How Hellopeter is helping South African businesses grow

Hellopeter is a household name in South Africa and was started long before social media even came about. The founder was a staunch consumer activist, and he initially wanted to have people calling into him to tell him about their service-related experiences. Back then, Hellopeter's mission was very one-dimensional and focused simply on upgrading the service levels of businesses.

Today, however, it has grown into South Africa's number one trusted online review platform and a powerful Software as a Service (SaaS) tool to help businesses grow. Hellopeter Business helps SMEs take control of their online reputation, build social proof, and be more discoverable online, using their intelligent technology with several tools to really harness the power of reviews.

The turning point

Towards the end of 2014, entrepreneur Alon Rom got the news that Hellopeter was for sale. He jumped at the opportunity, understanding the brand’s potential from his experience working with Takealot and Mr Delivery. He signed on the dotted line with a vision already forming of where it could go.

When Rom took over as CEO, reviews on the Hellopeter platform were 92% negative and only 8% positive. Rom realised this was not an accurate depiction of businesses and wanted to educate consumers that Hellopeter is a place to share all experiences, not just grievances. More importantly, he wanted to show businesses that Hellopeter is not a platform to be scared of, but one to use to their advantage.

"Just like with social media, you simply have to be on Hellopeter. You've got so many brands competing for a positive online reputation, you don't want the competition to get ahead of you. It can only help your business. It allows you to take control of your narrative, build social proof to give consumers the confidence to buy from you, and leverage the power of SEO to become more discoverable on search engines like Google," explains Rom.

A balanced review platform

By May 2022, Hellopeter hit a new milestone of having 50% positive and 50% negative reviews on the platform. They achieved this by educating customers that Hellopeter is not merely a complaints platform but an online review platform. Just like you would jump on TripAdvisor to research your holiday accommodation, you jump on Hellopeter before you spend your hard-earned money with any South African business.

On the Hellopeter Business side, their Customer Success team shows businesses the benefits of collecting, managing and publishing online reviews and, more importantly, a simple strategy and tools to do this.

How Hellopeter helps businesses

Rom's vision for the brand continually evolves based on what business needs arise in South Africa.

"When it comes to our roadmap, we think about how we can bring value and then translate this to the product, optimising it to propel a business forward. We ask ourselves: Will this help a business grow, increase sales and customer satisfaction? Therefore, our main goal is to easily enable your business to collect positive reviews through all our simple tools. It gives you the opportunity without needing much experience or knowledge. So, we help offline businesses come online, and online businesses 'uberfy' their online profile," he says.

Hellopeter Business is booming in 2022. But, more importantly, it's helping other businesses do the same. The proof is in the pudding, as you can see by their Customer Success stories of how South African brands are using it to rise above the competition.

Start growing your business

You can sign up for a free account with them (no credit card details required), giving you access to all the basic tools you need.

However, if you want to really step things up and work with one of their Customer Success team members, then you can select one of their Growth or Premium plans.