The Dublin analytics firm with plans to be worth €100m in just three years

BUSINESSES HAVE RELIED too heavily on “spray and pray” tactics when contacting consumers online and have not utilised data to properly engage with their users, according to Xtremepush co-founder Tommy Kearns.

The company is an analytics platform, founded in 2013, that helps enterprises better understand consumers’ habits and tailor email and other notifications accordingly to ensure they don’t end up in the spam folder.

Kearns said many companies already have the data at their fingertips that could make a lot of communication with customers more personalised and helpful.

“We’re in this data-driven and actionable society where consumers want instant gratification. The only way to give them that is not only by understanding their transactions, but also how many transactions they have done, where they are likely to pay for your services and when they need the service most,” he said.

He added that a lot of companies don’t try to see the experience from the users’ point of view.

“I come at it from a customer perspective and say, ‘You need to show me that you know me’. Businesses need to understand the data whether it is in app or online. Once companies understand that, they will know how to talk to a user.

“It’s all about being conversational. If you get to know me, you can have a much better conversation with me. So what we’re trying to do is bring that human element onto a platform.”

One organisation using Xtremepush to improve user experience is Leinster Rugby. The club has adopted the technology to track fans at matches and send push notifications to offer those in the crowd an upgrade on their current seats for a reduced fee.

Fintech sector

Xtremepush has made a lot of gains in the financial services sector since launching three years ago, with three international banks and two financial services companies using the software.

Kearns said his company has benefited from the ongoing digital transformation in the financial sector because its software is an easy solution to integrate into complicated existing systems.

“We fit on top of meandering systems. These institutions use us as a lightweight and mobile CRM (customer relationship management) system that can communicate intelligently to the users.

“For example, if you look at mortgages, our technology is able to track the funnel of a mortgagor and see their behavioural intent. So we can see the user fell off at stage 25 of 30 and we can also see he has the ability to take out a mortgage at €250,000. So now the bank knows how and where to divert its efforts to bringing this user over the line.”

Xtremepush co-founders Kevin Collins (left) and Tommy Kearns

Closing deals

Last year Xtremepush signed a multimillion-euro deal with the ad technology firm Gravity4 and it has plans to close out a funding round before the end of this quarter.

Kearns said the company also has its sights set on signing up many more fintech clients and reaching a pricetag of €100 million within the next three years.

“We are currently live in five financial institutions. We want to double that within the next eight months to 12 months and that alone will be the first big milestone towards achieving a €100 million valuation.

“In the folliowing 18 months we want another 20 financial institutions and services companies on the books. In three years I think we will definitely reach our goal and probably go well beyond it if we keep going the way we’re doing.”