Frequently asked questions

Four services that work as a single system and are combined to suit the problem:

• Systems and Integrations (connect): we connect the tools the company already uses, build custom software and automate repetitive tasks.
• Data and Intelligence (understand): we bring each customer’s information together in a single record, with dashboards and AI-supported forecasts.
• Relationship Marketing (communicate): reminders, campaigns and customer reactivation by email, SMS or WhatsApp, at the right moment.
• Digital Experiences (serve): websites, customer areas and online booking or enrolment, so customers can get things done themselves.

What happens with each customer feeds back into the data, and the system improves over time.

Everything needed for each piece of information to be recorded once and reach whoever needs it:

• Integrations: we connect programs that currently do not talk to each other, such as invoicing, the ERP, Excel spreadsheets, email or WhatsApp.
• Custom software: when no suitable tool exists, we build it.
• Task automation: tasks such as copying lists, issuing documents or sending reminders are no longer done by hand.
• APIs and synchronisation: data moves from one system to another automatically and securely.

We turn scattered information into a clear view of each customer and of the business:

• Single customer database: each customer’s history, services and deadlines in one place.
• Dashboards and reports: up-to-date indicators to follow the business and make data-based decisions.
• Predictive models: to anticipate renewals and identify customers at risk of not returning.
• AI assistants: to summarise histories, organise information and support the team day to day.

Everything that keeps the relationship with customers active, with the right message at the right moment:

• Relationship strategy: customer segmentation, journeys and a communication calendar.
• Marketing automation: welcome messages, post-purchase follow-up, service and renewal reminders, birthdays and personal offers.
• Email, SMS and WhatsApp: newsletters and personalised messages based on each customer’s history.
• Segmented campaigns: new services, launches and offers aimed at those who are interested.
• Customer reactivation: winning back those who have stopped buying or coming.
• Reviews and referrals: review requests at the right moment and encouragement to recommend.
• Loyalty and community: programmes that reward returning customers and spaces that bring customers closer to the brand.
• Content and SEO: useful content that helps the company be found and keeps the relationship going.
• Measurement: the results of each campaign, to see what works and improve.

Digital touchpoints designed around the tasks customers need to complete, and connected to the company’s systems:

• Websites and online shops: that sell and take requests, rather than just presenting the company.
• Customer areas: documents, history, invoices and certificates in one place.
• Online booking and enrolment: with a calendar and automatic confirmation.
• Community platforms: announcements, events and a member directory.

Yes. Before building anything, we work on the strategy: process diagnosis, the customer journey, the implementation roadmap and the metrics that will measure success. The same team then follows the execution, so the plan does not get lost between suppliers.

Yes, when the website is part of the relationship with customers: bookings, enrolment, customer areas or online shops connected to the company’s systems. If you only need a brochure website, there are simpler options, and we will tell you so in the first conversation.

Yes. We always start with one priority problem, often with a single service, and add the others when it makes sense. Because everything is designed to work together, what is built at the start keeps being used.

Companies with an ongoing relationship with their customers. We focus on four sectors:

• Education and training: training schools, academies and adult education.
• Healthcare: clinics, currently with a focus on veterinary clinics.
• Culture and communities: cultural venues, bookshops and associations.
• Fitness: gyms, studios and boxes.

Outside these sectors, what matters is having customers who can come back and information about them, even if it is scattered.

It can be. Knowing your customers is not the same as knowing when each one will need you again. In a small company, every customer who does not return weighs more, and there is less time to follow up with each one individually. We organise that follow-up so it does not depend on anyone’s memory.

Yes. When the customer is the one who reaches out, the choice is also theirs, and nothing guarantees they will choose you again. With a contract, the question is what happens when it ends: does the customer renew or compare other providers? It is the follow-up throughout the relationship that decides that moment.

It depends on what your CRM does today. Having a CRM and sending newsletters is a good starting point, but it is rarely enough. In most companies:

• the CRM stores contacts but does not know what happens in invoicing, bookings or customer service;
• the newsletter sends the same message to the whole list, on the same day;
• nobody is alerted when a customer is close to renewing or has stopped buying.

According to Splunk (2019), around 55% of an organisation’s data goes unused. We do not replace your CRM: we connect it to your other systems, organise each customer’s information and run communication from it, with the right message for each person at the right moment. If your CRM already does all this, we will tell you that you do not need us.

