprints, each one a month long. Customers can now see what SabeeApp are planning for each sprint. It’s more open and transparent, and it means their customers know what to expect.

“Receptive is like an employee who manages every administration regarding user requests, and helps us to communicate with our customers.”