Betterific, the digital suggestion box used by ConAgra, Target and Monumental Sports (among others), has brought its very first suggestion to fruition. Thanks to a partnership with
Dormify, an online shopping site for dorm rooms and other small spaces, Betterific fans can now
purchase fitted sheets with tags sewn on that identify the long and short sides of the sheets.
"This is the idea that
launched the company," says Micha Weinblatt, cofounder of Betterific, who was inspired to build the site while frustrated by changing the sheets in his dorm room.
Now, that simple idea--"wouldn't it be better if sheets had length and width indicators?" is becoming a real product. He and cofounders Brad Cater and Jonathan Schilit contacted Karen Zuckerman, a personal friend of Weinblatt's and founder of Dormify, about bringing the tagged sheet sets to fruition.
Schilit has dubbed the product launch under the Betterific label "Betterific Labs." Weinblatt says that "products have always been in the back of our minds, [like the] apps people suggest on the site. Betterific Labs is for our longer-term visions."
More than anything else, Weinblatt explains, the sheets are a way for users to see that their suggestions are heard and acted upon. "This is our first big push to test the concept [of the Labs] and to let users know that ideas can happen."
More changes based on user suggestions are coming. Food giant ConAgra is changing a can design based on Betterific users' feedback. Target used the site as a sounding board for its
Back to College campaign. "Target responded to quite a few ideas [on the site], and then dug deeper. They had internal brainstorming sessions, and then they came back and presented ideas again."
In addition to taking users' random suggestions and hosting branded campaigns for suggestions on Betterific, the company has been white-labeling its technology for other companies to use internally. Things appear to be going well. "We've started to generate revenue," Weinblatt says. Betterific is mulling over the idea of a possible capital raise.