Hi Simon! Let's start right at the beginning: how long have you been working at Reviews.io and what led you here?
I moved to Leicester from Dorset over two years ago now. Down there, I was working as a PPC manager for an agency specialising in Google Shopping, and prior to that I held a number of marketing management roles in small businesses. Way back when I even worked in sales in the travel industry.
Wow, sounds like you've covered a lot of different areas, Simon. What does your day-to-day look like now?
Well, I initially joined REVIEWS.io to take care of the PPC strategy, but as time has gone on, my role has expanded hugely into all other aspects of marketing. I'm quite hands-on so my role is very varied, and whilst PPC still takes up a good chunk of my time, I've also got a lot of ongoing projects and ad-hoc work on the go. I could be concentrating on Paid Search in the morning, then looking at website branding in the afternoon. It can be pretty hectic at times, but we have a coffee machine so that normally helps power me through.
Ah, that explains the astonishing amount of coffee we get through! What do you do to wind down when you're not at work?
I cycle to work most days, which gets the blood pumping nice and early. I find it really helpful to get moving after a long day at the office and it helps to burns off those doughnuts our CEO is always buying us too!
I can vouch for your cycling Simon - even the weather doesn't seem to deter you!When you are in the office, what's it like to be a member of the Reviews.io team? Could you tell us a little bit more about that?
As teams go, we're pretty close-knit. When I joined in 2017, we had perhaps 10 full timers, with a few freelancers in the mix, and now we're well over 30 people, most of who have joined in the last 12 months. We've grown incredibly fast and it's always exciting when new faces join the team.
I know it may sound corny, but everyone here really does have our customers best interests at heart and the Reviews.io office is always a motivational place to be. Our support and client success teams do such a fantastic job of taking care of our customers, and it's mind-blowing how the development team are able to produce so many new features each year.
It sure is a great place to be, but we always encourage improvement. On that note, do you have any specific goals for 2019?
As a company, we're striving to be not just the most technologically-advanced review platform for our customers, but also the most valued and trusted in the eyes of consumers. In 2019 I'd like to keep growing and moving towards that goal.
Sounds good to me. And last but by no means least: what do reviews mean to you?
As a consumer, I always, always read reviews before I buy anything. In fact I'm currently in the market for a new bike so am doing a lot of research on those. It's a big investment and I'll rely on it to get me to work and back every day, so I need to make sure I get the perfect fit. Although, I'm finding it surprisingly tricky to find reliable advice online - it's a shame there aren't more bike companies that collect reviews!😜
