Challenge:
Shift3D Manufacturing was founded in January 2019 through a partnership with parent company Shift3D and Hewlett-Packard. As a relatively new business, the service bureau’s goal was to achieve exponential growth in its second year of operation. Their strategy was to use quick quoting and turnaround times to stay competitive.
In its first year of business, Shift3D spent about 30-to-40 minutes on each quote, not counting the time each RFQ spent in its backlog. It was a mostly manual process that resulted in a clunky Word document emailed to the customer that included pictures, prices, quantities of parts, and a total quote.
Solution:
Shift3D Manufacturing looked for an automated, white-label quoting solution that they could implement easily on their site, and incorporate with their branding for a seamless customer experience.
Before finding DigiFabster, they encountered other automated solutions that required up-front licensing and fees before they could even see their manuals and examples — all without any promise of speed or efficacy.
DigiFabster was able to show Shift3D Manufacturing immediately how the platform works, provide transparent pricing, and offer customised solutions for their fast-growing business.
“It was simple enough to start using right away,” says Applications Engineer Mizraim Gopar, “but DigiFabster has robust options we can use later as our business grows.”
Two months after our first conversation, the DigiFabster quoting tool was fully implemented on Shift3D Manufacturing’s website and customers were uploading CAD files and getting instant, accurate quotes.
DigiFabster quoting tool.
Result:
By leveraging the instant quote tool on their website and using marketing and email campaigns, as well as “How to” videos that they made in-house, Shift3D Manufacturing was able to educate customers on the instant quoting process.
The results? Increased sales by a staggering 300% in their second year of operation.
"About 20% of our customers use the instant quoting tool exclusively, and we expect that number to grow to 50% by the end of 2021," Victor Gonzáles, Operations Manager, Shift 3D.
They used instant quoting as a unique selling proposition for their service bureau and converted those leads into paying customers. This allowed their engineer to spend more time on high-value orders that require more manual checks.
For customers who choose not to use instant quoting and email RFQs instead, Shift3D Manufacturing still runs customers’ files through DigiFabster to keep manual quoting to a minimum. Flexibility is key with any automation solution.
Sales increased by 300% in Shift3D's second year of operation.
Check out a sample implementation of an Instant Quoting and E-commerce solution
If a picture is worth a thousand words, what is an environment that simulates an actual implementation of DigiFabster’s instant quoting solution worth? We have created a “sandbox” environment for you to experience what DigiFabster’s RFQ automation tool could look like for your shop. Download one of our sample parts files, drag-and-drop a file into the tool, select materials, and receive sample instant pricing. Go ahead have fun with it, does not cost you anything, and imagine what an implementation would look like on your site with your logo and branding. Also, wouldn’t hurt to imagine what 300% growth would mean to your shop as well.
Learn more about how DigiFabster quoting automation tool can help your 3D printing service bureau improve the customer experience, while reducing costs and generating more revenue. Try it now!