• When a simple setting in a tool you already have solves the problem. In that case, we will tell you.
• When the company does not yet have a customer base.
• When you only need a brochure website or social media management.
• When nobody on your side is available to make decisions and put changes into practice.

Often because nobody follows up after the purchase. The customer still needs you: they simply did not think of your company at the right moment, or another company thought of them first. Our position is simple: the customer should not have to remember the brand. The brand has to remember the customer.

From what has already happened. Purchase, booking, enrolment or contract history reveals patterns: who has finished a first service and is ready for the next, who has a renewal approaching, who has stopped coming. With that information organised, the company can contact each customer before they look elsewhere.

They depend on the problem chosen, which is why we define the goal before starting. Results usually show up on four fronts:

• Less team time spent on repetitive tasks and looking for information.
• More customers returning, renewing or moving on to the next service.
• Faster, more consistent service.
• Decisions based on data rather than intuition.

We do not promise percentages before we know your case.

Before starting, we agree the indicators and the starting point with the company: for example, time per task, pending requests, renewals or repeat purchases. We then compare results against that starting point over a defined period. We are also careful with the distinction: additional revenue is not profit, and time freed up is not automatically money saved.

In four steps:

1. Diagnostic conversation (30 minutes, free): we understand the problem and whether it makes sense to go ahead.
2. Discovery: a paid, in-depth analysis of one priority problem, ending with an intervention plan.
3. Implementation: we build, test and get the solution working with your team.
4. Ongoing support: we measure, correct and develop the solution, month by month.

You can stop at the end of each step.

The Discovery is the first paid piece of work with Devenz Studio: an in-depth analysis, lasting around two weeks, of one priority problem. It goes beyond the first diagnosis made in the initial conversation: we talk to the people involved and analyse the customer journey, the processes and the systems. It ends with a decision meeting, at which we deliver the findings, a process map and a plan with priorities, indicators and an implementation estimate.

Because it is in-depth work, and it is what prevents investment in the wrong place. The free initial conversation provides a first diagnosis; the Discovery goes into the detail. An analysis of this depth done for free tends to be superficial, or a sales proposal in disguise. With the Discovery, the company decides where to invest based on what was analysed, not on what seemed obvious at the start.

No. The Discovery ends with your decision. If it makes sense to go ahead, we present an implementation proposal based on the findings.

The Discovery takes around two weeks. A first implementation with a well-defined scope usually takes two months. Larger projects have their own schedule, set at the end of the Discovery.

The aim is to reduce your team’s workload, not add to it. During the Discovery, we need access to the systems and a few conversations with the people who run the process day to day. During implementation, we ask for sign-off at key moments and one training session.

No. We start with what you already use, even if it is Excel spreadsheets and several programs that do not talk to each other, which is the most common situation. Bringing everything into one platform is an option, not a requirement. When a sector-specific tool already solves part of the problem, we build on it.

It remains your company’s data. Devenz Studio acts as a processor under Article 28 of the GDPR, with a written agreement setting out the purposes for which we use the data, where it is stored, who can access it and what happens to it when the work ends. We only process the data needed for the agreed work.

Not always, and it is important to know this before you start. Data collected for one purpose cannot be freely used for another, and marketing communications have their own rules. During the Discovery, we check with the company what can be used and for what purposes. When legal advice is needed, we work with the company’s lawyer or a partner.

Yes. We are an AI-native studio: we use AI throughout the process, from data analysis to development, testing and content preparation. AI makes the work faster and more rigorous, but it does not make decisions for your company: decisions about your business and your customers remain yours.

By the size of the problem, not by a price list. In some cases a simple integration is enough; in others, a custom solution is needed. The investment covers the whole job: analysis, development, integration, testing, team training and measurement. The Discovery has a fixed fee, known before starting. Implementation is quoted from the Discovery findings, and ongoing support is billed monthly.

Because the same request can mean a simple configuration or a project lasting several months, and a price without context says little about the value of the work. We would rather first understand where the company is losing time or customers and, at the second meeting, present a fixed fee for the Discovery.

Book a 30-minute conversation in our calendar or leave your request in the contact form. It is free, with no commitment, and takes place on Google Meet. We reply to every request within one working day. If it makes sense to go ahead, we book the second meeting straight away, at which we present the Discovery proposal. For the first conversation, all you need to know is what is holding your company back.

Devenz Studio is based at Óbidos Technology Park, Portugal (Rua da Criatividade, Edifícios Centrais, room S1.53). We work with companies across Portugal, and most meetings take place online.